Dark Chocolate Spelt Brownie Cake

If you're someone who experiments in the kitchen a lot, you know that sometimes new baking endeavors just don't turn out.  Other times they end up tasting alright, but not quite the way you wanted them too.  Occasionally though, you have a success and a pretty delicious one at that.

I have some whole spelt flour to use up but almost every time I've made cookies with spelt, they turn out overly soft and moist.  So, I thought why not experiment with making spelt brownies?  Soft and moist are definitely not bad qualities when it comes to brownies (or cakes, for that matter).  In the end, I decided these should be called brownie cake because, although I like cakier brownies, the texture of these was so light and delicate that "brownie" didn't seem quite right.  Honestly, they taste a lot like devils food cake, and that's nothing to complain about.

I love the flavor of these because it's deep, complex, and totally chocolate.  They're not too sweet, which is a plus for me, because I like to taste the true character of the chocolate, not just the sugary sweetness.  You can keep this as is for a thin loaf cake and frost it with your favorite icing, dust the top with powdered sugar, double the recipe and call it a sheet cake, or you can do what I did and cut it into squares... and then crumble it in between the layers of a breakfast parfait; I think that's my favorite way :)

Dark Chocolate Spelt Brownie Cake
This brownie cake is delicate and light so be sure to read the instructions about cooling and handle with care!  I think the delicate texture is due to the use of ONLY spelt flour.  If you want a denser brownie, I think subbing in a bit of whole wheat pastry flour for part of the spelt or using less flour altogether may help.  Also, please note that I made this in a loaf pan.  If you'd like to make it in a standard 8x8 brownie pan, I would double the recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon wholegrain spelt flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
scant 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted (I used Baker's)
3 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk

butter for the pan

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Butter a standard loaf pan.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.  Mix the wet ingredients in a small bowl making sure the melted chocolate is cool enough not to cook the egg [I melted the chocolate in the microwave (do this slowly or else it will burn) and then mixed in the oil to temper it].  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until evenly combined.

Pour the batter into a buttered loaf pan and smooth out the top with a spoon.  Bake for about 30- 35 minutes (the sides should be slightly pulling away from the pan) and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes in the pan.  Then lightly flip out onto a flat surface to finish cooling.  Once cool, cut the loaf with a very sharp knife into however many squares you'd like.