Kids Cuisine

My kids and I like to bake together whenever we can. Being a homeschooling family, baking has become a great way for us to practice concepts such as volume, weights and measures, fractions, and chemistry.

Mollie Katzen’s Honest Pretzels is the book we turn to most often when we have the desire to get cooking, partly because it has one of the very best chocolate cake recipes we’ve ever tasted. It’s incredibly easy to make (it can be mixed right in the pan), and is totally vegan (no eggs or milk). Even if it wasn’t either of those things, it would still be one of our favorites.

We decided to use this recipe to make cupcakes recently, as the kids firmly believe that everything tastes better when in miniature form!

Made-in-the-Pan Chocolate Cake (from Honest Pretzels by Mollie Katzen):

1 1/4 cups unbleached white flour (I’ve used half whole wheat with good results)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup water
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. vinegar (cider or white)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Stir together until batter is smooth (or mix directly in an 8 inch square pan for a cake). Divide evenly among the 12 cups of a prepared muffin pan. Bake for 20 minutes (30 minutes for cake). Allow to cool completely before frosting (this cake is also good on its own, or with fruit).

Chocolate Frosting

2 tbsp. butter or non-hydrogentated margarine, melted
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 1/2 tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups icing sugar

Mix butter and cocoa with mixer until combined. Stir in milk and vanilla. Add icing sugar until frosting has reached the desired consistency. Adjust with more milk or sugar if necessary. 

Cakes made using this recipe are even more moist and delicious the next day, not that they ever last that long!