"-free " is Just Another Word...

Well, Hallowe'en's been over for hours, so that makes it Christmas Season, or, more accurately for me, Baking Season.  Yesterday I was wondering if there was a way for me to consume mass quantities this year without compromising my health or eating my way out of my clothes.  When I think about impractical health and nutrition, naturally I think of Gwyneth Paltrow, so I checked out a recent GOOP newsletter and found some recipes from Babycakes Bakery in NYC.  Everything's sugar-free!  Gluten-free!  Dairy-free!  Jackpot!  I was on my way to Whole Foods to drop a wad on expensive, Gwyneth-approved ingredients, when I thought, am I crazy?

I visited the Interwebs and made a useful discovery. One of the ingredients I was looking to buy was agave nectar, since I want to reduce my sugar consumption.  Turns out this stuff is mostly fructose, you know, like in the work-of-the-devil High Fructose Corn Syrup.  It has the same caloric count as sugar, and is simply lower in glucose.  Too bad fructose'll kill ya too.  I was almost taken in by clever marketing and buzzwords like Organic, Natural, blah blah.  

It seems the only way to reduce sugar intake is not to eat sugar.  Any kind of sugar.  That is such a massive bummer that I am not even going to think about it again until next year.

I will say, some of the other ingredients that Babycakes uses are interesting- coconut oil, garbanzo flour- I may try these some day, but for now, I'm just going to enjoy the holidays and take yet another stab at moderation.

That being said, I present to you below a  wicked chocolate cake recipe, and it's vegan!  No eggs, no butter (just a bit of canola oil), but yes, there's sugar and flour.  It doesn't need icing, but if you add some buttercream, remember the cake will no longer make Stella McCartney happy :)

Vegan Chocolate Cake

In a glass 8 or 9 " square pan, mix together 

1 1/4 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup good cocoa

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

Make 4 dents in the mixture- 2 big, and 2 small.

Pour into the dents

 1 cup water 

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp white vinegar

Mix until it's all smooth and combined.

Lick batter off of spatula shaped like a finger (optional).

Bake 30 minutes, cool in pan, and sprinkle with icing sugar.  Mmmmm.