Black Forest Cake

Ingredients

2 1/4 c water
1 3/4 c honey
1/2 c applesauce
3 ts vanilla
1 ts vinegar
2 c wholewheat pastry flour
3/4 c cocoa powder
1 tb baking powder
1 ts baking soda
2 slices lemon
3/8 kirsch
3/4 c cashews
10 oz firm tofu
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate
16 pitted cherries

Instructions

CAKE: Preheat oven to 350F. Combine liquid ingredients in a large bowl & whisk well. Sift dry ingredients together & whisk into liquid mixture. Pour into greased & floured 9" cake tin & bake for 35 minutes or until springy. Cool cake completely & remove from pan. With a serrated knife, cut cake horizontally to make 3 thin layers. SYRUP: Combine first 3 ingredients in a small pot & boil for 3 minutes. Let cool & then add kirsch. ICING: In a blender, combine cashews, water & vanilla. Blend till smooth & creamy. Add honey & tofu & blend again. Set aside 2 c for the vanilla icing to go on top & sides of cake. To the rest of the mixture, add melted chocolate & 3 tb of syrup. Blend till smooth. Chill both icings before using. TO ASSEMBLE: Carefully remove the top two layers of cake. Brush some syrup onto bottom layer & spread half of chocolate icing over it. Place the middle cake layer on top & brush with syrup & icing. Put down a layer of cherries & dot with a little vanilla icing to help the top layer stick. Place the top layer on the cherries & brush again with syrup. Frost top & sides with vanilla icing. Decorate with cherries & pipe rosettes if desired. Chill several hours before serving. The cake can be kept covered if not being served till the following day. However, the frosting may discolour after about 3 days.