Recipe for secret-ingredient chocolate cake

Cocoa, flour, sugar and eggs are ingredients you'd expect to find in a cake. The surprise addition here is healthy tomato juice. Check out this recipe:

Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 30 minutes
Serves: 16

Ingredients:

• 175 ml (3⁄4 c) tomato juice
• 50 ml (1⁄4 c) water
• 150 ml (2⁄3 c) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 290 g (2 1⁄4 c) all-purpose flour
• 5 ml (1 tsp) baking soda
• 2 ml (1⁄2 tsp) baking powder
• 1 ml (1⁄4 tsp) salt
• 300 g (1 1⁄2 c) sugar
• 125 ml (1⁄2 c) canola oil
• 3 large eggs
• 7 ml (1 1⁄2 tsp) vanilla extract
• 25 g (1 oz) unsweetened chocolate
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) low-fat (1%) milk
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 125 ml (1⁄2 c) light cream cheese
• 325 g (2 1⁄2 c) icing (confectioner's) sugar, sifted
• 125 ml (1⁄2 c) seedless raspberry jam

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Coat two 23 centimetre (nine inch) round cake pans with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Bring the tomato juice and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Whisk in cocoa powder until completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
3. Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
4. Beat sugar, oil, eggs and five millilitres (one teaspoon) vanilla extract in a large bowl to combine. Beat in cocoa mixture. Beat in flour mixture just until evenly moistened. Divide batter between pans.
5. Bake until a skewer inserted in the centre of each cake comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack. Leave cakes to cool for 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack. Allow to cool completely before icing.
6. For the icing, place the chocolate and milk in a medium microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high power for one minute. Stir until smooth. Whisk in cocoa powder until smooth. Whisk in cream cheese and two millilitres (1⁄2 teaspoon) vanilla extract. Stir in icing (confectioner's) sugar until combined.
7. Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread with jam and about a third of the icing mixture. Place second layer on top. Spread the rest of the icing over top and side of cake.

Per serving:

• 359 Calories
• 6 g Protein
• 14 g Fat (including 4 g Saturated Fat)
• 56 mg Cholesterol
• 56 g Carbohydrates
• 2 g Fibre
• 268 mg Sodium

• Instead of a thick layer of icing, you can take this cake from tea party to dinner party by topping it generously with freshly whipped cream and a sprinkling of fresh raspberries or sliced strawberries.

Surprising, but delicious! Try it out the next time you have friends over and see if they can guess the secret ingredient.

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