National Chocolate Cake Day

In honor of this delicious holiday, we've got recipes for organic and vegan chocolate cakes to satisfy everyone's cravings.

Thu, Jan 27 2011 at 10:14 AM EST

Photo: Gail/Flickr

I experienced something new last night — Thundersnow. Did anyone else on the East Coast experience this phenomenon?

Sometime late in the afternoon when it started snowing (yet again), there was thunder and a little lightning. Periodically throughout the evening, there would be loud roars of thunder that shook the house. In January. During a snowstorm. When it was 15 degrees out. It was really something.

Today is an official snow day. There is a foot of snow outside my door, the boys are off from school and, it just so happens that today is also National Chocolate Cake Day. National Chocolate Cake Day + a snow day = baking a chocolate cake.

If you’re snowed in today and thinking about what you want to cook or bake, you might want to honor National Chocolate Cake Day. Even if you’re not snowed in, you probably still want to honor it, right? Use organic or fair trade ingredients in these recipes when you can.

Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake & Frosting - This has been my go-to chocolate cake recipe for years. It’s incredibly moist and the best straightforward chocolate cake I’ve ever made. You don’t need to use Hershey’s Cocoa in this recipe. You can use the cocoa powder of your choice and just follow the recipe. I usually decrease the amount of cocoa powder in the frosting from 2/3 cup to 1/2 cup.
Green & Black’s Organic Dark Chocolate Cake – Whole wheat pastry flour, flax seed, and maple syrup in replace of sugar give this cake a bit of a healthier boost. Maybe not the cake to bake if you’re snowed in and don’t have all of the ingredients, but if you’re able to safely get to a store today, you might want to give it a try topped with hot fudge.
Organic Dark Chocolate Cake Easy Enough for a Weekday – This simple recipe makes a single-layer 8x8 inch frosted chocolate cake. This is a great choice if you want to have some chocolate cake today but don't want leftovers for tomorrow and the next day and the next day.
Vegan Chocolate Cake – Almost 300 people on allrecipes.com have rated this cake 4 1/2 stars. Many of the people who rated it said that their non-vegan friends couldn’t tell the difference. It’s also a great recipe if you’re not vegan but you happen to be out of eggs.
Chocolate Cupcakes and Peanut Butter Icing – Just to mix-it up a little, here’s Ina Garten’s recipe for chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing instead of chocolate. If you’re not a fan of peanut butter icing, there’s no reason you couldn’t frost the cupcakes with chocolate icing.