Instructions: Makes 1 9-inch heart-shaped cake

PREP TIME: 25 minutes

Baking Time: 25 minutes
FREEZING TIME: 30 minutes

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly coat a 9-inch heart-shaped pan with oil or nonstick spray. Sift flour, cocoa powder, sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt and cinnamon into a medium bowl and stir with a wire whisk to mix.

2. Measure soy milk, water, canola oil, 3 tablespoons jam, maple syrup, extracts and vinegar into blender and blend on high speed one minute, until smooth and foamy.

3. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until batter is smooth. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake on center rack of oven until cake is set, about 25 minutes. The sides of the cake will pull away from the pan and the surface of the cake will spring back when pressed lightly.

4. Cool cake in the baking pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn the cake out of the pan to cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap cooled cake in plastic wrap and freeze 30 minutes.

5. Spread top of cake with a thin layer of jam, then gently spread a 2-inch border of chocolate sauce around outer edge and down the sides.

Smooth with a rubber spatula and arrange raspberries around the edge of the cake. Refrigerate to set.

Variations: To create a Black Forest Cake, substitute cherry jam and fresh cherries. Or, for a nutty variation, simply sprinkle the top with your favorite toasted nuts.

NOTES : Heres a head start on your Valentine Days dessert. This cake sounds wonderful. And Ill just bet the chocolate sauce is to die for! I want to try it on fruit or frozen yogurt. Yum...

Note that these recipes are not only lowfat, but also free of refined sugars. You can find maple sugar or Sucanat (dehydrated sugar cane) in health food stores. If you prefer to use white sugar for the maple sugar, use 3 tbsp.

We could double this recipe and bake half in a round and half in a square pan. Then cut the round cake in half and "glue" it next to the square cake (positioned like a diamond) to make our own heart shape. I used to do this before heart-shaped pans were available.

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