Black Forest Cake

Cake:
1 cup water
1 cup honey
1/2 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vinegar
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or unbleached white flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

Syrup:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup honey
2 thin lemon or orange slices
1/3 cup Kirsch

Icing:
3/4 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey
10 ounces firm tofu
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1 (16 ounce) jar pitted cherries, drained

Cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-inch cake pan.

Combine liquid ingredients in a large bowl and whisk well.

Sift dry ingredients together and whisk into liquid mixture. Pour into prepared pan, and bake for 35 minutes or until springy.

Cool cake completely and remove from pan. With a serrated knife, cut cake horizontally to make 3 thin layers.

SYRUP: Combine first 3 ingredients in a small pot and boil for 3 minutes. Let cool and then add kirsch.

ICING: In a blender, combine cashews, water and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth and creamy. Add honey and tofu and blend again. Set aside 2 cups for the vanilla icing to go on top and sides of cake. To the rest of the mixture, add melted chocolate and 3 tablespoons of syrup. Blend until smooth. Chill both icings before using.

TO ASSEMBLE: Carefully remove the top two layers of cake. Brush some syrup onto bottom layer and spread half of chocolate icing over it. Place the middle cake layer on top and brush with syrup and icing. Put down a layer of cherries and dot with a little vanilla icing to help the top layer stick.

Place the top layer on the cherries and brush again with syrup. Frost top and sides with vanilla icing. Decorate with cherries and pipe rosettes if desired.

Chill several hours before serving. The cake can be kept covered if not being served until the following day. However, the frosting may discolor after about 3 days.