Black Forest Cake

Ingredients

 * cake
 * 1 cup water
 * 1 cup honey
 * 1/2 cup applesauce
 * 1 tsp vanilla
 * 1 tsp vinegar
 * 2 cup wholewheat pastry flour or
 * -- unbleached white flour
 * 3/4 cup cocoa powder
 * 1 tbsp baking powder
 * 1 tsp 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 tsp vanilla
 * 1/2 cup honey
 * 10 oz firm tofu
 * 3 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted
 * 16 oz jar pitted cherries, drained

Directions
Cake: preheat oven to 350°F. 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. "vegetarian times" december, 199