Pareve Chocolate Cake



At the clearance table at my local Kroger recently, I found a Manischewitz cake mix on sale since Passover was finished.  However there are many holy days on the Jewish calendar plus anything that you keep pareve, meaning no animal or dairy products in it, can be used year round in a Kosher household.  I'd never had or made this type of cake so I decided to give it a try since Hanukkah starts today at sundown and some of our Jewish Sisters and Brothers might have their own opinions about this product to share. 



The box contained most of what was needed for the cake.  A dry cake mix, a dry frosting mix and a tinfoil pan for baking it.  All you need to add is the heat of your store, an egg, some water and margarine -- not butter or you'll make a non-pareve version of this cake.  The result is that this cake, if you follow the preferred directions is not just pareve but also vegan and lactose free which I know some of our Sisters and Brothers are concerned about for various reasons.

The directions for making the cake was straight forward and I think it turned out pretty well.  Here you can see that the batter was fluffy.  The pan was small and it made a six serving cake with around 260 calories though I used a margarine that has less fat and cholesterol than some other brands.  The frosting didn't turn out so well as you'll see in the final photograph.  It didn't say in the directions to use an electric mixer and since I'm reviewing this I follow the directions as closely as possible.  I'm not sure that a mixer would have helped since the frosting is basically a touch of water, margarine and this cocoa mixture.

The resulting cake was so-so.  The cake itself looked good but it was a bit dense and dry though it definitely tasted very chocolaty.  The frosting was just sad to look at though it tasted almost like a melted chocolate bar.

So, Sisters and Brothers, have you ever made this cake?  How did yours turn out?  Is there a better Kosher brand of cake mix I should look out for? 


But most importantly, will you have Chocolate during Hanukkah this year?

Comments

Mighty Fast Pig said…
Doesn't the egg make it non-vegan and non-pareve?
Not non-pareve since that's a meat issue but the egg should make it non-vegan yet the box claims it will be vegan and pareve both if you leave out the butter.

I use Egg Beaters or egg substitutes myself in all my cooking now. A lifetime of a mother with crazy cholesterol in my history is enough to make me wary. I only eat eggs when I want eggs not in other things that I make.