Vegan Chocolate Raspberry Naked Cake - Birthday Cake #2!

My birthday tulips and the cake

The day of my birthday (January 9th) I had some friends from work over to celebrate. Of course, I needed to bake another cake. I really wanted to make a "naked cake," but for a small party two layers would suffice. (I'm still scared to split cakes.) The cake is "naked" because there is no icing on the side, which makes it super easy to decorate. Often they have much thicker icing layers involving lemon curd or buttercream so that it's easier to see.
I worked off of Martha Stewart's "Lighter Chocolate Cake" from her cakes book, which is a single layer chocolate cake.

1. I doubled Martha's recipe to make two 9" rounds.
2. If one of the cakes has an uglier top, put that one upside-down on your plate. 
3. Spread raspberry jam and let it set.
4. Spread chocolate sauce/icing on top of the raspberry jam.
5. Gently set the nicer-topped cake right-side up on the first layer.
6. Put icing on top of the cake, and garnish with raspberries. 

The issue that came up for me was that my chocolate glaze between layers one and two was perfect, but on the top the first batch was too chunky (and not enough of it!) and the second was too thin. There were some bumps on the cake because of that, but it still tasted amazing.
I've added it to MyFitnessPal so you can see the nutrition information. 

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup canola, vegetable, or safflower oil

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

4 teaspoons distilled white vinegar (vinegar takes the place of eggs to make the cake rise)

vegetable oil cooking spray

For the glaze:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons water

powdered sugar if necessary

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375*F. Coat your 8" (I used 9" rounds, so I was able to take them out 5 minutes sooner) round pans with cooking spray.
2. Whisk water and cocoa powder in a bowl.
3. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add cocoa mixture, oil, and vanilla. Once smooth, add vinegar.
4. Pour evenly into the cake pans. Bake until your cake-tester comes out clean, 25-35 minutes (9" round) or 30-40 minutes (8" round). 
5. Rest cakes in pans for 20 minutes on wire rack. Once cooled, use a knife to loosen cakes, and gently place on the racks to cool completely.
6. Melt the chocolate chips in a bowl with the water until smooth. If the glaze is too thin for your tastes, add in some powdered sugar. 

Enjoy!