Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake (with peppermint, opt)

adapted from http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=74242

I don't remember who sent me this recipe but it isn't mine and I haven't made it so you might want to try a practice one to try it, should work well for cupcakes. You can use any flavoring you like in place of the peppermint.
Makes 12 Servings

Preheat oven to 325F.

Prep a 10 inch bundt pan (spray with cooking oil or grease with all-vegetable shortening) and set aside.

Dry ingredients

Sift together in large bowl and whisk together well:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 2 tsp baking soda
  
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
  
• 1 cup white sugar
  
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients

Whisk together by hand in medium bowl:

• 1-3/4 cup (375 ml) unsweetened applesauce
  
• 1/4 cup canola oil
  
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
  
• 1 Tbsp peppermint extract (PS - make it a short tablespoon)

Add the wet ingredients to the dry with a few swift strokes just until blended. Pour into bundt pan. Bake 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Cool on rack.

UPDATE: this was an AWESOME cake - Added allergen-free chocolate chips and baked a double batch in a (rented) butterfly cake mold. Next time, though, we'll go just a tad lighter than prescribed on the peppermint extract.
UPDATE 2: we tried again with orange extract instead of peppermint; result was far below expectations - maybe a little too heavy on the baking soda.
UPDATE 3: no all-purpose flour so used 1 cup WW flour with 1 cup Pastry flour and 1 Tbsp gluten. Added 1 cup choc chips. Also didn't find any flavouring so used extra Tbsp applesauce. Finally, poured a single batch into a 9x13 pan. I hope it'll rise enough...