A Chocolate Birthday Cake
For my brother's birthday, I baked him a chocolate cake. It came out deliciously but it definitely isn't like the super rich non-vegan cakes of my past, which may or may not be a good thing.
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) unsweetened non-dairy milk
2 tsp white or apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups (307 g) unsweetened applesauce (I didn't have enough so I had to microwave cook and blend an apple)
1/2 cup (120 ml) strong brewed coffee (or sub more almond milk) (I used a very light color of the Nespresso coffee and put it on the more diluted setting)
2/3 cup (160 ml) melted coconut oil (I used half coconut oil and half canola oil but dad still said it was too coconuty, would have preferred a neural tasting coconut oil)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups + 2 Tbsp (320 g) whole-wheat pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour (I did half and half)
1 1/3 cups (266 g) organic cane sugar (or sub granulated sugar)
1 cup (96 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly spray 2 8-inch round cake pans. Dust with cocoa powder or flour, shake out the excess and set aside.
Mix the almond milk and vinegar in a large mixing bowl, and let set for a few minutes to activate. Add the oil, coffee, vanilla extract, and applesauce and beat until foamy.
Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to a sifter and slowly sift over the wet ingredients while mixing with a hand-held or standing mixer. Beat until no large lumps remain. It should be creamy and pourable.
Pour into cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes
Let cake cool, take out of pans, cool completely
Frost and assemble. Eat with strawberries
1 cup (16 Tbsp or 224 g) vegan butter, softened (I used 1/3 Miyoko's butter, 1/3 Smart Balance, 1/3 coconut oil because I was unsure if just the Smart Balance would have been too salty. I want to look into what vegan butter's are the best for baking)
~ 2 cups (280-336 g) powdered sugar
~ 2/3 cup (63 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup (30 g) dairy-free semisweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
~ 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
~1/4 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
The only problem I had with the frosting was that it melted very quickly so the cake had to be refrigerated when it is not being eaten. To make the cake richer, I want to find a way to add melted baking chocolate to the batter. Perhaps I could use a little less milk and applesauce and add the chocolate instead.
https://minimalistbaker.com/one-bowl-vegan-chocolate-cake/