Berry Yummy: Vegan Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

My Peruvian princess, Kirsten, has decided to relocate to warmer climates.  Sadly, she will be moving this week, making last weekend our final hurrah. We had a blast celebrating Tracy’s birthday and I wanted to commemorate this occasion with a cake as well.  I knew she’d appreciate it.  Originally, I was simply going to bake another chocolate cake since the last one was so ridiculously delicious.  But when do I ever keep things simple?  Plus, it’s important that I try out new recipes to build my repertoire.

Since I had chocolate frosting left over from the last cake in the freezer, I needed to utilize it.  Lately, I’ve been experimenting with fruit flavored cake recipes so, I thought, why not make a Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake?  It should be as easy as adding pureed strawberries, right?  Wrong.  My first trial produced a very moist cake, but barely any strawberry flavor.  And, after baking, the beautiful pink batter turned into a ho-hum beige crumb.  I needed to figure out how to bulk up the strawberry flavor and keep the cake pink.

The easiest fix for the flavor would be to add strawberry extract.  I visited four supermarkets in search of the extract, but could only find raspberry, lemon, and cherry.  My next idea was to add strawberry syrup, like the melon flavor I used for the Green Tea Cake.  Nada.  Again, all I could find were raspberry and citrus flavors.  I should’ve made a raspberry cake instead.  I could’ve added strawberry liqueur, but it doesn’t have that necessary kick of strawberry flavor.  I was at a loss, so I pulled out my iPhone and found Paula Deen’s recipe for strawberry cake.  What was interesting about her recipe was the use of strawberry flavored gelatin.  I remembered seeing a natural, Vegan version of Jell-O at Whole Foods, so I grabbed a couple boxes and returned to my kitchen.  For extra added measure, I added strawberry preserves to replace some of the liquid.

I’m leaving the food coloring optional since some people may prefer a more natural cake.  The small amount of food coloring won’t change the flavor.  Some recipes call for as much as 3 tablespoons for a two layer cake, which I feel is too much.  Just a slight tinge of pink is fine by me.  No need for it to look like a red velvet cake.  I baked the cake, frosted it with the silky chocolate frosting, et voilà, a new recipe was born.  To keep the theme going, I dipped some fresh strawberries in melted dark chocolate and used them as garnish.  What resulted was a “chocolate covered strawberry cake with chocolate covered strawberries.”  Try saying that ten times fast. 

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake 

Dry Ingredients:

3 cups Unbleached Pastry Flour

2 tbs Corn Starch
2 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Sea Salt

1 pkg (3 oz) Strawberry Jel Dessert

Wet Ingredients:

1/2 cup Soy Milk + 2 tsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

3 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 4 tbs Water
2/3 cup Canola Oil
1 1/2 cup Sugar
2 cups Strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup Strawberry Preserves
2 tsp Vanilla Extract 
1 tsp Red Food Coloring (optional) 

Preheat oven to 320ºF.  In a food processor, blend strawberries and preserves.  Push strawberry mixture through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of most of the seeds, reserve.  Add vinegar to 1/2 cup soy milk, reserve.  Stir egg replacer and 4 tbs water, reserve.  Sift together dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl.

Pour oil and sugar into a large bowl and beat with a wire whisk until well incorporated.  Whisk in egg replacer, strawberry mixture, vanilla and food coloring if using.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Lastly, fold in soy milk and vinegar mixture.  Pour into two 9-inch cake pans and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool. 

Dark Chocolate Frosting 
(I ran out of extra firm silken tofu, so I adjusted the recipe for the firm kind I already had stocked in my pantry.  This luscious version is much easier to spread than the previous recipe.  It’s a winner.  The cake was rather large.  I recommend doubling the recipe.) 

1 box Firm Silken Tofu
8 oz. Vegan Chocolate Chips, melted in double boiler
1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract 

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.  Chill in the refrigerator until thickened to desired spreading consistency (around 45-60 minutes). 

Strawberry Gelée

3/4 cup Water
2 tbs Sugar
1/2 bar Agar-Agar
1/4 cup Strawberry Preserves, push through fine-mesh strainer
1 tbs Soy Milk Creamer
3-5 drops Red Food Coloring (optional) 

Pass preserves through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl.  Stir in coloring, if using, and reserve.  In a small saucepan, soak Agar-Agar in water to soften.  Stir over low heat to completely dissolve Agar-Agar.  Add sugar and stir to dissolve.  Remove from heat and add to preserves.  Add soy milk creamer.  Stir to combine and let sit at room temperature until thickened to desired consistency for spreading on top of cake (3-5 minutes).

Tough Tinting: Vegan Chocolate Cake

I seem to be having trouble with colors this week.  First the green tea cake turns brown.  Now I can’t seem to get frosting colored properly.  Who knew that tinting frosting would be so problematic?  I certainly didn’t.  Sure, pastel colors are easy.  But rich, vibrant primary colors, not so much.  I had some grand plans for this cake.  In the end, I decided to leave well enough alone.

View from cabin at dusk

My friend Tracy is celebrating her birthday this weekend in wine country, with a few close friends in a remote cabin on a street with no name.  I can’t wait to get away and have some fun.  I told her two weeks ago that I planned to bake a cake and asked if she had any requests.  Her first answer: chocolate.  We discussed a couple ideas for themes and decided on “Burning Man.”  This week long spiritual and artistic journey in the Black Rock desert of Nevada is probably her favorite time of year.  I, myself, have never been, but have heard many stories and met friends she’s made whilst prancing around the playa in a purple wig and ultra pink platform boots.  Hot.

Originally, the plan was to create the Burning Man logo surrounded by flames.  This changed when I couldn’t make red frosting.  While mixing coloring into the buttercream, it first turned a pale pink.  The more coloring I added, the deeper the pink became.  After adding a drop of black food coloring to darken, it resulted in a metallic looking magenta.  Sensational color, but not red.  I scrapped the idea of piping flames, worried that the frosting would become inedible.  Instead, I plan to add a slew of birthday candles and use real flames to represent the burning man.

Since there will only be four of us at the cabin, I halved the chocolate cake recipe from an earlier post to make one layer.  I was also running low on margarine, so I substituted the bulk of it with oil.  This cake is very moist and would be delicious with a simple dusting of powdered sugar in lieu of the frosting.  I also made alterations to the original frosting recipe since I didn’t want rum flavor.  It’s incredibly silky with just a hint of sweetness.

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1/4 cup + 2 tbs Cocoa Powder

1 tbs Corn Starch

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

Wet Ingredients:

2 tbs Soy Milk + 1 1/2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 2 tbs Water

2 tbs Earth Balance

3/4 cup + 2 tbs Sugar

1/3 cup Canola Oil

1 cup Water

2 tbs Apple Sauce

1 tsp Vanilla Extract 

Preheat oven to 320ºF.  Add vinegar to soy milk and reserve.  Stir egg replacer and 2 tbs water, reserve.  Sift together dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl.

Using an electric hand mixer, cream margarine in a large bowl.  Mix in sugar and oil to margarine.  Add egg replacer mixture, water, apple sauce, and vanilla to combine until smooth.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Lastly, fold in soy milk and vinegar mixture.  Pour into a 9-inch cake pan and bake for 27-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool.  

Chocolate Frosting (optional)

1/2 box Extra Firm Silken Tofu

3 oz. Vegan Chocolate Chips, melted in double boiler

2 tbs Powdered Sugar

1 tbs Soy Milk

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.  Chill in the refrigerator until thickened to desired spreading consistency (around 20-30 minutes).

Asian Persuasion: Vegan Green Tea Melon Cake

Yesterday was my dear friend Rachel’s birthday.  She is a teacher who works closely with disabled children, and is a lifelong Vegetarian.  A true angel.  I was more than happy to bake a cake for her, and kept this one a surprise (which is a very difficult thing for me to do).  After some brainstorming, I chose to make a theme inspired by the amazing tattoo on her back: a scene of tall bamboo trees and beautiful flowers surrounding two Asian characters.

Sticking with an Asian theme, I wanted to try my hand at a Green Tea Cake recipe with a twist.  Starbuck’s used to make a delicious Green Tea Latte.  I say used to because if anyone has ordered one in recent years, they may have noticed that it doesn’t taste the same.  The makers of Torani decided to discontinue the melon flavored syrup which Starbuck’s added to their Green Tea Lattes.  While shopping at a local Asian market, I spotted a bottle of melon flavored syrup made by an Indonesian company.  Eureka!  Wish someone would tell Starbucks that melon flavored syrup still exists so they can fix their rather bland current recipe.

I’ve been having problems with the color of this cake and haven’t quite yet solved it.  On the first trial, I added green tea soy milk instead of regular soy to give it a wallop of green tea flavor.  It turned out to be a tad strong.  Also, the cake had baked to a dark brown color resembling a chocolate cake.  So, I replaced the flavored soy milk with regular, and the flavor was perfect.  Sadly, the cake was still brown, although a lighter shade.  On my third attempt, I used unbleached white pastry flour instead of the whole wheat variety I usually like to bake with.  I checked the crumb of the cake freshly out of the oven and it was a dark green, but as it cooled the color turned brown again.  Last night I did some research and discovered there is a special green tea powder made for baking.  Browsed through the local Asian market today and they didn’t have any in stock.  If anyone knows of a store in the San Francisco Bay Area that carries this product, please let us know by leaving a comment.  In the meantime, I’ll make sure to update when I find a green tea powder that doesn’t oxidize from baking.

Nonetheless, I am satisfied with the more sophisticated flavor of this cake.  But best of all was seeing the surprise on Rachel’s face when she opened the box and recognized the inspiration for her birthday cake.

Vegan Green Tea Cake

Dry Ingredients:

3 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
6 tsp Green Tea Powder
2 tbs Corn Starch
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients: 
1/4 cup Soy Milk + 1 tbs Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
3 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 4 tbs Water
1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Margarine

1 1/4 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Canola Oil

1 3/4 cup Soy Milk
1/2 cup Water
1/4 cup Unsweetened Apple Sauce

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 320ºF.  Add vinegar to 1/4 cup soy milk and reserve.  Stir egg replacer and 4 tbs water, reserve.  Sift together dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl.

Using an electric hand mixer, cream margarine and sugar in a large bowl.  Add egg replacer mixture, oil, soy milk, water, apple sauce, and vanilla to combine until smooth.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Lastly, fold in soy milk and vinegar mixture.  Pour into two 9-inch cake pans and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool.

Melon Syrup

1/3 cup Melon Flavored Syrup

2 tbs Water

Stir syrup and water to combine.  Brush syrup over cooled cake layers with a pastry brush until absorbed. 

Green Tea Melon Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Margarine

1/2 cup Earth Balance Natural Shortening

3 cups Powdered Sugar

3 tbs Melon Syrup

1 tsp Green Tea Powder

3 tsp Soy Milk

Using an electric hand mixer, cream margarine and shortening until light and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar in stages.  Lastly, mix in melon syrup, green tea powder, and soy milk. 

Melon Gelée

1/4 bar Agar-Agar

1/2 cup Water

1 tbs Sugar

2 tbs Melon Flavored Syrup

Few drops green food coloring

In a small saucepan, soak Agar-Agar in water to soften.  Stir over low heat to completely dissolve Agar-Agar.  Add sugar and stir to dissolve.  Pour into a small bowl and add melon syrup and food coloring.  Stir to combine and let sit at room temperature until thickened to desired consistency for spreading on top of cake (3-5 minutes). 

Adventures in Piping: Vegan Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd Filling

A couple weeks ago was the one year mark since my first venture into Vegan baking.  It was my step-father’s birthday, and instead of making him cupcakes like last year, I was now able to bake him a cake.  The next leg of this journey was to begin learning how to decorate.  I find cake decorating fascinating, and enjoy watching TV shows like Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss.  On the other hand, I also find cake decorating to be quite intimidating.  But how was I to know how difficult it is unless I gave it a try?  I purchased the necessary tools and watched videos on YouTube for tips and technique.  Next, I whipped up a small batch of frosting to practice with, and found that it wasn’t as terrifying as I originally perceived it would be.

I wasn’t satisfied with the lemon cake recipe the first time, so I took advantage of this opportunity to give it another shot.  Since this was a birthday cake, I needed to make two layers.  Along with the frosting, I also filled the cake with a Lemon Curd recipe.  Again, there were a few miscues.  The day before the birthday celebration, I was becoming antsy so instead of waiting for the curd to chill thoroughly overnight, I cooked it in the morning and filled the cake later that day.  As soon as I stacked the second layer, the curd started to ooze out the sides of the cake.  I quickly wiped it up and placed the cake in the freezer.  In a half hour, the curd had set and I was ready to proceed.  Misstep thwarted, phew.  I frosted the cake, busted out the cake decorating tools and went to town.  I have to admit, it was fun piping lines, dots and squiggles, and I found it to be quite therapeutic.  With the cake completed, all I needed to do was transport it to my Mom’s house the next day.

The cake arrived safely and we had a couple of hours until my step-father returned home from work.  It was placed safely on the counter while we waited for his arrival.  Huge, glaring error!  As the cake was revealed, I noticed that the curd was starting to seep from the bottom of the cake.  It should’ve stayed cool in the fridge.  Mistakes aside, the lemon cake had a nice balance of sweet and tart, creating a refreshing sensation with each bite.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

(Lemon Cake and Whipped Frosting recipes from a previous post.) 

Lemon Curd Filling
(Recipe halved from Vegansaurus!)

1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1/4 cup Water
3/4 cup Sugar
2 tbs Corn Starch
Zest of 1 Lemon

Pinch of Sea Salt

5 tbs + 1 tsp Soy Milk Creamer

1 tbs Earth Balance Vegan Margarine

Whisk all ingredients except soy milk and margarine in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.  When it comes to a boil, stop whisking and allow to boil for 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and stir in soy milk and margarine.  Place in a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap to avoid skin being formed.  Let cool to room temperature, then place in the refrigerator and chill for 8 hours or overnight.

More Muffins, Please: Vegan Raspberry Muffins

Having a muffin extravaganza this weekend.  These muffins have double the raspberry goodness.

Vegan Raspberry Muffins

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, reserve 2 tbs
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 2 tbs Water
3 tbs Canola Oil
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Soy Milk
1/2 cup Frozen Raspberries
1 tbs Unsweetened Apple Sauce
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

3 tsp Raspberry Preserves

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Dredge frozen raspberries in 2 tbs flour.  Sift together dry ingredients into a small bowl.  Stir egg replacer and water, reserve.  Pour oil and sugar into a medium bowl and beat with a wire whisk until well incorporated.  Whisk in soy milk, egg replacer, apple sauce and vanilla.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Gently fold in frozen raspberries.  Evenly distribute batter into a greased muffin pan, filling each well about 3/4 full.  Top each muffin with 1/2 tsp raspberry preserves and press into batter.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
 

Breakfast for 2: Vegan Banana Muffins

Made these moist and fluffy muffins this morning.  Warm and inviting, they are perfect for a rainy day.  Give 'em a try.

(Tip: When bananas are very ripe, peel and place in zipper storage bags.  Store in the freezer until needed.)

Vegan Banana Muffins (yields 6 muffins)

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 2 tbs Water
2 tbs Canola Oil
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Soy Milk
2 very ripe Bananas, mashed
1 tbs Unsweetened Apple Sauce
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Sift together dry ingredients into a small bowl.  Stir egg replacer and water, reserve.  Pour oil and sugar into a medium bowl and beat with a wire whisk until well incorporated.  Whisk in soy milk, egg replacer, bananas, apple sauce and vanilla.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Evenly distribute batter into a greased muffin pan, filling each well about 3/4 full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

The End of an Era: Vegan "Lex Luthor" Lemon Cake

With the two cake giants firmly under my belt, it was time to take a crack at other flavors.  I’ve always enjoyed cakes from the local Asian bakeries, with their spongy chiffon, lightly sweetened whipped cream frosting, and fresh fruit decorations.  There’s no more perfect ending to dinner during the warm summer months.  I’m not sure if a Vegan chiffon cake is possible due to whipped egg whites contributing greatly to its fluffy structure.  I’ve seen Vegetarian bakers beat ground flax seed with water to produce an egg white like substance, but it can't be whipped and I'm not sure it would hold up to baking.  I’ll leave this to future experimentation.  Meanwhile, I wanted to see if I could somehow recreate the whipped cream frosting from Asian bakery cakes.

After much research online, I learned that many of the Asian bakeries don’t actually use whipped cream.  Instead, they use a product called RichWhip Non-Dairy Topping, which also happens to be Vegan.  Purchasing this product is quite difficult as it is generally available only to commercial operations.  But through diligent searching, I found a store 40 minutes away that had some available.  After getting my hands on a small carton of the elusive RichWhip, I started on the frosting.  Problem is I didn’t have any whipped cream stabilizer on hand.  So the end product was a bit finicky to work with.

In my opinion, using RichWhip has more disadvantages than it's worth.  It contains high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils (AKA trans fats), which defeat the purpose of eating a healthy diet.  And in order to stabilize it, I’d have to order a product online and wait for its arrival before I can toy with it.  I’m including the recipe that I used for the cake, but am currently searching for a more natural Vegan alternative.  Gluten-free Vegan author and blogger, Ricki Heller, has posted an entry for a vegan whipped topping recipe.  I will be giving this a try in the near future.

My favorite show of the past decade, Smallville, was sadly coming to a close.  What better way to mark the occasion than to bake a cake.  Throughout the series I’ve been enthralled with Michael Rosenbaum’s portrayal of the notorious Lex Luthor.  Since he was returning for the series finale, I decided to create a theme around Lex.  I am no Duff Goldman, so I needed to think outside the box and construct a design I could attain.  I started to think about Smallville's Lex Luthor and the iconic images surrounding this character.  There’s the Luthor “L” symbol on his kryptonite ring, and I’ve always liked the windows of the Luthor mansion.  So I put the two together.  But how was I going to create windows on a cake?  I’ve seen gelée on cakes, but it is made with gelatin (the collagen derived from animal skin and bones).  Then I remembered my Mom making cool and refreshing jelly-like desserts from Agar-Agar (a seaweed derivative) when I was a kid.  Off to the Asian grocery store I went.

Now onto the cake: Lex Luthor…initials LL…L, hmm…lemon cake!  I found out how much lemon juice was used in a traditional cake, compared it to the vanilla cake recipe and made the necessary substitutions.  And thus I had a Vegan lemon cake.  But true to form, the recipe wasn’t perfect.  Once I combined the wet and dry ingredients, the batter started to fizz and bubble up caused by the chemical reaction between the baking soda and the extra added acidity from the lemon juice.  It reminded me of the volcano projects from elementary school science fairs.  I poured the foamy batter into a cake pan and placed it in the oven to bake.  Probably due to the higher amount of acid in the recipe, the cake was slightly dry.  Nothing a little Limoncello syrup can’t fix.  I know, so far all of my Vegan cake recipes have liquor in it.  But cakes are celebratory, and so are libations.  I promise in the future I’ll have recipes that aren’t boozy.

(Note: I've baked this cake since, and have adjusted the recipe resulting in a more moist crumb than the original.)

Vegan Lemon Cake

Dry Ingredients:

3 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

2 tbs Corn Starch
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients:

1/2 cup Soy Milk + 2 tsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

2/3 cup Canola Oil

1 1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Lemon Juice (about 3-4 Lemons)
1 1/4 cup Water
2 tsp Vanilla

Zest of 2 Lemons, finely grated

Preheat oven to 320ºF.  Add vinegar to 1/2 cup soy milk and reserve.  Sift together dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl.

Pour oil and sugar into a large bowl and beat with a wire whisk until well incorporated.  Whisk in lemon juice, water, vanilla and lemon zest.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Lastly, fold in soy milk and vinegar mixture.  Pour into two 9-inch cake pans and bake for 27-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool.

Limoncello Syrup (optional)

1/4 cup Limoncello

1/3 cup Water

1/2 cup Sugar

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and stir over low heat to dissolve sugar.  Allow to cool to room temperature.  When cooled, brush syrup over cooled cake layers with a pastry brush until absorbed.

Lemon Whipped Frosting

(Based on Cool Whip Frosting from Cooks.com)

1 small carton RichWhip Non-Dairy Whip Topping (8 oz.)

3/4 cup Soy Milk

1 pkg Instant Lemon Pudding
1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
Zest of 1 Lemon

Using an electric hand mixer and a large bowl, whip RichWhip to stiff peaks.  In a separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Gently fold pudding mixture into whipped topping until well combined.  (Best made a day in advance and left in the fridge to slightly harden to a more spreadable consistency.)

Assorted Gelée

3/4 bar Agar-Agar

1 1/2 cup Water

1/4 cup Sugar

4 tbs Raspberry Jam

2 tbs Soy Milk

Few drops red food coloring (red)

Few drops blue food coloring (purple)

Pass raspberry jam through a fine mesh strainer if seeded.  In three small bowls, place 2 tbs jam in two bowls and soy milk in third.  Stir coloring into separate jams and reserve.  In a small saucepan, soak Agar-Agar in water to soften.  Stir over low heat to completely dissolve Agar-Agar.  Add sugar and stir to dissolve.  Remove from heat and pour, dividing evenly, into bowls of jam and soy milk.  Stir to combine and let sit at room temperature until thickened to desired consistency for spreading on top of cake (3-5 minutes).