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).