Happy Birthday, Auntie Ellie!: Vegan Raspberries n' Cream Cake

Yesterday was my Auntie Ellie’s birthday.  For her cake, I wanted something fresh and summery.  Raspberries and cream are a wonderful combination to help beat the heat during the summer months, so I thought I’d make it in cake form.

This recipe was relatively easy to devise.  All it took was substituting raspberries in my previous strawberry cake recipe.  I added more liquid to the recipe since raspberries tend to have less moisture than strawberries.  Careful, this batter likes to foam up.

This time, I didn’t add any food coloring to the cake, hoping that the raspberries would stain the cake red on their own.  No such luck.  After baking, the cake was a bluish grey color.  (Is that where blue raspberry slushees come from?)  To save my mishap, I crushed up some raspberries and added it to the filling.  Also, with the more acidic cake flavors, I find it almost necessary to soak the cake with syrup.  As you know by now, I enjoy adding liqueurs to cakes, and a syrup made with Chambord would be amazing in this.  My aunt isn’t a fan of alcohol, so I used a simple syrup to keep it moist and delicious.

Raspberries n’ Cream Cake

Dry Ingredients: 3 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour 2 tbs Corn Starch 2 tsp Baking Soda 2 tsp Baking Powder 1 tsp Sea Salt 1 pkg (3 oz) Raspberry Jel Dessert

Wet Ingredients: 1/2 cup Soy Milk + 1 tbs Raw Apple Cider Vinegar 3 tsp Energ Egg + 4 tbs Water 2/3 cup Canola Oil 1 1/2 cups Sugar 1 1/2 cups Raspberries (fresh or frozen) 1/4 cup Water 1/4 cup Raspberry Preserves 1/2 cup Soy Milk Creamer  2 tsp Vanilla Extract 1 tsp Red Food Coloring (optional)

Preheat oven to 320ºF.  In a food processor, puree raspberries,  1/4 cup water and preserves.  Push 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, raspberry 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.

Simple Syrup 

1/4 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Water

Heat water and sugar in a small saucepan until sugar dissolves.  Allow to cool before brushing on cakes. 

Creamy Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Margarine

1/2 cup Earth Balance Natural Shortening

3 cups Powdered Sugar

3 tbs Soy Milk Creamer

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Using an electric hand mixer, cream margarine and shortening until light and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar in stages.  Lastly, mix in soy creamer and vanilla. 

Coderrific: Vegan Dulce de Leche Cake w/ Salted Caramel Frosting

Two cake recipes in one day.  I didn't think I was going to survive, but with some planning (and simplifying) it was successful.

For a few months, I’ve been looking forward to making this cake for my friend Cody.  He was at the house in wine country when I presented my first successful Vegan cake.  The next time I saw him, he was raving about it and I promised I would bake a special cake for his birthday.

My inspiration for the flavor came from a video by Everyday Dish TV for Vegan Dulce de Leche.  It is so decadent and delicious, and I had to try it in a cake recipe.  As for the salted caramel frosting, I think this is the best frosting I have made thus far.  The small addition of sea salt to the recipe really makes a difference in flavor.  Some of my friends said the cake tasted like Sugar Daddy candies.  Yum.

Because the cake needed to travel in the heat, I didn't fill the cake with Dulce de Leche in fear it might melt and create a sticky mess.  Instead, I saved myself the headache and brought along a jar of it to use as a sauce on the plates.  Sadly, the cake didn’t survive the 4 hour trek to the cabin unscathed.  I made a rookie mistake of not gluing down the bottom layer to the cake circle with a few squirts of frosting.  Driving through hills with twists and turns caused the cake to shift over, and one side of the cake was harmed.  Lesson learned.  At least it was only one side and didn’t interfere with the decorations.

This is definitely one of my favorite cake recipes and I hope you will give it a try.  Cody was stoked, and enjoyed being able to eat his own face.

Dulce de Leche Cake w/ Salted Caramel Frosting

Dry Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
4 tbs Corn Starch
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients:

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

2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 3 tbs Water

2/3 cup Canola Oil
1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar

3/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Dulce de Leche (recipe below)
1/2 cup Water
1/4 cup Apple Sauce

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

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

Pour oil and sugars into a large bowl and beat with a wire whisk until well incorporated.  Whisk in dulce de leche, water, apple sauce and vanilla.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Lastly, fold in soy milk and vinegar mixture.  Pour into two 9-inch cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool.

Vegan Dulce de Leche

(Based on recipe by Everyday Dish TV)  

1 jar Brown Rice Syrup

1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar

2 tbs Earth Balance Vegan Margarine, melted

1/3 cup Soy Milk Powder

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Pinch Salt

Take lid off of brown rice syrup jar and warm in a hot water bath or microwave. Mix melted margarine, vanilla, salt and soy milk powder to create a paste.  When the brown rice syrup is warm, pour into a deep bowl and add brown sugar.  Using a hand immersion blender, beat syrup and sugar until dissolved.  Add soy powder mixture and beat until well incorporated.  Allow to cool.

Salted Caramel Frosting 

1/4 cup Earth Balance Vegan Margarine
3/4 cup Earth Balance Natural Shortening
1/2 cup Dulce de Leche
2 tbs Soy Milk
3 cups Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Sea Salt

Using an electric hand mixer, cream margarine and shortening until light and fluffy.  Mix in dulce de leche and soy milk until well incorporated.  Add powdered sugar in stages.  Lastly, mix in vanilla and sea salt.

Masarap: Vegan Coffee Layer Cake

My cousin Jason celebrated his birthday last Friday.  For his cake, I wanted to veganize a Filipino recipe for Mocha Cake.  Filipino Mocha is actually a coffee flavored cake and I don’t understand why it’s called mocha.  Traditionally it is a roll cake, but some bakeries do make it as a layered cake.  Originally, I had planned to make a Vegan Mocha Crunch Cake ala Red Ribbon, with an airy toffee being the crunch part.  But I had to simplify the recipe since I was baking two cakes in one day.

This is the first cake I haven’t tasted personally since I dropped it off in the morning before heading out of town for the weekend.  My Mom and the birthday boy both told me it was delicious.  If you try out the recipe (or were one of the lucky few Jason shared it with), please leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Coffee Layer Cake

Dry Ingredients:

3 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

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 Energ Egg + 4 tbs Water

2 cups Water  + 3 tbs Instant Coffee Granules
2/3 cup Canola Oil
1 cup Light Brown Sugar

3/4 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Applesauce

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

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

Pour oil and sugars into a large bowl and beat with a wire whisk until well incorporated.  Add egg replacer mixture, coffee, applesauce, and vanilla to combine until smooth.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Lastly, fold in soy milk and vinegar mixture.  Pour into 2 9-inch cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool. 

Coffee Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Margarine

1/2 cup Earth Balance Natural Shortening

3 cups Powdered Sugar

3 tbs Water

1 tbs Instant Coffee Granules

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Stir coffee granules in water to dissolve, reserve.  Using an electric hand mixer, cream margarine and shortening until light and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar in stages.  Lastly, mix in coffee and vanilla.