Dolce Delicato: Vegan Vanilla Lavender Cake

Today is Cindy's birthday, and being the most thoughtful and kindhearted person I know, I wanted to create something special for her.  Cindy is a classical music and opera enthusiast, and has treated me to many delightful evenings of lavish dinners and spectacular opera productions.  I always know that it's going to be a wonderful and memorable occasion when I get to spend time with her.  She is also an avid baker and makes the most delicious bundt cakes I've ever had the pleasure of eating.

For her birthday cake, I tried to think of a flavor that is uncommon.  Something befitting an opera diva after a big performance.  Food and opera go hand in hand.  Cindy's favorite singer is the brilliant and beautiful Renée Fleming, and I recently learned that a lavender colored iris had been named after her.  Taking a cue from this information, I purchased some dried culinary lavender flowers and thought up a way to incorporate it into a cake.  Rather than adding the flowers into the batter, I boiled them in soy milk and also made a simple syrup.  This way, I was able to extract enough of the essence of lavender without having people chew on flowers.  

This cake is delicate in flavor with a gentle perfume of lavender.  A lovely flavored cake for a lovely woman.

Vegan Vanilla Lavender Cake

Dry Ingredients: 2 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour 4 tbs Corn Starch 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder 1 tsp Baking Soda 1 tsp Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients: 1/4 cup Soy Milk + 2 tsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar 2/3 cup Canola Oil 1 1/2 cup Sugar 1 3/4 cup Lavender Soy Milk (recipe below) 4 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 320ºF.  Add vinegar to 1/4 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 lavender soy milk and vanilla.  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.

Lavender Soy Milk

2 1/2 cups Soy Milk

2 tbs Dried Culinary Lavender Flowers

Pour milk into a small saucepan over low heat.  Crush lavender in palms of hands and add to milk.  Slowly bring to a boil constantly stirring, reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes.  Allow to cool, then strain.  Store in the refrigerator until needed.

Lavender Simple Syrup

1/2 cup Water

1/2 cup Sugar

2 tsp Dried Culinary Lavender Flowers

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat.  Slowly bring to a boil constantly stirring, reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes.  Allow to cool to room temperature.  When cooled, brush syrup over cooled cake layers with a pastry brush until absorbed.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Margarine

1/2 cup Earth Balance Natural Shortening

3 cups Powdered Sugar

3 tbs Soy Milk

1 tbs Vanilla Extract

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

Fondant Fun: Vegan Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Filling

Laura contacted me and asked to be my second commissioned cake.  She was planning a dinner party in celebration of her 30th anniversary and wanted a Vegan cake for her Vegetarian husband.  They own an impressive amount of pets including a boa constrictor, a green winged Macaw, and bearded dragons to name a few.  Her Russian tortoise is one of her favorite pets and we agreed on a turtle theme.

Both John and Laura love chocolate, so since I've had experience baking the cake, it was time for me to try out some new techniques.  My Auntie Vilma is an avid baker, has a college degree in Home Economics and has been taking cake decorating courses in her retirement.  She has very generously gifted me many of her cake decorating tools and supplies in support of my hobby.  With all the tools necessary to work with fondant, I went on a search to find a Vegan fondant.

In my search, I discovered that the Satin Ice line of fondants include Vegan and Kosher varieties.  Luckily, a local cake decorating store and school carries Satin Ice exclusively.  Score!  No need to order online.  Because this was my first adventure in fondant, I decided to keep it simple making lily pads for the turtles.  But to give the cake a touch of romance, I also made my first fondant flower: a water lily.

Everything went along quite smoothly, which is not always a good sign in my experience.  When Laura came to pick up the cake, I noticed the lily pads were slipping and ruined some of the piping.  Bummer!  She was very kind about it, but I need to figure out why this happened.  When I removed the candle from my niece's cake last week, the candle came off completely clean.  Something about the chocolate frosting isn't allowing things to stick to it, which is great for saving a decorative candle, but not so much for fondant which needs to stay put.  I'm going to have to look into solving this problem.

I wish Laura and John a very happy 30th wedding anniversary, and many more to come.  Have fun celebrating with family and friends, and I hope you and your guests enjoy the cake.

Update 9/18/2011: Word of advice from my aunt: "Always glue all your decorations down with buttercream," for extra added measure.  I glued down the turtles and flowers, but not the lily pads thinking they would stick to the chocolate frosting.  Lesson learned.

Update 9/18/2011: Photos sent by Laura added below.  Text received from Laura: "There's not much left... we all agreed it was one of the best cakes ever!  Thank you!"  I'm ecstatic they enjoyed it so much.

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Filling 
(recipe from previous post)

Laura slicing the saved cake

Laura and John's guests

Speak Kitty, Speak: Vegan Cherry Fudge Cake

Last weekend, my niece celebrated her 21st birthday.  She absolutely loves everything Hello Kitty and owns a vast collection: stuffed toys, slippers, bedspreads, lamps, and even Hello Kitty hosiery.  So picking a theme was by no means difficult.  My challenge was finding the time to bake it, since university was back in session and I had a performance the same weekend.

I had seen a Hello Kitty cake pan online and flirted with a potentially disastrous situation.  I quickly scrapped the idea, worried that my decorating skills were not yet up to par.  Instead, I did some hunting at a local party supply store and found an adorable Hello Kitty birthday candle.  I also picked up some Hello Kitty rings to decorate the side of the cake.  Easy breezy.

Onto the cake recipe.  I wanted to try out a cherry flavored cake, because I thought the theme would pair well with Hello Kitty, and also because dark cherries are delicious.  This cake turned out quite dense and, alongside the dark chocolate frosting, was very rich.  Almost too rich actually, which I find rather odd since it's Vegan and has no dairy.  Hence, I've decided to call it a cherry fudge cake.  Kaycee was delighted when I revealed her birthday surprise, and my cousins gave the cake a thumbs up.

Vegan Cherry Fudge 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) Cherry 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 3/4 cup Sugar 2 cups Dark Cherries (fresh or frozen) 1/2 cup Cherry Preserves 2 tsp Vanilla Extract 1 tsp Red Food Coloring (optional)

Preheat oven to 320ºF.  In a food processor, blend cherries and preserves, reserve.  Add vinegar to 1/2 cup soy milk and 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, cherry 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 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool.

Dark Chocolate Frosting   

(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).

Ka-ching!: Vegan Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Filling

This is my first commissioned cake.  Rachel had contacted me about making a cake for her father’s birthday.  Luckily for me, he wanted a simple chocolate cake, of which I’ve already had success baking.  After gingerly prying him for a theme (the cake was a surprise), Ted came up with “Papua New Guinea Warrior.”  Huh?!  Rachel quickly texted me some photos of Papua warriors, which in turn gave me the idea to paint masks.  When I was in high school, I would purchase small ceramic mask kits at a local dollar store to give myself and my young cousins an activity to do during the summer months.  Something fun to pass the time, these kits included paints, brushes and already baked ceramic masks.  I went online and found mask-shaped chocolate molds.  My next challenge was to figure out an edible way to paint them.

I flirted with a few options from airbrushing and edible spray paint, to ordering online edible paint (of which I wasn’t sure were Vegan).  What I ended up doing was thinning out buttercream with soymilk and coloring it.  This worked out great since after a while, the “paint” dried out.

Due to the thicker consistency of the edible paint, I wasn’t able to completely paint the masks in fear of losing the details of the mold.  So I tried my best to capture the idea of the Papua warrior’s face paint.  I left one as if the painting hadn’t been completed (I have a love of asymmetrical looks).  Maybe it turned out a little more Carnaval than warrior, but the important thing was that Ted understood what the theme was, and that it made him and his family happy.

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Filling

Dry Ingredients: 2 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour  3/4 cup Cocoa Powder  2 tbs Corn Starch  2 tsp Baking Soda  1 tsp Baking Powder  1 tsp Salt

Wet Ingredients:  1/4 cup Soy Milk + 1 tbs Apple Cider Vinegar  3 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 4 tbs Water  4 tbs Earth Balance  1 3/4 cup Sugar  2/3 cup Canola Oil  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.

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 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.  

Vanilla Buttercream Filling

1/4 cup Earth Balance Vegan Margarine

1/4 cup Earth Balance Natural Shortening

1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar

1 1/2 tbs Soymilk

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 soymilk and vanilla. 

Dark Chocolate Frosting  

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).

 

Salud!: Vegan Picarones Cake

San Francisco isn’t quite the same without our Peruvian princess.  So we made plans with Kirsten to meet halfway in San Luis Obispo and spent last weekend in a suite at the most ridiculously tacky and wonderful hotel, the Madonna Inn.  I’ve been holding on to this recipe for months, and it was time to try my hand at this sticky and spicy flavored cake. 

Picarones are a Peruvian donut-like invention, and is Kirsten’s mother’s favorite.  One day I plan to visit and make her this cake to seek her approval.  The recipe comes from an article in VegNews magazine and was thought up by the lovely Vegan author Terry Hope Romero.  Being that she is a trusted author and chef, I made the cake without any substitutions.  This is the first time I’ve made a Vegan cake recipe that worked perfectly the way it was written. 

You’ll need to plan ahead for this recipe.  In order to cook the sweet potato and calabaza, start by cutting the pumpkin in half, pierce the vegetables with a fork, and place on a cookie sheet in a preheated oven set at 375°F until easily pierced with a knife (30-40 minutes).  Allow to cool, then discard seeds and scoop out the flesh.  Mash well and store in the refrigerator until needed.  The leftovers make a lovely soup. 

This cake would be amazeballs (as Kirsten would say) for breakfast with a cup of my favorite tea, Yerba Mate.  Give it a try.  You won’t be disappointed.  Seriously.

Vegan Picarones Cake

(based on recipe by Terry Hope Romero from VegNews Magazine, Issue #74)

Dry Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour 1/4 tsp Baking Soda 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder 1/2 tsp Sea Salt 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

Wet Ingredients: 1/2 cup Sweet Potato, cooked and mashed 1/2 cup Calabaza Pumpkin, cooked and mashed 1/2 cup Canola Oil 1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar 1/4 cup Sugar 1/2 cup Soy Milk 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract 1 tbs Lime Juice, fresh 1 tsp Orange Zest

Preheat oven to 320ºF.  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 mashed sweet potato and calabaza, soy milk, vanilla, lime juice and orange zest to combine until smooth.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Pour into a 9-inch cake pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cake to cool.

Brown Sugar and Spice Syrup

1/2 cup Panela (or Piloncillo), grated

1/2 cup Water

1/2 cup Orange Juice, fresh

1 Cinnamon Stick

1 Whole Star Anise

2 tbs Rum

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil for two minutes, constantly stirring.  Lower heat and simmer until reduced by one third (10-15 mintes).  Strain and cool to room temperature.  When cooled, poke holes in cake with a toothpick and brush with syrup until absorbed.  Reserve some syrup for spooning over cake when serving.