Happy Birthday, Mom!: Vegan Mango Cake

My Mom’s birthday is today and I promised her a cake.  We started testing this recipe the week after Mother’s Day, so I’ve had plenty of time to get it right.

I ran a Google search and picked a recipe.  The first trial had a nice rise in the oven, but it started to deflate as soon as it hit the cool air.  (Not again!)  When my family of taste testers and I cut into it, the texture was more like a lemon bar than a cake.  Great, I had a recipe for a mango bar.  So I scrapped the failed recipe and altered the vanilla recipe already in my arsenal.  By substituting some of the soy milk with canned mango puree, it resulted in a flavorful, moist and delicious (and brightly orange colored) crumb.

For the filling, I went with a mango curd and found an easy and delicious recipe from Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen.  A few weeks ago, I had a fiasco with lemon curd oozing out of the cake, so I adapted the recipe to avoid a repeat performance.  I also wanted to try a different frosting for this cake.  Isa Moskovitch, the Vegan goddess, recently posted a recipe for Rad Whip, her version of Vegan whipped cream.  I made a batch, and although it’s absolute perfection, I was afraid it was too delicate to use as a frosting.  Still on the hunt for Vegan whipped frosting.  In the meantime, I thought a cream cheese frosting would be a nice accompaniment.  Rather than using a store bought vegan cream cheese (I don’t like the taste and the most widely available brand has transfats), I used a recipe from The Uncheese Cookbook.  Not exactly like cream cheese, but in a frosting it definitely works.

What I like most about this cake recipe is how easy it is to make, and most of the ingredients can be found in any supermarket.  The only ingredient that needs to be hunted down is the canned mango puree, but any Indian market will have it in stock to make mango lassi any time of year.  Mangoes are currently in season, so if you can’t find the canned puree, feel free to puree your own (I recommend Manila mangoes since they’re less stringy) and add sugar to sweeten.  This cake is very moist and spongy, and would be lovely with a simple buttercream frosting.

Vegan Mango Cake with Mango Curd Filling 

Dry Ingredients:

3 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

4 tbs Corn Starch

4 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda 

1 tsp Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients:

3/4 cup Soy Milk + 2 tsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

2/3 cup Canola Oil

1 cup Sugar

2 1/4 cups canned Mango Pulp

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 320ºF.  Add vinegar to 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 mango puree and vanilla.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Lastly, fold in soy milk and vinegar mixture.  Pour into two 9-inch cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool. 

Mango Curd Filling

(based on Eggless Mango Curd from Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen)

1/2 bar Agar Agar

1/2 cup Water

1 1/2 cup canned Mango Pulp
4 tbs Sugar
2 tbs Lime Juice (about 1 lime)
2 tbs Corn Starch
1/8 tsp Sea Salt
2 tbs Earth Balance Vegan Margarine

In a small saucepan, soak Agar Agar in water.  In a heavy bottom saucepan, whisk remaining ingredients except margarine over low heat until thickened and raw flavor of corn starch is cooked out (7-10 minutes).  Remove from heat and stir in margarine to melt.

Pour mango mixture into a food processor and pulse a few times.  Over low heat, warm Agar Agar and water until completely dissolved.  Turn on the food processor and slowly drizzle the Agar Agar into the mango mixture until well combined.

Place in a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap to avoid skin being formed.  Chill in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight. 

Mango Cream Cheese Frosting 

Vegan Cream Cheese
(based on recipes from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook by Jo Stepaniak)

1/3 cup Cashew Butter
2 tbs fresh Lemon Juice
2 tsp Agave Syrup
1 pgs Firm Silken Tofu
1 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Nutritional Yeast Flakes
Pinch of grated Nutmeg

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until very smooth.  Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.

Frosting:
2 tbs Earth Balance Vegan Margarine
6 tbs Earth Balance Natural Shortening
1/2 cup Vegan Cream Cheese
3 cups Powdered Sugar
3 tbs Canned Mango Pulp
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 Manila Mango, mashed and drained (optional)

Using a hand mixer, cream margarine and shortening until light and fluffy.  Mix in cream cheese.  Add powdered sugar in stages.  Blend in mango puree and vanilla until well combined.  Fold in mashed mango if using.

Or: 

Mango Buttercream Frosting 

6 tbs Earth Balance Vegan Margarine
6 tbs Earth Balance Natural Shortening
2 1/4 cups Powdered Sugar
3 tbs canned Mango Pulp
2 tsp Soy Milk
1/2 Manila Mango, mashed and drained (optional)

Using a hand mixer, cream margarine and shortening until light and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar in stages.  Blend in mango puree and soy milk until well combined.  Fold in mashed mango if using.

Baby You’re a Firework: Vegan Mixed Berry Cake with Rum Buttercream Frosting

Tracy was throwing a Fourth of July party, giving me another excuse to bake a cake.  Since the strawberry cake was a huge hit, I decided to stick with a berry theme.  There are so many beautiful berries in the market right now, and I thought it’d be fun to mix them all up.  They do so in berry smoothies, why not a cake?

A much simpler version would be to take the strawberry cake recipe and substitute the strawberries with a bag of frozen mixed berries, or mix fresh berries yourself.  But in honor of the holiday, I wanted to create something more interesting: a red layer of cake, a white layer of buttercream, and a blue layer of cake.  Good ol’ Red White and Blue.  And to add a little more pizzazz, I used rum buttercream frosting to help bring it all together.  Berries and rum, yum.

Mixed Berry Cake with Rum Buttercream Frosting 

Strawberry-Raspberry Cake Layer

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Unbleached Pastry Flour

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

1/2 pkg Strawberry Jel Dessert

Wet Ingredients:

2 tbs Soy Milk + 1 tsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 2 tbs Water

1/3 cup Canola Oil

3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Strawberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup Raspberries (fresh or frozen)
2 tbs Water
1/4 cup Raspberry Preserves

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tsp Red Food Coloring (optional)

Blueberry Cake Layer 

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Unbleached Pastry Flour
1 tbs Corn Starch
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1/2 pkg Strawberry Jel Dessert

Wet Ingredients: 
2 tbs Soy Milk + 1 tsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 2 tbs Water
1/3 cup Canola Oil
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Blueberries + 1/4 cup Water (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup Blueberry Preserves
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Blue Food Coloring (optional)

Preheat oven to 320ºF.  In a food processor, blend strawberries, raspberries, 2 tbs water and raspberry preserves.  Push mixture through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of most of the seeds, reserve.  Next, blend blueberries, 1/4 cup water and blueberry preserves and strain into a separate bowl.  Pour soy milk in separate bowls and add 1 tsp vinegar to each, reserve.  Stir egg replacer and water in separate bowls, reserve.  Sift together dry ingredients into two large bowls.

With a hand mixer, add and incorporate wet ingredients to dry ingredients.  Pour into two 9-inch cake pans and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool.

Rum Buttercream Frosting 
(Feel free to substitute rum with more soy milk if you don’t want the alcohol, or are serving to children.) 

1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Margarine
1/2 cup Earth Balance Natural Shortening
3 cups Powdered Sugar
4 tbs Rum

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