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.

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.

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.