There's something peaceful about the process of baking. Following a recipe from start to finish. Precise measuring. Creating beauty from simple ingredients, like flour. I revel in the order of it, especially in these uncertain times. And in the end, there's cake.
My idea of a birthday celebration is certainly not baking my own cake. But, desperate times call for desperate measures. And, I have to say, taking a Saturday afternoon to just BAKE was exactly the stress relieving activity I needed. Despite that powdered sugar dusted just about every surface of my kitchen, the process was well worth the result!
This cake tastes like a fancy Hostess Ho-Ho. Just the right amount of moist crumby dark chocolate cake perfectly offsets the sweetness of the vanilla "buttercream". I found this recipe on veganosity.com and the only element I tweaked was in the frosting amount. I made more than the recipe called for (because why not?!) and loved the result. I've accounted for the frosting "upgrade" here.
Happy baking!
Fancy Ho-Ho Vegan Chocolate Cake
Dry Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon finely ground salt
Wet Ingredients
3/4 cup vegan sugar
3 tablespoons Bob's Red Mill brand egg replacer + 6 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup vanilla almond milk
1 cup boiling water
Frosting Ingredients
12 tablespoons vegan butter, room temperature
3/4 cup vanilla almond milk
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Cake Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans and set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the dry ingredients until fully combined and set aside.
In a small bowl, stir the egg replacer and water together until thick and creamy.
Alternating, add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and let it incorporate mixing on medium speed. Then, add 1/3 of the milk. Continue beating and alternating until all of the flour mixture and milk have been incorporated. The mixture will be dense. Then, reduce the speed to low and slowly add the boiling water. Mix until just combined. Stir with a spoon or spatula to ensure that the batter is fully mixed and consistent in texture. The batter will be thin and watery.
Divide the batter evenly into the two prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out clean.
Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks. Cool completely before frosting.
Frosting Method
In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the frosting ingredients, but only half of the almond milk. Begin mixing on low speed. Add more milk slowly until you get the desired thickness of frosting.
Use a spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure you have an even consistency to the frosting.
Spread the frosting onto the cake. I put 3/4 of the frosting between the layers, saving the last 1/4 for the top so the middle was thicker. You could only do 1/2 in the middle and frost the cake entirely if you prefer "finished" sides.
Enjoy!
