We had such a great Mother's Day celebration at our house yesterday. It was also a birthday party for my Dad who, as some of you know, has been making a lot of food changes for his health. So we had a vegan party and it was fantastic.
I think he was amazed at the wonderful variety of yummy things that he can eat. Of course, the idea is to not do much sugar at all but we made a little exception for the occasion. Happy Birthday, Dad!
The cake recipe is another great one from Vegan Express. The only change I made was to use Soy Nut Butter instead of Peanut Butter because we had a guest with a peanut allergy. It still worked great. Here's the recipe. Enjoy!
Note- one cool thing about vegan baking is that you can always lick the bowl with no worries!!
Vegan Chocolate Cake
Makes One 9 inch round cake (you can easily double this to make a layer cake)
(Organic ingredients whenever possible, as usual)
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup natural granulated sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder (non-aluminum)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup safflower or canola oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
Frosting
1/2 cup vegan semi sweet chocolate chips
1 heaping tablespoon peanut, cashew or other nut butter
3 tbsp rice milk
1. Preheat oven to 350 and oil the cake pan. The cake will come out of the pan much more easily if you also line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and stir to combine well.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the warm water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir with a wooden spoon until moistened , then beat with a whisk until batter is smoooth.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, just until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack in the pan. Let the cake stand until just warm if you will leave it in the pan or let cool completely first if taking it out of the pan
5. Make the frosting. Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan over low heat and stir together until very smooth.
6. Spread the frosting over the top of the cake while it is still warm (or over the middle and the top if a two-layer cake) then let stand 30 minutes or so. Enjoy!