Old Fashioned (Vegan!) Chocolate Cake

Old-Fashioned (Vegan!) Chocolate Cake

This cake is amazing, and it just happens to be vegan. Don’t think that it’s in any way compromised in the Fantastic Department just because it’s not made with animal parts and pieces and products (translation: no butter or eggs or milk, which are mainstays in the world of all things cake, usually).

Nope- this cake relies on Magic (and maybe the science of a few key ingredients) to be Fantastic. It’s rich, chocolatey, moist, and wonderfully EASY to make. (Yes, caps on EASY. Maybe even an exclamation mark. EASY!) Any cake batter that you can whisk (instead of lugging out and using and then cleaning the bowls and beater of the stand mixer) is glorious. It’s a cake for children, or simpleton adults, to make with ease. Right up my alley.

(Before we get to the ingredients and the ridiculously easy set of “how-to’s”, I have to flatter it a bit more, though. The first time I made this recipe, I brought it [in the form of cupcakes] to a meeting at work. Two people asked me for the recipe- one of whom emailed me that night to remind me to send it. And they weren’t vegans. It’s funny, because chocolate cake is ubiquitous in this world and yet hard to perfect, isn’t it? Who knew that a vegan recipe would end up being such a crowd pleaser.)

CAKE:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoons salt

2 cups hot water

3/4 cups vegetable oil

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

1 tablespoon instant coffee granules (or 2 teaspoons instant espresso granules)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup mini chocolate chips- optional (Enjoy Life brand has great mini chips that are vegan)

CHOCOLATE GLAZE:

2 cups semi-sweet (vegan) chocolate chips

2 tablespoons coconut oil

3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar (sifted)
1. Preheat oven to 350° and spray two 8″ cake pans OR 24 muffin liners OR 12 mini-Bundt cake pans with non-stick spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk all dry ingredients (flour through salt) together.
3. In a measuring cup, stir hot water with oil, vinegar, instant coffee/espresso and vanilla together. Pour into bowl with dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips if using.
4. Pour batter into pans and bake for 30 – 35 minutes (until cake tester/wooden skewer comes out clean). (Bake cupcakes for 15 – 20 minutes, and mini-Bundt cakes for 20 – 23 minutes.) Cool cakes on a rack for 15 minutes then remove cakes/ cupcakes to finish cooling.
5. GLAZE: melt chocolate chips and coconut oil in microwave for 45 seconds, then stir and melt again in 30-second increments, stirring until smooth. Stir in sifted icing sugar until glaze reaches thick pouring consistency. Pour 1/3 over one cake layer, then place second layer overtop and pour remaining 2/3 of icing overtop, allowing some to drip over edges of cake. (If making cupcakes or mini-Bundt cakes, simply pour overtop and sprinkle mini chocolate chips on glaze while still wet/unset.)
Tips:
- Chocolate is special in chocolate cake, no doubt. Use the best cocoa powder you can find/rationalize spending cashish on.
- Removing the cake from the pan can be a bit of a B unless you grease the pan appropriately. (See here for example of what you don’t want to have happen. Oops.)
- NOT VEGAN? Me neither! So you can go to town with any frosting that you prefer, like maybe the spectacular ganache in the Chocolate Mocha Cake with Fudgy Frosting recipe. Yum. Cream. (Sorry, vegan, friends- but even you have to admit that cream tastes excellent, especially when melted with chocolate.) If you don’t have coconut oil (because who does, unless you’re vegan or a crazy baker like me), you can use melted butter.
- Enjoy. Really.
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October 17th, 2012 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: Cakes