Friday, July 23, 2010

Ladies Who Lunch: Making Vegan Chocolate Cake



As you all know, I am the go to guy for shopping & fashion, great dining and great drinks.  But believe it or not, I actually cook a lot and enjoy it.  And while I will never be in competition with the likes of Kitchen Confidante, due to popular demand I am posting my recipe for Vegan Chocolate Cake.
It all started approximately 2 years ago when I not only decided that I needed to lose a lot of weight, but also became concerned with what I was putting in my body.  As I became an avid label reader, I discovered that there were so many ingredients in packaged foods and that most of them probably weren’t good for your health or your waistline.  In an effort to free myself from all of those chemical additives, preservatives, hydrogenated oils and corn syrups, I decided to eliminate processed foods from my diet.  I began the quest to make from scratch using natural and fresh ingredients.  On this quest I discovered how to make a Vegan Chocolate Cake.  It is so good that people that I serve it to don’t know and they are disbelieving when I tell them.  It is a cake that bakes up light and moist with full chocolate flavor.  Now after losing 70lbs, I continue to make this cake and will share it with you.
Cake Ingredients
3 cups  unbleached all purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups turbinado sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cup cold water or coffee (or a mixture of both)
4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons white vinegar or cider vinegar
Raspberry Jam (I prefer Bonne Maman)

Preheat Oven to 375º
Sift together the flour, cocoa, soda, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl.  In a measuring cup, mix together the oil, cold water/coffee, and vanilla.  Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix the batter until well blended and smooth.  Add the vinegar and stir quickly. There will be pale swirls as the baking soda and vinegar react. Stir just until the vinegar is evenly distributed in the batter.
Pour into 2 greased and floured 9” round cake pans.
Bake for 25 to 30 Minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
After the cake layers have cooled, put one layer on a plate and spread a layer of raspberry jam on it.  Top with the other layer and then frost.
Cake Frosting Ingredients
1/2 cup margarine (I prefer Earth Balance butter flavored vegan)
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons soy milk (almond or rice milk also works well)
2 tablespoons frangelico of amaretto
Dash of salt
Soften margarine.
Using an electric mixer, cream the sugar into the margarine. Add the vanill extract, soymilk, cocoa powder, frangelico/amaretto, and salt.  Mix well.  If it is too thick, add small amounts of soy milk and if too thin add small amounts of sugar.  Keep mixing until light and fluffy.  Frost the cake :)
Enjoy!!

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