Vegan MoFo, Day 16: One "Egg" Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Psssst...want some cake??

Step right this way!



One "Egg" Cake
adapted from Meatless Meals, page 57
serves 4-6--supplies carbohydrates, or heat and energy materials, and some protein

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegan butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Ener-G "egg"
3 Tbsp coconut milk (from a can)
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a mixing bowl. In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the "egg" to the creamed butter/sugar. In a cup, mix together the water and coconut milk. Starting with the flour and finishing with flour, alternate adding the flour and milk mixture to the mixer and mix well after each addition. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Pour cake batter into two small, greased baking pans and bake for about 25 minutes. Let cakes cool.

Chocolate Ganache

adapted from Meatless Meals, page 81 (she called it Chocolate Frosting, but it's more of a ganache)

makes a ton, at least two cakes

1 cup granulated sugar

4 Tbsp AP flour

1 1/4 cups soymilk

4 squares bitter chocolate

2 Tbsp vegan butter

1 tsp vanilla

In a double-boiler, melt the chocolate and add milk, mix. Sift the flour and sugar, then add some of the chocolate mixture to the bowl and stir until combined, then add that mixture to the double-boiler and cook until thickened. Add butter and vanilla and let cool. Spread onto cake. Top with vegan sprinkles.

Good lawd.

Jes


VMF 2011 Day 16: Victory Shake!
VMF 2010 Day 16: Bollocks!

Peasant Supper Sundays: Seitan's Pot Roast

Look what we're having for dinner!

{Seitan's Pot Roast--aka Slow-Cooker Seitan Pot Roast
from Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson--pg. 213}

It's cooking away in our kitchen right now. And the coolest part of it so far was that I had all the ingredients already. That's totally peasant of me.

And this was my "brunch"--I had the seitan going before I ate anything, just worked out that way, but this smoothie was a welcome relief to my tummy.

{soymilk and leftover choc. almond milk, chia seeds,
handful of choc. chips, TBSP cocoa powder, 1 froz. 'nana}

Now we're off to see Philip's Mutti and do some grocery shopping. Happy Sunday!

Jes

Get Ready to Implode...

...it's CHOCOLATE CAKE ON 'ROIDS!!

Who says you can't make a vegan cake work? Here's one that I rescued from causing me an emotional breakdown, for reals.

My bridal shower was the next day, and I really, like REALLY, wanted to make a vegan chocolate cake to bring. I know you're not supposed to bring food to your own shower, but we weren't exactly riding on the H.M.S. Tradition for this wedding...

My chocolate cake was actually like a Triple Chocolate Madness Bundt Cake, the cake recipe I lifted from VegWeb here. But it was what I did for the topping that really blew my mind à la Lewis Black.

I bought my first bundt cake pan for this recipe (so proud). After the bundt cake cooled, I made what became my first of TWO layers for the icing--yeah, I almost lost it after the first one.

I made a makeshift double-boiler (glass mixing bowl--sufficiently heatproof, over a pan of boiling water but NOT touching the water). Next, I poured a cup or so of chocolate Divvies into the bowl and added a small splash of canola oil for shine and ease of melting.

Then I got creative. I thought, "Hmmm, what about if I added something fruity to this? That would taste FAB!"

So I pulled out the tiny jar of black currant jelly I had sitting around in my fridge and added it to the chocolate. At first, it was OK. Then it started to thicken and become slightly stiff. Then I about lost my cool! Philip was trying to talk to me, and I was like, "You need to leave the kitchen right now before I say something I won't be able to take back." Point taken.

I thought it was a total loss but still wanted to smoosh it on the cake to see what would happen. I ended up having to mold it over the top of the bundt cake with a spatula, like Play-Doh, which made it look like total crap.

After harrumphing and feeling sorry for my stupid self, I decided to use the very last of my precious Divvies chips to make ANOTHER batch of glossy chocolate icing, just without the preserves, and pour it on top of the cake.

After another round of spreading stuff onto the cake, sufficiently enough to cover the "fruity" layer, I let it sit overnight, and the next day the outside had dried and hardened into a lovely shell that helped to keep the cake's delicate moisture inside.

Sorry so blurry, photo courtesy of my awesome Aunt Carol!

It looks like a tasty, choc-tastic donut, but bigger!

When I brought it to the bridal shower and cut it open, it was like the two layers of icing melded together and produced this sweet and tangy and chocolaty goodness that was spot on. The cake wasn't even the best part. The topping made me want to gobble up the whole cake, right there in my maid of honor's kitchen, in front of everyone.

Alas, I retained my last shred of dignity :)

How's your MoFoing coming along?

(By the way, I'm freaking jonesing for some Daiya. Stupid Wichita foodplaces not carrying it...blast!)

Jes

Hot Cookies!

Ok, well, not HOT but SPICY. I bought myself a copy of Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's cookbook, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, which had a recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles.

Usually when I make cookies, they turn out all flat and crispy...but these were substantial and chewy on the inside, and they were my first time pairing heat with sweet.

This is what it was like to eat one of these bad boys:

*munch, munch, nom, chew*..."Oh, I like the chocolate...I don't taste any of the cayenne" *munch, chew, nom, gulp* "Oh...wait...there it is...WOW"

Yeah, pretty freaking yummy. This is certainly a recipe I'll be making again and again. I brought them to a pool party because heat and chlorine go hand-in-hand. Recipe available here.

Jes