This is the birthday cake I made for both of my daughter’s this year. It is basically the same as my chocolate layer cake recipe, but with a bit of added zucchini. You can’t taste, see, or detect the zucchini, but I feel just a bit better giving them cake if there is even a tiny bit of nutrition in it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not for adding sugar to all vegetables, but if you are going to have cake, you might as well also have a vegetable. Pictured here I made it in a 9×13 pan for a sheet cake and used my regular vegan buttercream.
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Ingredients
1 TBL vinegar
1/2 cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups brewed coffee (or more milk)
2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Oil 2 8″ round cake pans, put parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, oil and flour pan and parchment paper. Alternatively you can use a 9×13 pan, greased but no parchment paper. Bake for 22-27min for a 9×13 pan.
Mix together the milk and vinegar, set aside to curdle.
Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in sugar and salt.
Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add the milk mixture, coffee, oil and extracts mixing with an electric mixer briefly until there are no lumps.
Fold in shredded zucchini and evenly divide batter into prepared pans and bake 25-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let cake rest in the pan about 10 minutes, then remove and finish cooling on cooling rack before frosting.
My dad loves chocolate, I mean really loves chocolate. He isn’t going to be with me this Father’s Day since we live a few states apart, but since he generously passed on his love of chocolate, I will generously eat this cake in his honor. Love you daddy!
I did think about making something for my husband and father of my children, but I make things for him all the time. I’ll make sure to make some of his favorites for him, and I’ll even share the cake.
This is a lovely combination of several recipes on my blog, and comes together into a delightful blackout chocolate cake topped with chocolate mousse.
Vegan Blackout Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse
Cut the top off one cake to make it flat. Frost it and stack the second cake on top. Frost top and sides of cake and pat chocolate chips into sides and top.
Top the cake with chocolate mousse, serve, eat, and then take a nap. Happy Father’s Day!!
Vegan One Bowl Chocolate Pudding Cake for Two (microwave version) Ingredients 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 3 TBL white sugar 2 TBL unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4 tsp baking powder dash of salt 3 TBL non-dairy milk 2 tsp sunflower seed or olive oil 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 TBL packed brown sugar 1 TBL unsweetened cocoa powder 6 TBL boiling water Instructions In ungreased cereal sized bowl, or large shallow mug, stir together flour, white sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Mix in milk, oil, and vanilla with a fork until smooth. Spread batter evenly in the bottom of the bowl. Sprinkle with brown sugar and 1 TBL cup cocoa. Pour boiling water over batter. Microwave on high for 2 minutes until the cake is set and there is a fudgy looking pudding. Allow it to cool for a few minutes before digging in. Highly recommended that you serve with ice cream.
Last minute Valentine’s Day plans? I’ve got you covered. This is a super simple recipe that uses common ingredients that can be found in any corner store. It only takes a few minutes to make, but tastes like you really though about it. You even make it in the vessel you are serving it in so only one dish. This is the perfect size for sharing with your special someone, or for eating yourself while you watch sappy movies and wonder why you don’t have a special someone.
Vegan One Bowl Chocolate Fudge Pudding Cake for Two (microwave version)
Ingredients
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 TBL white sugar
2 TBL unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
3 TBL non-dairy milk
2 tsp sunflower seed or olive oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 TBL packed brown sugar
1 TBL unsweetened cocoa powder
6 TBL boiling water
Instructions
In ungreased cereal sized bowl, or large shallow mug, stir together flour, white sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
Mix in milk, oil, and vanilla with a fork until smooth.
Spread batter evenly in the bottom of the bowl.
Sprinkle with brown sugar and 1 TBL cup cocoa. Pour boiling water over batter.
Microwave on high for 2 minutes until the cake is set and there is a fudgy looking pudding.
Allow it to cool for a few minutes before digging in.
Sorry I missed posting last week, I had my baby! I had another beautiful little girl, this one we’ll call Fox. We are just starting to settle in and figure out how this whole 4 person family thing is going to work. Wolfie is doing amazingly well with Fox. She really just wants to hold her and touch her all the time. It’s very sweet. With all the adjustments I haven’t been cooking, but I have been starving! I did make time to throw together this mug cake one night, and piled on the coconut milk ice cream for a bedtime snack. (best thing about breastfeeding is how much I can eat!)
This is a quick, easy, no frills dessert. It is best topped with some ice cream if you have it, but it will do for a lovely chocolate fix if that is your craving. Like all of my chocolate cake recipes this has less sugar than the norm. If you like it sweet add more.
Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake
Ingredients
3 TBL all purpose flour
1 TBL sugar
2 TBL cocoa powder
dash of salt
1 TBL mild flavored oil
3 TBL water or non-dairy milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 TBL chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
Mix the dry ingredients in a microwave safe coffee mug with a fork.
Stir in the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
Stir in chocolate chips if using.
Microwave for 1-2 minutes until the cake is dry on top.
Eat immediately, topped with ice cream if you have it.
Vegan Chocolate Cupcake With Vegan Chocolate Buttercream
I woke up a few mornings ago thinking about chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Waking up thinking about food is not unusual for me, thinking about frosting is. In general I’m not a huge frosting fan, but something triggered a need and I had no choice. I made cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting. They were delicious.
Both recipes are from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. A perfect cupcake book, and one you should own. In case you don’t, I’ll share the wonderful recipe here. These cupcakes are ultra light, tender, and moist, with a slightly dense frosting that is perfectly chocolatey, creamy, and seductive. Speaking of seductive, you should make these for your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day.
After the recipe I’m including a short tutorial on measuring. I know measuring seems simple enough, but when it comes to baking, the way you measure can make or break the finished product. I hope it helps turn your cupcake dreams into reality.
Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 cup non-dairy milk
1 tsp. apple cider or white vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup sunflower oil, canola oil, or other mild flavored oil
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F. and line muffin pan with paper liners.
Briefly stir non-dairy milk and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside to curdle.
In a separate bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Once the milk and vinegar has curdled add the sugar, oil and extracts.
Beat together until foamy.
Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until combined.
Pour batter into prepared cupcake liners filling 3/4 of the way full.
Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the tallest cupcake comes out clean.
Remove cupcakes from pan and cool on a cooling rack.
Do not frost until completely cool.
Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
1/4 cup Earth Balance buttery spread, softened to room temperature
1/4 vegetable shortening, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 TBL non-dairy milk
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Cream together the butter and shortening until thoroughly combined.
Add the cocoa powder, beating until combined.
Add the powdered sugar in three additions followed by a tablespoon of non-dairy milk after each addition.
Once all the sugar is incorporated add the vanilla extract, and beat until everything is light and fluffy.
How to Measure
First off there are two kinds of measuring cups: those for wet ingredients, and those for dry ingredients.
Measuring cup for wet ingredients
Measuring cups for dry ingredients
You can use the dry ingredient cups for wet, but please, please, do NOT use the wet ingredient measuring cups for dry ingredients. Why you might ask? Simply; because you cannot get a precise measurement of dry ingredients. You might try, but then you will end up shaking or tapping the cup to level the ingredients, then they will become packed down, and you will have heavy, dense, yucky baked goods.
Another important thing to remember when measuring dry ingredients into a dryingredient measuring cup, is to never ever scoop with the measuring cup. Again, this results in too much of whatever you are measuring. You always want to scoopup your ingredient with a separate cup, scoop, or spoon, and sprinkle it into the correct size measuring cup. You overfill the cup, and level it off before adding your ingredient to your recipe. Please see this video of my mom measuring flour for a good example (she starts measuring flour at 24 seconds).
Sifting… I don’t always sift my dry ingredients when I bake, but I do find it important in most cakes. It removes any lumps from your dry ingredients and adds air creating a light, more tender finished product. So, when I do say sift, I really am suggesting you sift.
This was my birthday cake. Yes, I made my own cake; I couldn’t trust anyone to make it just right, except for me. It was so worth it! This is also my first cake recipe that is really my own, instead of just changing the flavor of other’s recipes. I’m quite proud of how it turned out. Rich, dark, moist, and perfectly packed with chocolate. For my birthday I also topped the cake with burnt bourbon caramel (cook the caramel until it is a little burnt), bourbon chocolate ganache(just switch the amaretto with bourbon), and bourbon coconut whipped cream (add 2 tsp bourbon). I was really trying to take this to the next level of rich, deep flavors. It worked. You could top it with anything and it would be amazing. Next time maybe some raspberry jam and coconut whipped cream. Ohh, the possibilities.
Vegan Chocolate Layer Cake
Ingredients
1 TBL white or apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups brewed coffee, red wine, or more water
2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Oil 2 8″ round cake pans, put parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, oil and flour pan and parchment paper.
Mix together the milk and vinegar, set aside to curdle.
Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in sugar and salt.
Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add the milk mixture, coffee, oil and extracts mixing with an electric mixer briefly until there are no lumps.
Evenly divide batter into prepared pans and bake 25-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let cake rest in the pan about 10 minutes, then remove and finish cooling on cooling rack before frosting.
So this cake is a little silly it is so good. It is so rich and filled with awesomeness even I was little skeptical about how rich it could be. Somehow it all works out. The layers are cut and drenched in caramel keeping the cake incredibly moist. Everything is then topped with the chocolate ganache. There is no way anyone could tell this is a vegan cake unless you told them. Trust me. You will be the hero of the holiday party if this is your offering. The cake and ganache are from “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World”, the Bourbon Caramel is adapted from the Minimalist Baker website. There are a few steps to this recipe with the instructions for putting it all together at the bottom. Enjoy!
Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
1 cup non-dairy milk
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease, flour and use parchment paper to prepare two 8″ round cake pans.
Briefly stir non-dairy milk and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside to curdle.
In a separate bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Once the milk and vinegar has curdled add the sugar, oil and vanilla and almond extracts.
Beat together until foamy.
Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until combined.
Pour batter into prepared cake pans, distributing batter equally.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake out clean.
Remove cake from pans and allow to cool on cooling rack.
Bourbon Caramel
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup non-dairy milk
2 Tbsp bourbon
pinch of salt
Instructions
Heat sugar and water on medium heat to a simmer. Swirl pan, but do NOT stirring for about 15 minutes or until a deep amber color is reached. Watch carefully as this will burn easily.
Once desired color is reached, remove from heat and slowly add non-dairy milk while stirring.
Add salt and bourbon and cook over low heat for another minute while stirring.
set aside until ready to use.
If there is extra you can store in a glass bottle in the refrigerator and re-heat when ready to use.
Chocolate Ganache
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
1/4 cup Amaretto (or more non-dairy milk)
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
2 TBL pure maple syrup
Instructions
In a small sauce pan bring non-dairy milk and Amaretto to a gentle boil.
Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips and maple syrup mixing until smooth.
Set aside at room temperature until ready to use.
Putting it all together
1. Once the cake is cool cut each cake in half to make four layers total.
2. Place the bottom layer on a cake plate. Pour caramel sauce over cake spreading until it has soaked into the cake.
3. Repeat with remaining layers using as much caramel as the cake will hold.
4. Once cake is stacked carefully spread the chocolate ganache over top and sides of the cake.
5. Serve in small slices saving plenty for your breakfast the next morning.
Happy Food Ninja 