Vegan Italian Wedding Cake

Vegan Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Vegan Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

makes 2x 8 inch round cakes

3           cups of flour
3/4        cup cocoa powder, plus additional for pans
1 1/2     tbsp baking soda
1/5        tsp salt
1           cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2     cup filtered water
1/2        cup of olive oil, plus additional for pans
3           tbsp red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1           tsp vanilla
1 1/2     cup fresh or whole canned beets (finely grated)

1 cup  5 oz  of crushed walnuts (for decoration - optional)


Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly oil 2 x 8inch round cake pans. Dust pans with cocoa powder.

In a large bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.

In a small bowl whisk together water, olive oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk well to combine. Stir in the grated beets.
(Beets the easy way - add the beets to the wet ingredients and zap it with hand help wand mixer)

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz vegan cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar, or more just in case it is still too runny)
1 tsp rum extract (or real dark rum)

Whisk with electric hand-held mixer together and let chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Frost the cake
Stick the crushed walnuts to the side of the cake. 

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Cocoa Frosting

This weekend we made this fabulous chocolate cake. I found the recipe in VegNews Magazine. Yummy! Very easy to make.
---------------

This chocolate cake might be the easiest cake in the world to prepare, and it’s incredibly versatile, lending itself to a layer cake, bundt cake, or cupcakes.

By Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

Makes one cake or 8 cupcakes

What You Need For The Cake:

• 1-1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 cup cold water

What You Do For The Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9-inch spring form pan or cupcake tins.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the vanilla, oil, vinegar, and water. Mix until just combined.
3. Pour into prepared pan, and bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. If making cupcakes, check for doneness after 15 minutes.
4. Cool on a wire rack. To remove the cake from the pan, run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake. Cool completely before frosting with Cocoa Frosting. You may also dust with sifted confectioner's sugar and top with fresh raspberries.

What You Need For The Frosting:

• 1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
• 3 to 4 tablespoons non-dairy milk

What You Do For The Frosting:

1. With an electric hand mixer, cream the margarine until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, add the sugar, and mix for about 2 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons more non-dairy milk if it's too dry.
3. Cover the icing with plastic wrap to prevent drying until ready to use. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, and re-whip before using.

You can find it here:
http://www.vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=1301&catId=11

Devil's Food Cake

This is a recipe from VegNews February 2007 Issue. I could not resist to try it and it turned out great! AND it's very simple.
When I make a dish baked in the oven I usually make a desert as well since I have the oven fired up. Good excuse to have cakes huh? ;o)

It makes 8 inch round cakes
I made it in a 9 1/2 inch spring pan. It doesn't look so fancy, but it's tasty as well.

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 dark brown sugar
1 cup filtered water
1/4 olive oil, plus additional for pans
2 tbsp red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 fresh beets, peeled and finely grated (I did not have fresh beets so I used small can of beets including the water and it worked as well)
Fluffy Frosting - recipe bellow

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Oil the pan(s)
You can dust the pan with the cocoa powder.

Mix all the dry ingredients.
Mix all the rest wet ingredients add the can of beets. Now you can either mix it all up in a food processor or I like to use my hand wand mixer and a tall bowl so you don't get the red beet color all over your kitchen walls.
Add it to the dry mixture.
Either divide the batter to the 2 pans or spoon just in the larger pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean dry.

Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes and remove from baking pan(s). Place on a dish and let cool completely before frosting.


Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 vegan butter
1/4 cup soy or rice milk (I used the vanilla soy)
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk or beat together by hand or electrical mixer. Use immediately or cool in a fridge.
If you use 2 pans. Top the first pan with frosting and place the second on top and top it with the rest of the frosting. Otherwise top it on the cake and enjoy.