Chocolate Vegan Decadence
The best chocolate cake and it's animal product free!
For the longest time, I equated veganism with restriction. Deprivation. No butter? No eggs? No cheese? No taste! None of the deliciousness that makes life worth living. Why would anyone do that to themselves? And as a lifelong baker, and one with an admittedly massive sweet tooth, I couldn’t imagine making any baked good taste good without these oh-so-necessary ingredients. And you definitely couldn’t create dessert decadence without them.
But then, I became friends with someone who was vegan, and a few other friends turned vegan for health reasons, and I decided to take on the challenge. I would find a way to bake vegan. You see, I am the one who brings dessert. To any get together, any dinner with friends or family, I bring the sweets. I make the pies for holidays. I make all the birthday cakes. Heck, I even made my and my husband’s wedding cakes (yes, that’s plural). Baking is my love language. Sharing treats that I make in my kitchen is what makes me happy. So, when I suddenly had a group of people who I would be baking for who no longer consumed these baking staples, I decided to give vegan baking a try.
To be honest, there were some hiccups early on. A certain Friends-giving dinner comes to mind where my pumpkin tartlets were more like lumpy mush cups and the pecan pie remained mostly uneaten. I tried lots of recipes and some turned out great, others, not so much. But when I discovered this recipe for vegan chocolate cake, and made a few alterations to really amp up the flavor, I knew I had a winner. There’s chocolate, there’s caramel, there’s absolute silence because everyone is stuffing their faces with this deliciousness!
And if you’re lucky enough to have a little one who loves helping in the kitchen, as I do, this is a great one for them to help with too! (Although, I will note, they get terribly disappointed when they are informed that they don’t get to crack any eggs this time.)
So now, without any further delay, I give you dessert decadence.
Ingredients
Vegan Chocolate Cake
• ¾ cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 ¾ cups sugar
• ¾ cups cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup applesauce
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup brewed coffee
• 1 cup boiling water
Vegan Caramel
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup coconut cream
• ¼ tsp sea salt
Vegan Ganache
• 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
• 1 cup coconut cream
Method
To make the cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease and flour two 8” round cake pans.
3. Stir the almond milk and vinegar together and set aside to curdle (TaDa! Vegan buttermilk!).
4. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt) in a large bowl.
5. To the dry ingredients, add oil, applesauce, vanilla, coffee (I usually just splash in whatever is left in the pot from that morning), and the milk/vinegar mixture.
6. Mix until combined.
7. Pour in boiling water and mix until smooth (this will be a very runny batter, that's okay).
8. Divide batter into the cake pans.
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes.
10. Let cakes cool and then remove from pans.
While the cakes are baking, make the caramel sauce and ganache.
To make caramel sauce:
1. In a small pot, melt sugar over medium heat.
2. Once melted, add cream and salt and stir constantly until combined (if some of the sugar seizes up and hardens, don’t worry, it will melt back down over the next couple steps).
3. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.
4. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it thickens.
5. Remove from heat and allow to cool (the sauce will continue to thicken as it cools).
To make ganache:
1. Place chocolate chips in a mixing bowl.
2. Heat cream until simmering.
3. Pour hot cream over chocolate. Do not stir!
4. Let rest for 1 minute.
5. Stir until smooth.
6. Allow to cool (the ganache will continue to thicken as it cools).
To assemble cake:
1. Level the cakes by slicing off any dome on the two cake layers.
2. Spread caramel on top of one layer.
3. Place second cake layer on top of the first.
4. Pour ganache over top of assembled cake.
*You can either cover cake completely and use a flat spatula to smooth the ganache over top and sides, or you can just let the ganache run down the sides just a little for a nice dripping effect.
**You can use any extra caramel sauce as a drizzle on top of the ganache.
***It is highly recommended to transfer any extra caramel or ganache with a spoon directly into your mouth.
And that’s it! Easy to make and done in less than an hour. The perfect dessert for any birthday, holiday, Tuesday… whenever the need for rich chocolate goodness is there, this has you covered. Vegan or not, everyone will love this cake. It’s moist, rich, totally indulgent, and one-hundred-percent dairy and animal byproduct-free! It is perfect on its own, but is also great paired with your favorite vegan ice cream.
So, what are you waiting for? Chocolate cake awaits!
About the Creator
Megan Clancy
Author & Book Coach, wife, mother, adventure-seeker.
BA in English from Colorado College & MFA from the University of Melbourne
Writing here is Fiction & Non-Fiction
www.meganaclancy.com
Find me on Twitter & IG @mclancyauthor
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