Vegan Chocolate Cake

Sorry I am a day behind! Reporting on day 3 of vegan week. On Tuesday, I ate:

• shredded wheat with soy milk
• Pepita-cranberry snack mix
• sesame bar
• banana
• Southwest quinoa salad**
• almond milk yogurt
• enchilada casserole**
• vegan chocolate cake
• to drink: coffee, tea, water, seltzer, tea & soy milk
• spearmints 

**recipes upcoming on blog!
So in prepping (very little for vegan week), I wanted to avoid this predicted downfall: a craving for either a cookie or cake or other pastry delight and either caving, or wasting time, money and resources driving to the co-op for a (fantastic) vegan cookie.

                                      Per usual, I just could NOT get a good shot of this

I chose a recipe for vegan chocolate cake from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. I'd always been intrigued by the recipe, this was a good springboard to try it. Once I sampled the cake, what impressed me most was not that it's vegan, but that it pulled together as fast as a box mix cake.

Deep Chocolate Vegan Cake (serves 8, from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics)

• 1 1/2 C AP flour
• 1 C sugar
• 1/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 1 C cold water or chilled coffee
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp cider vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 375. Oil a 8 x 8 baking pan and dust the bottom with some extra cocoa powder. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a second bowl, mix the oil, water or coffee and vanilla. Do not add the vinegar yet. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix until blended.
3. Add the vinegar and briefly stir. Immediately, the vinegar and baking soda will react. Pour the batter into the baking pan.
4. Bake for 25-30 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean. 


Kitchen Notes: The picture makes the cake appear crumbly, this was the 1st piece out of the pan, and wasn't dry. I used Dean & Deluca cocoa powder, and this cake will only be as good as the cocoa used. I didn't do the research on it, but I imagine the vinegar/baking soda reaction allows the cake to rise and creates the texture.

Verdict? While certainly not the most decadent cake I've ever had, the chocolate flavor is impressive and I didn't miss the eggs. For a very quick cake, this is super tasty. The texture is not super moist, but not too dry. It's some of the most awesome batter I've ever had, and no worries about salmonella--I encourage licking the bowl!