The Cake Merchant

Vegan Vanilla Birthday Cake

Vegan-Vanilla-Cake

I posted this recipe a little over a year ago because it is one of my favorite cakes to make, but I did not expect that it would become by far the most popular recipe on my site. It’s also the commented on recipe, as well as the most controversial. I know, it’s weird that vanilla cake is controversial, but while some people have had great luck with this recipe, others haven’t, so I want to devote the next couple of paragraphs to troubleshooting, and hopefully we will all have happy vegan vanilla cakes in our bellies.

This is a recipe that I got from one of my very favorite baking books, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. This is the book that got me into baking in the first place, and still the baking book I use the most. I love the vanilla cupcake recipe in this book, but I wanted to make a layer cake version. Since I’m a fan of tall cakes, I made a 3 layer 6-inch version, which is what you see here. I know that not everyone has 3 6-inch pans, so here are some other versions I’ve made with success.

-A 2 layer 7-inch cake (baking time should be increased slightly)
-18 cupcakes (these take about 20 minutes in my oven)
-about 55 mini cupcakes (these take about 10 minutes in my oven)
-I have not tested this recipe in a 9×13 or any kind of sheet pan.

-For the cupcake version of this, click here. You can get 12 cupcakes or 8-inch layer cake out of the cupcake recipe.

I hope that gives you some options as to the size of cake that you want. I’ve also tested this recipe with soy milk, almond milk, and rice milk. For some reason, the rice milk version turned out a little more dense for me. For the frosting, I’ve cut back as much as I could on the sugar. Any less and I got too much “greasy shortening” taste. However, it is still on the sweeter side. If it’s too sweet for you, you could try leaving the sides naked and you’ll have less frosting on the cake overall.

Now onto the trouble shooting.
-I always thought that this recipe was foolproof, but after making this cake in a few different ovens without an oven thermometer, I realized that oven temperature is key. An oven thermometer is a small investment that will help improve your results on this cake and pretty much any other cake you bake. You’d be surprised how much ovens can vary. Mine is almost 25 degrees off!
-Sift together the dry ingredients. I used to skip this and just dump everything in, but sifting the dry ingredients aerates the flour and helps it incorporate into the wet ingredients better.
-Once you add your dry ingredients, don’t over mix! Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and mix gently after each. It’s ok if the batter still has a few lumps. This will prevent the cake from getting too tough. I prefer to use a whisk rather than an electric mixer or stand mixer for this recipe.
-No peeking! Opening the oven in the first 15 minutes can cause your cake to fall.
-Don’t over bake. Check your cake a few minutes before the recommended baking time. If they look done, use a toothpick to check the center of the cake while it’s still in the oven. If it comes out clean, it’s done.

If you are still have problems with this cake, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll do my best to help you trouble shoot. Happy baking!

Vegan Vanilla Cake

Vegan Vanilla CakeVegan Vanilla Birthday CakeVegan Vanilla CakeVegan Vanilla Cake

It has come to my attention that confectioner’s glaze is not vegan. Please check your ingredients before choosing your sprinkles.

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Pink Almond Party Cake

Pink-Almond-Party-Cake

Last week, I was asked to make a sprinkly pink birthday cake for a friend’s 3 year old daughter (you can see the photos on instagram). Normally, I’m not really into pink or anything very girly for that matter, but there was something really fun about making a cake with pink frosting, loads of sprinkles, and big ruffly borders.

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Dark Chocolate Cake with Malted Chocolate Frosting

Malted-Chocolate-Cake

Whew, It’s been a whirlwind few weeks! We’ve had quite the terrible weather here in Texas, make my commutes to Amarillo less than ideal. I know this is common in some parts of the country (including where I grew up in Indiana), but people here just aren’t equipped to deal with it, which means the ice just sits on the ground until it temperatures get above freezing. On top of that, I’ve been without a functioning computer for a while, which has made blogging rather difficult, but I’m finally back up and running. Thank goodness for Apple Care!

Anyway, during my last trip, I was trying to come up with ideas for seasonal desserts, but I couldn’t get chocolate out of my head. I was craving a super chocolaty cake with even more chocolaty frosting, and I just couldn’t think of anything else. It may surprise you, but I rarely crave cake. I love making it, I love decorating it, but when it comes to eating it, I’m perfectly satisfied with a small slice. That all changed when I made this cake a few weeks ago. I used the same chocolate cake recipe (which has now become my go to chocolate cake), but I paired it down to make a 3 layer 6-inch cake. I love that it’s a one bowl recipe that doesn’t even require a mixer!

Malted-Chocolate-Cake

Up until recently, I had never experimented much with cocoa powders. I just used Hershey’s since it was cheap and easy to find. Plus, I’ve read numerous reviews that it was just as good as some of the fancier European brands. I didn’t really want to spend a lot of money on a bog box of fancy cocoa only to be disappointed. However, on my last trip to Central Market here in Dallas, I noticed some different types of cocoa powder in the bulk section, so I bought a few dollars worth of Valrhona and decided to give it a try.

I wish I could tell you that it didn’t make a difference, but it did. Let’s just say that I was not satisfied with only one slice of this cake. It was like chocolate heaven. I’m not telling you this to push a product, but I thought the information might be useful, since it’s something I’ve been curious about for a long time. If you’re baking a chocolate cake for a special occasion, splurge on the good cocoa. Next on my list to try are Guittard and Cacao Berry. If you’ve had good experiences with other kinds of cocoa, I’d love to hear about it.

Malted-Chocolate-Cake

If you don’t like malt flavor, don’t worry. This frosting doesn’t taste like malt. In fact, no one knew there was any malt powder in this, but it does give the frosting an unusual sweetness and depth of flavor. I know I claim that a lot of things are my favorite, but this frosting is my favorite so far. Even my fiancé, who is rarely excited by cake, loved this and begged me not to share too much of it. So what are you waiting for? If you like chocolate (or even if you don’t), go make this cake!

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