(Late) Foto Friday: Happy birthday, Penny 14 November 2008 7:31 pm
Posted by Tracy in : baking,chocolate,dessert,friends,pictures,recipes,vegan,vegetarian , trackbackI made cake! Clearly, this was way more important than a Thursday TracyFood post, and playing with the pictures and recipe too distracting to permit me to post on Friday, either. (I did move this to the appropriate date eventually, though.)
That’s deep chocolate vegan cake with chocolate coconut glaze, to be exact, from my beloved Moosewood Restaurant New Classics (where else?)
I baked it in a soufflé dish instead of the 7 x 11 inch pan I usually use, because it looks more like a birthday cake this way. But I forgot to adjust the oven temperature and baking time accordingly, so things were touch and go for awhile at the end… and then it all turned out delicious, and celebratory, like so:
Here’s my slightly adapted version of the cake and frosting recipes, to prevent further baking confusion (and for slightly softer frosting, which I much prefer).
Deep Chocolate Vegan Cake
Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, and leavened with the baking soda and vinegar “volcano” reaction from elementary school science fairs.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (1 teaspoon kosher)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup cold water or chilled brewed coffee (I had about 2/3 cup coffee and added water to make the full cup)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a soufflé pan (the one I used is maybe 7 inches in diameter?) and then grease it some more before dusting it with cocoa powder or lining bottom with a circle of parchment paper.
Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and sugar into a bowl. (I am not a big fan of sifting but it made a real difference here since the cocoa was pretty clumpy.) Combine the other ingredients in a large liquid measuring cup (or another bowl if you like getting everything dirty). Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and mix until well blended, but no more. (If you like your cake a little fluffier, do this step with all the liquid ingredients except the vinegar, and mix the vinegar in afterwards, with as little stirring as possible.)
The baking soda and vinegar leavening reaction is happening now, so hurry up and pour the cake batter into the perepared pan, put it in the oven and bake it for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out not gooey but maybe with a few crumbs (start testing at 25 minutes to be on the safe side, and remember that with vegan cake batter, there’s even less to be paranoid about than with batter that uses eggs you love and trust).
This makes 9 servings of super-dark, almost not sweet enough chocolate cake, good warm — Moosewood suggests serving it straight out of the pan — or at room temperature, cooled in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool a bit more before decorating it. It looks very pretty with a dusting of powdered sugar, but I also highly recommend:
Chocolate Coconut Frosting
What You Need
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened grated coconut
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or other good-quality semi- or bitter-sweet chocolate, chopped)
- 4-6 tablespoons coconut milk
- 1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
- double boiler, heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, saucepan, or microwave-safe measuring cup big enough for all the ingredients except the grated coconut
What You Do
Toast the coconut in a dry skillet or baking sheet in the oven or toaster oven until golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside.
Combine all remaining ingredients in the heating container of your choice, and heat until the chocolate starts to melt. It shouldn’t be completely melted, maybe about halfway; it will have a nicer texture if you let residual heat finish the melting. Stir the chocolate mixture until smooth (add extra coconut milk if you want it to be a little softer) and spread it on the cake. Top the cake with the toasted coconut, and let the frosting cool before cutting the cake (or not, in which case the coconut will fly all over during the blowing-out of candles).
Speaking of candles, here’s a few more pictures:
Finally, if that wasn’t enough chocolate cake for you, check out The Best Ever Chocolate Cake Challenge at Not Quite Nigella. Or submit your own favorite recipe: the deadline for participation is November 30, and there’s three boxes of truffles for the winning cake makers.
(Hi Lorraine! Thanks again for the invitation.)
Happy cakes, everybody.
-
http://www.notquitenigella.com Lorraine E
-
cj
