There was a time before I had my first child…8 years ago!!! I was a hard core vegan, but sometimes a vegetarian because I really love ice cream. Anyways, I lived in San Diego about 15 minutes from the beach and I was living that coastal California lifestyle. I would walk the beach, shop at the farmers markets, and drink the most delicious locally made green drinks. I’d check out raw food restaurants and vegan bakeries looking for the most delicious earth made meals.
I loved it!
But as always when you have children, things change. We could no longer afford that coastal California lifestyle so we headed to Las Vegas. Back then it was hard to find anything close to vegan in the middle of the desert, and the produce at our neighborhood grocery store was so depressing. NOTHING grows in the desert. So, slowly but surely I weaned back into a non-vegan lifestyle. Although that is something of the past, I still find myself eating vegan/vegetarian for the majority of my meals.
There is a huge part of my life though that still involves veganism and that is my family. My entire family are vegans. Parents, brothers, sister-in-laws! SO anytime we have a big family dinner we always have to make sure there is an abundance of vegan friendly things so that everyone has something.
Which brings me to this cake!
I wanted something that you could bring to any party or dinner that would wow those that have often missed out on the delicious things at gatherings. This cake is by NO MEANS a health food, which has kind of been a trend on here lately haha!
Either way, this is the cake you make for special occasions! The cake that will make a vegan question whether or not it really doesn’t have any eggs or melted butter in it.
It does have sugar though…. ;)
Vegan Vanilla Cake with Vegan Cookie Dough Frosting
Ingredients (For the Cake)
1 cup unrefined sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 cups non dairy vanilla milk
3 TB. unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
2 TB. pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup canola oil
Ingredients (For the Frosting)
3 sticks Earth Balance Vegan Butter Sticks, softened and room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 pounds powdered sugar
2 TB. vanilla extract
dash of sea salt
non dairy vanilla milk (1-2 TB.)
Directions: (For the cake)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl add the sugar. Then sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir until combined.
In a separate bowl, combine the milk, applesauce, lemon juice, vanilla, and oil. Mix the wet and dry ingredients with a whisk. Mix until combined, be careful not to over mix.
Grease 3 six inch pans. Add batter in equal amounts to the pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until cooked all the way through. I like to wrap my cakes tightly in plastic wrap after they have cooled completely and place them in the fridge until they are ready to be frosted. This makes it easier to assemble the cake so it’s not so delicate.
Let cool before frosting the cake.
Directions: (For the Frosting)
In a bowl fitting with a whisk attachment, add your butter. Whip the butter until creamy. Scrape down the bowl, and then add your brown sugar. Whisk until combined. Next add in the vanilla and a dash of sea salt, plus 1 TB. of non dairy milk.
Sift in the powdered sugar, and then cover the mixer with a cloth and turn the mixer on so the frosting can come together. Whip it until it’s nice and creamy. If needed, add a little more milk to get desired consistency. You want it to be thicker because you will be decorating the cake with this, and it needs to be firm enough to hold it together.
Stack and fill the cakes, and then frost the rest of the cake how ever you desire. I topped mine with chopped vegan chocolate chip cookies and vegan chocolate chips.
Enjoy!!!
To store, I wrapped my cake in plastic wrap tightly and kept it in the fridge. You can let it come to room temperature when you are ready to serve it.
I had so much fun making this cake! Let me know if there are any other flavors you would love to see VEGAN-IZED!!
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