Sunday was E's birthday, so this weekend ended up being filled with all sorts of celebrating. Needless to say, a vegan birthday cake was almost obligatory, so I told E to pick out whatever recipe he wanted and I'd whip it up for him and his friends on Friday.
He ended up settling on a cake and frosting recipe from Vegan Family Favorites, and holy crap if it wasn't good.
I obviously won't be publishing the recipes here, but if you can, track down the book and make the "Chocolate Lovers Cake" recipe with the "'Buttercream' frosting"--magnifique.
I will admit, I *DID* have a few problems with the baking of the cake. The cake is so moist that it ended up crumbly, so it was hard to maneuver and layer (I ended up baking two batches of the Chocolate Lovers Cake recipe so I could make a layer cake). Initially, I couldn't get the cake out of the pan, try as I could. And when I finally did, the first cake was all crumbled at the sides and some of the top had ripped off onto the bottom of the pan. Needless to say, I was not pleased. The same happened with the second cake as well, despite my best efforts. The end result was a slightly not-so-pretty cake with a few gaping wounds on its top and sides.
But oh my god was this cake good. Four of us polished off half the cake in one sitting, and E's friends *LOVED* it.
Needless to say, I have a few suggestions though, for those of you a bit more finicky about the look of the cake. I think what makes the cake so crumbly and dangerous is the inclusion of chocolate chips. They tend to sink to the bottom of the batter, and I think that's what results in the tops of the cakes sticking to the pan.
So my two tips: 1) Use a springform/silicon pan if you can, that way you can just *POP* it right out without having to use knives and whatnot to coax it out of your metal pan. 2) I read somewhere that when you're using chocolate chips in cake or bread or brownies or something, that you should toss the chocolate chips around in some flour before adding them to the batter--apparently the flouriness will lock them into place in the batter and keep them from sinking to the bottom as the cake bakes. I would definitely suggest trying this--it'll save you some heartache I'm sure.
Anyways, despite the harrowing need to wrestle with the cakes and my desperate attempts to cover up its scarring with frosting, I highly recommend. It is delicate and moist, and the buttercream frosting is just SO FRICKING DELICIOUS it'll make your toes curl.
Wishing I had a slice in my pocket right now--*wistful sigh*
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