Sunday, April 14, 2013

Dining In - Mocha Almond Fudge Cake

Vegan Chocolate Cake - Veega
Mocha Almond Fudge Cake - Chloe's Kitchen


Delicious, decadent, and divine. This cake turned out so beautifully I didn't want to eat it! I made this for my boyfriend's birthday. As my number one supporter of my vegan lifestyle and my trials and tribulations in the kitchen with endless baking and cooking, he deserved an extra special treat. Even though it was his day I kept it vegan, but I'm pretty sure he didn't mind :) I decided to make this recipe because I recently made Coffee Almond Crunch Cupcakes and my boyfriend claimed they were the best thing I've baked so far, so it was an easy choice to make a cake version of it. The recipe calls for two layers, but I bumped it up to three like the photo in the cookbook showed, and used a slightly smaller pan to ensure I had enough batter. I also added dark chocolate covered espresso beans for garnish. Warning - if you couldn't tell by the look of it, this is not healthy, some of the measurements below scared me, but I had to remind myself it was for a special occasion! 



Chocolate Vegan Cake Veega
Chocolately Vegan Heaven
This recipe appears in Chloe's Kitchen (buy your copy here) and was then revised for cupcakes and published again in Chloe's Vegan Desserts (buy your copy here).


Chocolate Cake

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups cold coffee
1 cup canola oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Coffee Frosting
(This is the same recipe as the frosting in Coffee Almond Crunch Cupcakes)
1 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons instant espresso powder, mixed with 1/4 cup water

Chocolate Fudge Sauce
(This is the same recipe as the Chocolate Ganache in Coffee Almond Crunch Cupcakes)
1 cup non-dairy chocolate chips
1/4 cup canned coconut milk
2 tablespoons canola oil
*I advise halving this sauce recipe, since it's only used for a drizzle on top of the cake


Garnish
1/2 cup almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
*I also advise halving this, I ended up using about a 1/4 cup of almonds

10-12 dark chocolate espresso beans


To Prepare Chocolate Cake:


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9-inch round pans with parchment lining the bottom and a light spray of canola oil. I only had an 8-inch and 10-inch pan to work with, go figure, so I decided to use the 8-inch pan to make three cakes. The time-consuming part was waiting for each cake to cook to use the pan again, this method is not suggested! :)

In a very large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate medium bowl, mix coffee, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir just enough to combine, without any dry spots.

Fill pan about 2/3 full with batter and bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on pan size. Insert a toothpick to check that cake is done and remove from oven. Let cool completely and remove from pan, then use a large sharp knife to flatten out the top for stacking.


To Prepare Coffee Frosting:


Use a stand mixer and beat the shortening for one minute.

Slowly add in powdered sugar and vanilla, while beating on slow speed. Add one tablespoon at a time of the espresso liquid, blend in completely and continue adding tablespoon by tablespoon until you reach the proper consistency for frosting. Continue to blend on high speed for two minutes until frosting is fluffy. Set aside.


To Prepare Chocolate Fudge Sauce:


In a medium bowl, microwave the chocolate chips and coconut milk together. I usually do this at medium power for 30-45 second intervals stirring in between until chocolate has melted. Remove from microwave and add in the oil and stir.


To Assemble Cake:


Place one cake on a cake stand or plate, using a frosting knife spread a layer of Coffee Frosting on top. Stack another cake on top and repeat with frosting. If using three layers, stack your last layer on top and frost again. I found that I was running low on frosting so I deciding to pipe between the layers to give it the appearance of being filled. I also piped along the outer edge on the top.

Layered Chocolate Cake - Veega
Spread a Layer of Coffee Frosting on Each Cake
Veega Cake

Using a fork, drizzle the Chocolate Fudge Sauce all over top, in any direction. Sprinkle toasted almonds all over. Pipe extra frosting, if desired and push espresso beans along outer edge.


Coffee Almond Cake Vegan
Almost Finished - Mocha Cake with Fudge Sauce
Veega Chocolate Cake



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