First Love Cake.

Today we had a bake off at work. I submitted my own creation, the First love cake - Chocolaty super sweet with a touch of raspberry tartness. Yeeeeum.

I used the 'best vegan chocolate cake ever' recipe (It's my go to recipe, easy and amazing. You will never fail with this delight. Trust me on this.) Then did some chopping, frosting and arranging on my new found (old) cake platter. I was hoping it wouldn’t fall apart! Win! I’ll have to settle on that win, they decided not to judge the baked goods in the end!?

Best Chocolate cake recipe:

Without a doubt one of the easiest cake recipes to follow - ever!
Ingredients:

1 ½ cups plain flour (I've tried this with Gluten free flour - works, just not as fluffy)
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup vegan sugar (or less, depending on how sweet you like your cake)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
5 tablespoons cooking oil (my preference is rice bran oil)
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 cup cold water 

Method:

Preheat oven to 355˚F (180˚C).

In a large bowl sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar and salt.

Make 3 holes in the dry ingredients. Put vanilla essence into one, oil into another and cider vinegar into the third. Pour cold water over the top. Mix only enough to combine all ingredients.

Pour the batter into a greased parchment paper lined 8 inch (20cm) round pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Leave in pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Let cool for at least an hour before frosting.

Turning Best vegan chocolate cake into First love cake:

Frosting. It’s Important. Why? Because it is the best part! I made a little extra so I could also use it as cake filling (to be honest, I made too much and ended up 'sampling' the sugary delight.. A lot... At midnight last night... so maybe the recipe itself will do.)

Vegan Chocolate frosting:

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup vegan margarine
2 cups vegan powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons vegan soymilk
1/3 cup cocoa powder (or more)
a dash of salt

Preparation Instructions:

Soften the vegan margarine. (This would be a good step to do while baking the cake). Once the cake has cooled, start making your frosting: Using an electric mixer, cream the sugar into the softened margarine. Then add the vanilla extract, soymilk, cocoa powder, and salt. Mix well. If it is too thick, add a very small amount of soymilk, and if it is too thin, add more powdered sugar. Continue to mix until the frosting is light and fluffy. Frost your cake. Refrigerate for at least an hour to let the frosting set. Enjoy! (To store, seal the cake in an airtight container and keep refrigerated.) 

Layering and decorating: 

Carefully cut cooled cake in half using a long knife. On bottom layer spread a generous amount of Raspberry sauce (I picked up a jar of organic Raspberry sauce from Warrandyte Berry farm on the weekend. It. Is. BLISS!) Spread a fair chunk of frost on top of sauce, gently smoosh top cake layer into place, using a slow screwing motion to spread out the frosting. Precede to frost the entire cake with the remainder of the icing. It will be thick and fluffy. I finished off the cake with fresh raspberries as decoration.

And here you'll find yourself face to face with First love cake! Be prepared to swoon x