Dairy-free, Egg-free Cake

 

My mother-in-law brought this cake up to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday last month.  Since we're always looking for cake recipes that don't call for butter, she sent the recipe my way, but I don't know where she got it. If you're so inclined you can mix all the ingredients for the cake right in the pan, but I ended up dumping all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mixing them that way first.  It was easy enough to mix in the wet ingredients in the pan.  The cake itself is really tasty, too, nice and moist.  My kids loved it anyway, and so did I.  We made it to celebrate my husband's birthday this week.

Bonus: this cake also happens to be egg-free, if that's important to you!

Three Hole Cake

1 1/2 c flour

1 t baking soda

1 c sugar

1/4 c unsweetened cocoa

1/2 t salt

1 T white or cider vinegar

1 t vanilla

1/3 c oil

1 c water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 8 inch cake pan (you can serve it right from the pan in which case you don't have to bother greasing it).  Combine the flour, soda, sugar, cocoa and salt.  Sift together into the pan (I did not sift them, just mixed them together in a separate bowl first). Shake the pan to level the ingredients and make 3 holes in it it.  Vinegar in one hole, vanilla in the second, and oil in the third. Pour the water over the top.  Using a table forkk, mix vigorously making sure to get in all the corners and incorporate all the flour mixture.  

Bake at 350 for 30 mins (mine took 35) or until toothpick in center comes out clean.  Let cool for five minutes before turning out of pan or completely completely in pan. Then frost.

How To: Make a Butterfly-Shaped Birthday Cake

First, bake two 11 x 13 rectangular cakes.  I made one chocolate, and one vanilla.

Then draw a butterfly wing on a sheet of paper, and cut it out.  This is your template.

Place template on first cake.  Cut around cake according to template.  Do the same to the second cake.

You will have cake "scraps."

Time to decorate!  Gather your supplies, such as: colored frosting, decorating bags, couplers, tips, candies, etc.  This is the fun part!

Decorate any way you wish.  There are lots of different ways to decorate a butterfly.  First I piped frosting on the entire butterfly, alternating pink and yellow stripes.  Then I chose to make the "body" out of M &M's and the "antennae" out of frosting that I drew on the board.  I also made the hearts and spelled my daughter's name in M & M's.

I wrote "Happy 3rd Birthday" on the board to not take away from the design on te cake.

The birthday girl, who seemed very pleased with the result!

Compiling a Chocolate Cake

I couldn't find a WHOLE recipe that I liked, so I used the cake recipe from the Brother Juniper Cafe cookbook, and a filling/ganache recipe from The Baking Bible put out by Tollhouse. I've jumbled it up a bit, mostly because *I* work best with step by step instructions, but I've put the ingredients (plus special directives, like the sifting and SIFTING of the flour) in bold for easy reference.

Susan's Old-Fashioned Moist Chocolate Cake from the Brother Juniper Cookbook

Preheat oven to 350, grease 2 9 in pans, line with parchment, grease parchment, and dust with flour.

1 3/4 c. flour, sift and re-measure into 1 3/4 c. Return excess to bag/jar. Sift twice more, and add
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 Dutch Process or European Style cocoa powder. Whisk together, then sift twice. Set aside.

Cream
1/4 lb sweet butter, room temperature. Add
1 tsp vanilla extract,
1 3/4 c white sugar and blend together until smooth.
Add, one at a time, beating in between,
4 large eggs, room temperature.

Measure out
1 1/4 c buttermilk or soured milk, and, beaters on low speed, incorporate 1/3 dry mix, and half the buttermilk, until just blended. Repeat with another third of the dry mix, and the last half of the buttermilk, beating until just blended, and the remaining third of the dry mix, just blended.

Spread in layer pans, and bake 30-35 minutes.

Let sit five minutes, then remove from pans, and place right side up on cooling rack (I put a cookie sheet under mine, just in case of drips from this next step, which is from The Baking Bible).

Melt
3 tbs seedless raspberry preserves in a small saucepan.

Using a skewer or a fork, poke holes in the tops of the cakes, trying not to pierce all the way through, and spread the preserves evenly on both cakes. Let cool completely.

Filling and Ganache, both from The Baking Bible

Filling:
2/3 c sweetened condensed milk, combined in heavy saucepan with
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 tbs butter

Cook over low heat until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Ganache:
Place in a medium bowl:
1 1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips.

In a saucepan, combine:
3/4 c heavy cream
1 tbs butter
1 tbs granulated sugar

Bring to a boil over high heat, stir until sugar dissolves. Pour over chocolate chips, let stand five minutes. Stir until smooth, let stand fifteen minutes, or until ganache reaches desired consistency. (It will thicken as it cools.)

Place bottom layer on cake plate, spread with filling. Let harden slightly, place top layer in place. Frost top and sides with ganache.

Serve and enjoy!

It seems labor intensive, but I was surprised how easy it was, and of course the finished product is completely worth it. A moist, rich cake without being too overpowering, with the most delightful hint of raspberry.

Overnight Coffee Cake

This morning I was surprised to find that I haven't posted this coffee cake recipe yet. I've made it a handful of times, and each time Peter and I think it's really good. The recipe calls for it to sit overnight, but if you decide to make it last minute you can skip that step. I often do. Also I have substituted oil for the melted butter and rice milk with 1 T of lemon juice for the buttermilk. It still tastes great. Who wouldn't love to wake up, stick a pan in the oven, and have a warm homemade coffee cake early in the morning without all the work and clean up?!

Overnight Coffee Cake

from Gooseberry Patch Sweet and Simple

by Cathy Lemoyne of Ontario, Canada

1 c flour

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 c sugar

1 c brown sugar, divided

2 t cinnamon, divided

1 c buttermilk

2/3 c butter, melted

2 eggs

1/2 c chopped pecans, toasted (or not)

Combine first 5 ingredients, 1/2 c bornw sugar and one teaspoon cinnamon in a large mixing bowl; add buttermilk, butter, and eggs. Blend on low speed until moistened; increase speed to medium and blend 3 more minutes. Spoon battter into a greased and floured 13x9 baking pan; set aside. Mix remaining brown sugar, cinnamon and pecan togethers; sprinkle over batter. Cover; refrigerate overnight. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 12 servings.

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake

Shared via AddThis

I'm posting this here, so I don't forget about it. It may be the perfect cake for Charles. It includes a homemade "buttercream" frosting recipe that's dairy-free!

Gingerbread Cake (borrowed from Bless Us Oh Lord"

Thanks Barbara...this one's a keeper


Amazing..amazing..oh so delicious I am shoveling it in right now as I type..

Gingerbread Cake
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
1.5 cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour one 8-inch square baking pan.

Cream butter and sugar till fluffy, add egg and molasses and beat. Sift together flour, salt , baking soda, ginger and cinnamon. Bring water to a boil. Add with flour mixture to creamed mixture alternatively beating well after each addition. Pour batter into cake pan. Bake 34-40 mins.

- i put a little bit of oil in my 1/2 cup befor adding the molasses and they came right out easily.

- it baked just fine at 35 mins, it oculd not have gone longer in my oven.

- I did what barbara did and made a cream cheese frosting...A---MAZING CAKE. I am licking the plate.