Vegan Cocoa Cake

My neighbor, Inge (pronounced "ING-ah") has two boys. One is allergic to milk (I find it so sweet how the Dutch say the word for milk: melk... but they pronounce it "Mel-ek" with two syllables- cute!!) and the other is allergic to eggs. In general, cooking anything cake-related without eggs seems like blasphamy in my mind but I really wanted to help my friend's kids eat cake, so I began a quest for a vegan cake.

My daughter, not to be fooled, was skeptical of such a cake.

Indeed, I too was skeptical. But, I spent some time improving a recipe I found on the internet named "BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER." Also, I discovered that the right frosting carried this cake to greater heights. Starting from a frosting recipe I had in the Belimar book, I made it vegan, too. Both of Inge's boys enjoyed this version and I was surprised at how moist and tasty this frosting/cake combo became.

Chocolate Vegan Cake 
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (300 g Zeeuwse bloem)
2 cups granulated sugar (440 g)
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (70 g)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups coffee (500 ml)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup (166 ml) vegetable oil
2 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Grease two 9" round pans, then line the bottom with baking paper. Then, grease the baking paper.
2. Sift together the dry ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just to combine. 
3. Pour batter into two 9" round pans. (if you are precise, it is about 680 g of batter in each pan, just over half-way up the sides of a 1.5" tall pan)
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) for 35-45 minutes. Check your cake by doing the toothpick test (toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean), and also the spring-back test (lightly press your finger into the center of your cake- it should spring back almost to its original shape).
5. (EDIT:) Allow cakes to cool for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks and allow to cool completely before frosting. Remove the baking paper after they are turned out.

Chocolate Vegan Frosting
2 & 2/3 cups powdered sugar (400 g)
8 Tbsp margarine (120 g)
1/3 cup oat milk (83ml) (this is key, do not substitute soy milk- oat milk is the consistency of cream. It is lovely, actually)
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (70 g)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat all ingredients together until creamy. This frosting is a bit sloppy and so does not make a really attractive cake, but if you don't mind using crisco instead of the margarine, then it will hold its shape better and allow you to pipe it, if desired. Inge minds using crisco, so I didn't do it.

Aside from making this for Inge's boys, I doubt I'll be making this often. For egg-eaters, I have my favorite chocolate cake recipe, which is a story for another day.

Happy Birthday, Inge!