Vegan chocolate cake

I’ve been having the same conversation over and over, so I thought I’d shortcut the “oh, I’ll email you that!” and go for a blog post instead.

Alternate diets (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, peanut-free, meat-only) are becoming culturally accepted, and it’s now considered standard in many circles factor in the eating habits of others when cooking for others. When you’re going to a potluck or other food event where you don’t know the eating habits of everyone, this can be tough. Jason and I ran into this when we attended am anniversary party/wedding reenactment/potluck. We knew the bride was vegan, and the invite said to bring a label for whatever you made, so it could be known if there were any peanuts, animal products, gluten, etc. We made a pasta salad with egg-free noodles, making it vegan-friendly. It also was peanut-free, but it did have gluten.

I got the BEST chocolate cake recipe, which happens to be vegan, from Susan. It’s now my standard chocolate cake recipe. No one needs to know it’s vegan, and it certainly doesn’t taste funny or have a strange texture.

You can see the amazingness that is Susan’s cake-decorating handiwork here. The recipe is on the page, but the version she gave me is half as much, which is more reasonable if you’re not making a two-tiered wedding cake.

I made this cake first for a library science school potluck. I had worried how I could indicate it was OK for vegans, so I turned it into a MARC (book) record.

Are you ready for the best cake ever? It has everything going for it, outside of being gluten-free.

Vegan Chocolate Cake
2 1/4 c flour
1/3 c cocoa
1 1/2 c sugar
3/4 t salt
1 1/2 t baking soda
6 T oil
1 1/2T white vinegar
2 t vanilla
1 1/2 c cold water
1 c chocolate chips (optional, for a more rich and decadent cake)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a pan (it makes a thinner 9×11″ or a thick 9×9″). Combine dry ingredients and mix them thoroughly. Make three wells in the dry mixture and add the oil to one, vanilla to the second, and vinegar to the last. Pour the cold water over the whole thing and mix very well, adding chocolate chips if using.

Pour batter into the oiled pan and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. The cake is done when the center is set.

Bonus!
Vegan Chocolate Icing
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted in a saucepan or microwave with enough soy milk (vanilla soy milk is best!) for consistency, cocoa powder to taste, and some sort of fun flavoring extract.