Vegan Triple Layer Chocolate Cake

This recipe was inspired by the vegan chocolate cake the Smiths enjoyed in a Boone, NC, restaurant.   You tasted the one layer version at Charging Up Hope, but Gary usually makes it as a triple-layer cake.

Gary adapted a recipe from Dreena's Vegan Recipes and a ganache adapted from a suggestion by Julie Robertson.

The triple-layer cake 

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder (extra dark if possible)

2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 cups unrefined sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 3/4 cups water

2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup canola oil

Baking the cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly oil 3 round cake pans.  

In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda, then add in sugar and salt and mix well.  

In another bowl, combine water, vinegar, vanilla extract, and oil.  

Add wet mixture to the dry, and stir until well combined.  Pour into cake pans, distributing batter as evenly as possible.  

Bake for 17-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of each comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool on a cooling rack.

The frosting (2 options)

1.  Plant-based Chocolate Ganache  This is the icing used for the cake at Charging Up Hope.  

Ingredients for two to three layers  You may need more if you like your ganache layer thicker.

8 oz dairy free semi sweet chocolate chips

12 tbsp coconut milk (at room temperature)

Instructions

Melt the chocolate carefully in a small bowl in the microwave. Don’t allow it to get hot to the touch.

Shake room temperature coconut milk to ensure it is mixed.

Add room temperature coconut milk to melted chocolate one to two Tbsp at a time and stir at each addition to combine coconut and chocolate.  If needed, microwave mixture carefully to keep chocolate melted.

Stir to completely combine.

Allow to stand at room temperature or refrigerate for 30 to 60 mins until hardened to desired consistency to pour as ganache or spread as frosting.

Notes

Vegan chocolate chips- Use “Enjoy Life” 100% real chocolate mini chips.  Use dairy-free, semi-sweet chips; this will sweeten the ganache.

Coconut milk - Use “So Delicious” Dairy Free Organic Coconut Milk, Unsweetened 

Tips

Too runny - Add more chocolate. Allow heat of ganache to melt chocolate, or place it in microwave again briefly.

Too thick - Add a little more room temperature coconut milk.

Storage - Store in airtight container in fridge up to 5 days. Can be frozen.

2.  Tofu-based Chocolate Cream  (half recipe is enough for a triple layer cake)

Ingredients

2 packages (349-g each) SILKEN extra-firm tofu, patted dry (in Asian food section of grocery store).


1/4 cup pure maple syrup


2 tsp pure vanilla extract


1 3/4 cups (generous) non-dairy chocolate chips




Instructions

In a food processor (don't use a mixer, it won't smooth out the tofu), combine tofu with maple syrup and vanilla, and puree until very, very smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  (I used a “Ninja”.  This processing step to get it smooth takes a while.)

Meanwhile, melt chocolate in a bowl fitted over a pot with simmering (not boiling) water. 

Pour melted chocolate into food processor with tofu mixture, and puree again until well incorporated (again, scraping down sides of bowl). 

I had to add a little canola oil to the hot chocolate, and it never got thin enough to pour.  I had spoon the molten chocolate into the Ninja.

Transfer to a container and refrigerate until cool (will thicken as it cools). Once cool, spread frosting on cake layers, then refrigerate cake for at least a couple of hours to set (preferably overnight).  

The refrigeration step is important.  The cake improves significantly overnight and up to 48 hrs in the frig.