Sometimes, the little Slytherin requests baking days, and when she does, it's usually something incredibly specific. This time it was chocolate layer cake with strawberry frosting (she also wanted caramel drizzle, but by the time we were done with all the rest, I was too tired to make anything else haha).
I took a few other recipes from the around the internet, and tweeked and combined stuff to make it dairy-free (tiny Hufflepuff is very allergic to dairy). It was supposed to be a 3-layer cake, but we had a mishap with the bottom layer when I was taking it out of the pan, and it cracked completely in 2. I figured it wouldn't hold up the other 2 layers after that, so I turned it into two separate cakes instead.
Anyway, without further ado, here is the recipe!
Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup almond milk
1 Tbsp white vinegar
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (make sure to check ingredients – some include milk products!)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup coconut oil (melted)
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
1 cup water
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Prep your pans. If you are using springform pans that are leak (if you aren’t sure, put some water in them, and see if they spring a leak. Mine do!), line your pans with two layers of tin foil.
3. Start by adding your white vinegar to your almond milk. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients.
5. Add the eggs, vinegar/milk mix, and coconut oil, and mix well.
6. Add water and vanilla extract and combine.
7. Pour into three 9” pans (or one 8”, one 9”, and one 10” pan). Alternatively, you could just split between two pans, and bake for a few extra minutes. In fact, I think I might try this next time!
8. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs on it.
9. Let sit in springform pans on wire cooling rack for 10-15 minutes.
10. Remove from springform pans, and place on the cooling rack upside down to finish cooling (this will help the cakes settle into a more level shape, and make stacking easier).
11. While cakes are cooling, make the strawberry frosting.
Vegan Strawberry Buttercream Frosting:
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh strawberries
6 cups powdered sugar
1 cup vegan butter (4 sticks)
Directions:
1. Start by pureeing 1 cup of fresh strawberries (I used about 7). This should make about ½ cup of strawberry puree. Set aside.
2. Cream together the powdered sugar and butter.
3. Add ½ cup of strawberry puree and mix well. If your frosting is too runny, add a little bit more powdered sugar. If it is a little too thick, add a little bit more puree (1 Tbsp at a time).
Finishing the cake:
1. If you don’t have a cake stand (mine wasn’t big enough), place your plate on an appropriately sized bowl so that it is stable, and can be turned to frost.
2. Place a dollop of frosting in the middle of the plate or cake stand, so the cake will stick and not slide during the frosting process.
3. Place the largest tier of cake on the cake stand. Frost the top of the cake, making sure to cover the top of the cake until it goes JUST over the lip of the cake (this will make it easier to frost the sides).
4. Frost the sides of the bottom tier, spinning the cake stand to get all sides even.
5. Smooth the frosting on the top of the bottom cake layer, and around the sides.
6. Add the second tier (be really careful to get it perfectly centered. Mine is a little crooked to one side!).
7. Frost the top and sides of the second tier the same way you did the bottom layer.
8. Add the third tier and frost the same as the first two.
9. Cut the tops off of some strawberries, and slice them up and down. Gently but firmly press them onto the sides of the layers of the cake, all the way around.
10. Top the cake with two more strawberries (uncut).
11. You’re done!! Don’t forget to take a picture, and then slice into that bad boy, and ENJOY!
