The Great Fake Pound Cake

I made this cake to celebrate the completion of my Masters degree. I'm very excited if a bit jobless, so hopefully that will mean more time concocting recipes and less time writing papers. To celebrate, I baked a cake! After a week of no baking it was so satisfying to sift flour over creamed sugar; to pour batter into a tin; and bake a delicious, simple, wholesome treat. 

I wanted to make a pound cake. It has the depth and heftiness that a Masters degree seemed to require. Obvious restrictions were overcome and the result was a deeply vanilla-y cake with a dense crumb. 

POUND CAKE INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup apple sauce

1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise

1 cup white sugar

1 vanilla seed, scraped and deseeded

1 1/2 cup wheat free flour

1 tsp xantham gum

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup rice milk or soy milk mixed with 1 tsp cider or white vinegar

1 egg replacement

POUND CAKE DIRECTIONS:

In the bowl of a mixer, combine the apple sauce, mayonnaise, sugar, and vanilla seeds together until creamy and the vanilla seeds are evenly dispersed. In another bowl combine the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda and powder. Add, alternating with the rice milk until combined. Finally, add the egg replacement prepared as per the instructions. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, rotating half way through. Allow to cool mostly in the pan and then turn out onto a cooling rack. 

MILK CHOCOLATE ICING INGREDIENTS:

2 tbs vegan margarine

1 tsp cocoa powder

2 tsp bird's custard powder

vanilla soy milk/rice milk

icing sugar

ICING DIRECTIONS:

Beat the margarine, cocoa powder, and custard powder combined. Alternatively add icing sugar and soy milk until enough icing to cover the top of the cake is made. Spread on cooled cake. 

Summer Cake

This cake was actually a charming accident, made from a failed icing recipe and an excessive harvest of strawberries. The result is a combination of as close as I can recall to an ice cream flavored icing and an extremely moist banana cake. I made it for a birthday party and didn't tell anyone that it was 'everything-free' until they had all had a bite. They all swore they couldn't tell the difference! It was quite exciting! The only piece of advice that I can give you, other than to never try the recipes these first came from, is to assemble it all on the same day. Otherwise, the icing and cake can be made the day before. 

The icing recipe makes enough to generously ice the top and middle layer but might be a bit tight if you wanted to go around the whole thing. 

Makes 1 two layer cake. 

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

3 large bananas, very ripe, and mashed 

1/2 cup apple sauce

2 tbs prune puree

1 tbs molasses

1/3 c cup canola oil

splash vanilla

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 cups wheat free flour 

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp xantham gum

2 eggs/egg replacer

CAKE INSTRUCTIONS:

Grease and line two 8 inch cake pans. In a large bowl, blend the banana, molasses, canola oil, vanilla, sugar, and prune puree. While this is whirring away, in a separate bowl whisk together thoroughly the flour, baking soda, powder, and xantham gum. Sift this mixture into the wet mixture. Add the egg replacement (as per package instructions) last. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for twenty minutes, rotating half way through. Allow to cool in pans, as these cakes are so moist a cooling rack might leave horrible scars across the pretty, spongy top. If not using the same day, wrap in plastic wrap and place in tupperware containers (separately, so that one does not get crushed). 

ICING INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup soy milk or other milk

1 tbs cornstarch

2 tbs dried soy milk powder

vanilla seeds from one vanilla pod

2 cups icing sugar (aprox.)

squirt of lemon juice

dash of vanilla extract

1/2 cup melted coconut oil, melted and room temperature-ish

In the mixer, whir together the milk and coconut oil. Add the milk powder, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Whir until combined. Add the icing sugar slowly until the mixture is the consistency of frosting. You may need more or less icing sugar for this. Add the vanilla seeds and stir to combine. Place the frosting in the fridge until ready to use. 

To assemble the cake, place one layer on cake plate and spread 1/2 cup frosting on top. Place cut strawberry on icing and then spread another 1/2 cup of icing on top. Place second cake layer on top of icing and use the remaining frosting for the top. Any left over frosting will last in the fridge for about a month. Keep cake in the fridge until ready to serve. Dot any excess strawberries around the side of the cake plate.