The Eyeballer's Guide to Delicious Vegan Cakes

Homemade Vegan Chocolate + Cinnamon-Orange Cake Edition

Today, I brought homemade vegan chocolate cake to my classmates as a Halloween treat for cake Friday at uni. It was my first time using my oven (because I didn't have pans that fit inside it until recently), and I improvised all ingredient measurements. Needless to say I was worried how the cake would taste, but it turned out very good. Several classmates asked for the recipe, so here is a brief overview of the chocolate cake recipe, and also a vegan cinnamon-orange cake recipe I completely made up from scratch tonight. 

My measurement tools; cup, small spoon, large spoon.

Not only do I not own any measuring cups, but I've always been a kind of eyeball measurement person. As long as you try to be consistent with your 'measurement' mechanisms, it's totally fine to put a little bit of this or than and add ingredients things to taste.

Chocolate Cake ingredients. 

Vegan means that food is completely free of all animal products. So that means dairy-free margarine, coconut cream, no eggs, etc. It was my first time making a vegan cake, but it was actually very delicious and easy to do.

Chocolate cake batter. 

Vegan Chocolate Cake:

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar (sukker)
1 1/3 cup flour (siktet hvetemel)
1/3 cup cocoa (kakao)
1 small spoon baking soda (natron)
1/2 small spoon salt
1 small spoon vanilla extract
1 small spoon apple cider vinegar (epelcider eddik)
1 cup water (vann)
1/3 cup sunflower oil (solsikkeolje)

Instructions:
1. Combine all dry ingredients. (I just poured everything directly into my cake pan rather than getting another bowl dirty.  The pan doesn't need to be greased since oil will be added to it).
2. Mix dry ingredients with a fork to make sure the cocoa, flour, etc., is distributed evenly throughout.
3. Pour in the water, apple cider vinegar, and finally sunflower oil.
4. Mix ingredients until batter is nice and smooth.
5. Set oven to 175 Celsius and cook for 20 minutes (knife should come out clean from the center).
6. Let cake cool a minimum of 1 hour (I put my cake near the window so it would cool off quicker).

 Glaze ingredients. 

Chocolate Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar (sukker)
5 big spoons of margarine (melkfri smoeremyk)
3 big spoons cocoa (kakao)
1/2 small spoon cinnamon (kanel)
2 small spoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut cream (normal from can, not light cream)

Instructions:
1. Pour only the whipped part of the coconut milk into a bowl (leave the clear liquid part in the can).
2. Add 1 small spoon of cocoa to the coconut milk and mix until the cocoa has been blended with the coconut milk.
3. Drizzle some of the coconut-chocolate mixture over the top of the cake (it's okay to put this on while the cake is still warm). Let the mixture coat and soak into the cake to keep it moist.
4. Next, in a pan combine sugar, margarine, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, and the rest of the coconut milk-cocoa mixture.
5. Continuously stir mixture and bring to a boil.
6. Boil for 2 mins, continuously stirring the entire time so nothing burns.
7. Reduce heat so it is simmering, and continue stirring for 5 minutes.
8. Immediately pour and spread over cake. Add any decorations now, because glaze dries quickly.

A scary looking chocolate cake for Halloween.

Since it was Halloween I wanted to give this cake a little bit of Halloween flare. Personally, I don't like fruit with my chocolate, but I wanted to try and make something natural without artificial colors, so I decided to candy some orange slices to give the look of pumpkins. The frosting dried so quickly that I didn't have time to really work on a layout, so "pumpkins" ended up all over the entire cake. I also used candied orange rinds to spell out "Boo."

Candied orange slices:

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar (sukker)
1.5 cup water (vann)
1 orange (appelsin) sliced thin

Instructions:
1. Combine sugar and water in a sauce pan.
2. Bring pan to a boil and stir sugar until it dissolves.
3. Add orange slices in a single layer and cook on high for about 20 mins.
4. Turn over slices and lower heat to simmer orange slices for another 20 mins.
5. Slices should be done when they start turning clear.
6. Remove slices from pan, place on drying rack, or on a plate to refrigerate.
7. Save excess orange syrup in a jar.

* Note: The candied oranges were pretty sweet to my taste, so not something I would personally like to eat plain. Save the syrup to use for the cinnamon-orange vegan cake, or for other delicious recipes.

Cinnamon-orange cake batter ready to go into the oven.

Vegan Cinnamon-Orange Cake:

Ingredients:
1 cup flour (siktet hvetemel)
3-4 slices of chopped candied oranges
1/2 small spoon baking soda (natron)
1/2 small spoon salt
3/4 cup water (vann)
1/4 cup orange syrup (from making candied oranges)
1 small spoon vanilla extract
1 small spoon apple cider vinegar (epelcider eddik)
1/4 cup sunflower oil (solsikkeolje)

Orange cake fresh out of the oven. 

Instructions:
1. Mix all dry ingredients inside an ungreased cake pan (using a separate bowl isn't necessary).
2. Chop up candied oranges, feel free to add as many slices as you would like (I put in about 3).
3. Add in all wet ingredients and stir batter so that everything is mixed evenly.
4. Set oven to 275 Celsius and cook for 20 minutes (knife should come out clean from the center).
5. Let cake cool minimum of 1 hour (I don't have any drying racks, so I put my cake near the window to let it cool off quicker).

Portion amounts for making the cinnamon frosting.

Cinnamon Glaze:
4 big spoons margarine (melkfri smoeremyk)
1/4 cup orange syrup (from candying orange slices)
1.5 big spoons cinnamon (kanel)
1 small spoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut cream (normal from a can; not light)

Instructions:
1. In a pan combine all ingredients.
5. Continuously stir mixture and bring to a boil.
6. Boil for 2 mins, continuously stirring the entire time so nothing burns.
7. Reduce heat so mixture is simmering, and continue stirring for 5 minutes.
8. Immediately pour and spread over cake. Add any decorations now, because glaze will dry very quickly (the glaze will be fairly transparent and shinny as seen in the photo below).

Finished cake with the cinnamon glaze. 

I made this post as kind of an after thought so there aren't photos for every step. All recipes can be made according to personal taste preferences. I don't have any fancy equipment whatsoever, so these recipes are really simple to make.

Slice of the Cinnamon-Orange cake.

Remember, food doesn't have to be difficult to make, or look pretty to taste good! Happy cooking!