I'll take any excuse to bake a cake and Valentine's Day was no exception. Being totally unoriginal, I decided on a deep red velvet cake, strawberries, finished off with fluffy pink vanilla frosting and a festive blend of sprinkles. 
Vegan Red Velvet Cake
Makes a single 9" round
1 1/2 cups---------AP Flour3/4 cup------------White Sugar2 tablespoons-----Cocoa Powder1 teaspoon---------Baking Soda1/2 teaspoon-------Salt
- Preheat oven to 350°F (325°F convection)
- Line the bottom of a 9" round pan with parchment paper.
- Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl, set aside.
1/3 cup-------------Oil (any with a neutral flavour)1 teaspoon---------Vanilla Extract1 teaspoon---------Butter Extract (optional, but recommended)1-2 tablespoons---Red Food Colouring*1 teaspoon---------White Vinegar1 cup---------------Water, room temperature
- In a large bowl add all the wet ingredients together and stir.
- Wet into dry and quickly whisk until just combined. Avoid over mixing!
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and level out.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, middle rack. Baking times may vary +/- 5 minutes. Use a toothpick or cake tester to check for doneness!
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove and finish cooling on a rack.
The frosting is an old fashioned ermine (cooked) buttercream- the original frosting for red velvet, before luscious cream cheese frosting came into play. It's a little odd, as it involves cooking a flour and (dairy free) milk slurry, but it's worth the extra step. The result is a light and fluffy frosting that isn't too sweet and reminiscent of whipped cream. The Tough Cookie has an excellent tutorial/recipe with includes pretty photos.
I swapped out the butter for vegan butter/vegetable shortening and cows milk for rice milk as well as a half teaspoon of butter extract for a boost of well, buttery goodness!
If you'd like to add a strawberry filling between the layers as I did, a simple real fruit jam works wonders! I used frozen strawberries, a few spoons of sugar to taste, pinch of salt and thickened it with a little carrageenan (derived from red seaweed).
*some red food dyes are not vegan. Make sure yours is, if that matters to you!
I baked one 9" round and sliced it in half.
Mashed strawberries, sugar, pinch of salt and carrageenan.
Ready for frosting!
So much goodnesssssssssss.
I started using Photoshop to make gifs.
Now I just need to not be lazy and start using a tripod.
Can't get enough of this pink and teal combo!
There's 5 different kids of sprinkles in there.
Red and pink sugar, white nonpareil, small and big hearts.
Kind of liking the sprinkles in the trench look.
Little DIY custom cake topper.
Again with the pink, teal and a touch of gold. Swooooon!
It was nearly 6pm when I took these photos and I was fighting day light. There's only so much Lightroom can do, so excuse the noise and grain.
I should also mention that I forgot to peel the parchment off the bottom of the cake round. No wonder I was having trouble lifting the first slice, duh....
Don't be like me. Remove the parchment paper before frosting.
The cake was deliciously moist and was a gorgeous shade of deep crimson.
It had just enough chocolate flavour and the strawberry paired really well with it. Yum!
It keeps really well at room temperature even with the heater on full blast (thanks to a bit of vegetable shortening). If you happen to have fresh fruit in the cake, I'd recommend keeping it in the fridge for freshness- that is, if you have any left over.
Plus, cold cake is my favourite!
Plus, cold cake is my favourite!
