Here's a special cake that I made for Dazee's 41st bday.
I really and truly think this is the best cake I have ever made.
Over the last two years, my baking style has really blossomed. I used to be really unsure of my vegan baking talents, but what I've
realized is that once you find a really great recipe, you can mix it up a bit and it will still work out. This is one of those
recipes...it started from something an old internet friend shared with me from The Joy of Cooking, and it has morphed into this.
If a recipe calls for vanilla extract, don't be afraid to use a different flavor instead. I don't even keep vanilla in my
cupboard anymore, I much prefer using liquors like Triple Sec, Amaretto, Kahlua and Frangelico (especially in buttercream).
If you prefer the extract route,
there are other great flavors available like coconut, lemon, maple, and even coffee; these aren't too hard to find in specialty
shops. If you live near an Indian grocery, you can also find really interesting flavors like cardamon, banana, rose, and I even found something called chickoo
that smells great but I haven't gotten to try it yet, so I can't tell you what it tastes like.
Dry Ingredients:
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3 cups unbleached white flour
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1 3/4 cups unbleached granulated sugar
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2 teaspoons baking soda
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1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon
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3/4 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients:
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1 1/2 cups orange juice (freshly squeezed from three medium oranges, then I made up the difference with juice from
concentrate)
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1/2 cup rose water (cooking grade, from an Indian or Middle Eastern grocer)
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2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
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2/3 cup canola oil
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1 tablespoon Triple Sec
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4 teaspoons organic orange zest (from three organic oranges)
What You Do:
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Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two 8" cake pans (these stick sometimes, so you might want to put someparchment
circles on the bottom of each pan).
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Mix together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients.
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Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and beat well until smooth (I use my kitchenaid stand mixer).
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Divide the batter evenly among the two pans.
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Check for done after 45 minutes with a toothpick, it should come clean when you poke it into the very center of each cake. (but watch closely so it doesn't brown too much.)
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Let cool ten minutes, flip to wire racks and cool completely.
If you don't know exactly how to get them out of the pans, check out the kitteekake tutorial
for the how-tos.
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Pick yer favorite frosting or filling and have to it!
PSssst. I filled my cake with lemon coconut
custard and made a triple sec and rose water buttercream which was super dee-lish.
