VALENTINE’S DAY RECIPES – Vegan Chocolate Cake

This guest post is courtesy of Cafe Flora in Seattle.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Sift/Mix

¾ lb sugar = 1½ cups
11 oz all purpose flour = 1 3/8 cup
2 oz Dutch process cocoa powder = ¼ cup
2 teaspoon baking soda

Combine

½ canola oil
1 ½ cup hot water
2 teaspoon vanilla

Add wet to dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. Pour into a 9” greased cake pan and distribute evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. An inserted knife should come out clean. Cool in pan, once fully cooled remove by inverting cake pan.

Butternut Pecan Frosting

Ingredients

1 ½ cup toasted pecans
1 ½ cup sweetened coconut flakes
2 cups rice milk
¾ cup sugar
½ cup butternut squash puree
(peel and dice 1 butternut squash, roast on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until tender, puree squash in blender)

Whisk together into slurry
4 Tablespoons cornstarch
¼ cup water

Combine sugar and rice milk on stove in a saucepan, when it boils, add cornstarch slurry. Remove from heat and stir in squash, fold in pecans and coconut. Allow to cool.

Assemble

Slice cake into 3 layers. Spread frosting on bottom layer of cake. Repeat 2 more times until cake is 3 layers tall. Spread frosting on top and sides of cake with a flat spatula.