Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Vegan Chocolate Cake: Failure


I have flirted with the idea of becoming a vegan for quite some time now. Every time I think I would be able to do it, my dear old friend, chocolate, stares me in the eye telling me not to do it.




This being said, this week I have decided to make a vegan chocolate cake from scratch. I found a recipe here that I decided use. When I was reading through the comments one lady suggested to use applesauce instead of oil, and honey instead of sugar. I thought I would give this a try and feel a little less guilty while eating the cake.

The cake was very easy to make and for having made the cake form scratch, the clean up wasn't to bad either. After letting the cake bake for 45 min, I decorated it (Betty Crocker Vegan icing) and brought it over to my best friends house- a vegetarian who was turning twenty-two years old.

The cake looked good, minus my decorating job, and everyone could not wait to try it. The birthday girl made the first cut and tried the first bite. She didn't spit it out, which was a good start, swallowed it and said, "it's not to bad." I thought to myself, " THIS IS GREAT, YOU CAN EAT CHOCOLATE AND BE VEGAN." I anxiously took the next bite, gagged, and spit it out instantly. I was told I was being dramatic, but I know the birthday girl was just being nice. The texture of the cake was dense and had an almost jelly- like texture. It was awful.

If you are planning on making a vegan cake- please save yourself the time, effort and embarrassment and DO NOT try this recipe. I think I may try it again using the sugar and oil, or I’ve been told to buy a regular cake mix and substitute the egg with diet soda. 

That's all for this week, feel good about what you eat- bon appetite!  

7 comments:

  1. I never would have thought the cake would not have turned out. I am anxious to see how the other recipe attempts try out. I find normal cake to be dense and some of my friends are vegetarians. Love this site for helpful tips to cook for those friends.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Too bad the cake didn't turn out! I never even thought about the fact that vegans can't eat chocolate- at least there are some options out there, even if they aren't as good as the real thing. I wonder if somewhere out there, a really good chocolate vegan receipe exists?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Katie- I think there is. It seems to be a trial and error thing, I'll be sure to post when I find a good vegan cake.

    Megan- Maybe dense wasn't the right word, however I find cake to have a fluffy texture to them, this cake did not at all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm really sad to hear that it don't turn out for you Katie, it sounded just a little bit promising until I read the vinegar part... Anyways I'm not absolutely positive but I believe that you can make vegan cakes ect. using black beans. I know someone who has tried it and they said that it wasn't bad. I know black beans and cake in the same sentence doesn't sound that appetizing but, when it comes down to chocolate, anything is worth a try!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sorry to hear the cake didn't turn out, Katie. A vegan group at Brock U. held a bake sale one day and their stuff was delicious so it can be done ... though I can't remember whether there were any chocolate offerings.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow this actually looks really good. I have eaten some vegan food and it was actually delicious but I was tricked into eating it. Hopefully you can bring some vegan cake to our last PR potluck.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is terrible about the cake not turning out! The picture of it looks really good! I'd be interested to find a vegan recipe that actually works since I have a lot of vegetarian and vegan friends.

    ReplyDelete