Vegan desserts. Those two words don’t exactly conjure images of delectable treats that make you want to reach for a plate and fork. The problem with a lot of vegan desserts is that people look for ways to make them healthy in addition to tasting good. For example, a local bakery offering cakes made with garbanzo bean flour: they weigh more than a newborn baby and taste like a very dry garbanzo bean dish with a lot of sugar. Another bakery, not local, offers a cupcake made with agave nectar, coconut oil, and three different flours. This cupcake tastes great when it’s consumed immediately from the oven, but wait for that cake to cool and you are eating a very dry, very heavy dessert. If I eat a dessert, it damn well better not be good for me. Same rule applies for vegan desserts: healthy choices be damned.
I like cake. I also like pie but this post is about cake. I don’t have any wheat allergies so I don’t need to figure out fancy ways to replace the glutenous properties of wheat flour. I also don’t care if my cake is made with bleached white flour, devoid of any and all nutrition. That’s why I take a daily multivitamin. In my pursuit of a vegan cake recipe that didn’t require an insane amount of (often times expensive) ingredients I discovered a chocolate cake recipe that uses baking soda and vinegar for leavening. Once I mastered this recipe I set out to create its vanilla counterpart. You will never need another vanilla cake recipe again, trust.