I've always had a particular affinity for baking cakes. I find it to be a particularly temperamental kind of baking because one "off" ingredient or measurement can potentially have such a major negative impact on the end product. So you have to expect some trial and error when trying to formulate an original concoction, rather than following another recipe verbatim. I like the added challenge though - it makes the final product that much more satisfying - and I also just love baking cakes for people I care about! Probably above all for my fiance :)
veganmarblecake
I'm happy to say after some trial and error and a few revisions, I wound up with a finished product this time that we loved - I lucked out with this one!As far as "traditional" cake (think birthday cake) goes, I've always favored marble - what's not to love? You get the best of both worlds with the chocolate and yellow cake. So I was thrilled to discover a while back that Peter had the same affinity, and was excited to bake this from scratch for his birthday.Then I decided to take it a step further and make it vegan. Replacing dairy in cakes isn't usually terribly tricky, with various vegan butter-substitutes or oils often working just fine as a butter substitute, or non-dairy milks or tofu products replacing regular milk/sour cream/yogurt... the real challenge comes down to eggs. Flax or chia "eggs" often work well in cookies and muffins, and Ener-G is also a new-to-me option I like, but regardless it can be a little tougher to replace real eggs as a binding agent when it comes to cakes that are to be a bit delicate and/or fluffy.After some research, I found another option I'd never tried before, but gave it a go this time!Maybe this is old news to you, but it turns out that baking soda and vinegar can replace eggs in baking. 1 tablespoon of vinegar + 1 teaspoon of vinegar equal 1 egg. For this cake, I used both white and apple cider vinegars. It is not recommended to use this substitution for more than 2 eggs per recipe though, and also, it's important to mix the baking soda with your dry ingredients and the vinegar with the wet before combining dry & wet. Don't mix the baking soda and vinegar together in their own dish... anyone remember the volcano science projects in elementary school?!I crossed my fingers when my two batter-filled springform pans went in the oven and hoped my lack of real eggs, overall ingredient combination and high altitude wouldn't add up to disaster.But luckily, as I said, this 2 layer cake turned out to be delicious - very moist, a great balance between light and substantial in terms of density, and wonderfully flavorful. And the homemade vegan chocolate frosting brought everything together nicely. It was the gift that kept on giving - it lasted us one week from first bite to last, but you can bet we did manage to finish it all :) (oink!)Recipe... well...I don't typically do this, but I am not posting this recipe online just yet... but if you are a marble cake lover as I am - and especially if y0u want to wow someone special - leave a comment below or email me and maybe I will share :)