Monday, January 31, 2011

Let Them Eat Cake...

I have always wanted to bake my cakes from scratch and get completely away from box mixes. I already have to make my breads, muffins, cookies, pies, and granola bars from scratch since most store bought contain dairy, so a cake was the last big baking goal I had. Recently I have been asked to bake the cakes for a couple different special occasions so I figured now is a good time to practice. I made both the cake and the icing completely from scratch, and neither contain any dairy! The girls told me it was "the best cake ever" :-) Of course, they are kids, and it was chocolate cake made for no reason, so of course to them it was the best ever.

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 and 3/4 cup
3/4 cup Cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water



Method:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 in. baking pans.
2.Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.



3.Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (The batter will be thin).



4.Pour the batter into baking pans.


5.Bake for 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.


6.Cool for 10 minutes in pans and then move to wire cooling racks. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
Ingredients:

1/2 cup non dairy margarine
2/3 cup Cocoa powder
3 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract.



Method:
Melt margarine in sauce pan over low heat.
Put into mixing bowl and stir in cocoa.
Alternate between adding milk and powdered sugar, beating it on medium speed. I added more than the 3 cups of powdered sugar in order to get the right consistency of the frosting. Stir in the vanilla.
Makes about 2 cups of frosting- enough for a layer cake or cupcakes.


I didn't spend any time decorating it, or really frosting it well since it was just a practice cake.


YUM!

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