Vegan Crimson Velveteen Cake

Lately I've been going crazy with the cake baking. Fortunately I had some good excuses to be able to put some recipes to the test due to all of the August birthdays that have been going around. Here's one that I made at the beginning of the month for my good friend Courtney that just turned 20: a vegan Crimson Velveteen Cake.

This cake turned out amazing. It was one of those VCTOTW recipes that I had initially put aside in my mind, not jumping at the gun to go in and bake these as cupcakes. But the more and more I'd flipped through and scanned over the recipes, this sounded like such a great idea. As she claims that she doesn't really like sweets, I'll admit I was a little nervous about what I wanted to make, but the hint of cocoa and the beautiful dark, burgundy color called out to me as a good old-fashioned-hard-to-mess-up recipe that anyone would love. And boy, did she love it.

Vegan Crimson Velveteen Cake with Old-Fashioned Velvet Icing

Adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World 

Note: I omitted the chocolate extract and instead added more vanilla. And this really uses a lot of red food coloring, so be sure to purchase the 1 oz. bottle instead of the mini multi-colored food coloring box. I learned this the hard way...

The cake:

1 cup soy milk

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons red food coloring

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon chocolate extract

The Old-Fashioned Velvet Icing:

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup soy milk

1/4 cup nonhydrogenated shortening

1/4 cup margarine

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup superfine or castor sugar

1/3 cup finely chopped (glazed) pecans, for garnish

The cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly spray two 6-inch cake pans with cooking spray or oil. 

2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle.

3. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and mix.

4. Add the oil, food coloring, chocolate extract, and almond extract to the curdled soy milk. Whisk well to combine. Gently fold wet ingredients into dry, mixing until large lumps disappear.

5. Fill cake pans evenly (about half way through). Place in hot oven and bake 24-28 minutes, depending. Just keep checking in on it. 

The icing:

6. In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the flour and soy milk. Stir constantly until the mixture starts to thicken and has a puddinglike consistency, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool 2 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and press plastic wrap onto the top of custard to prevent a "skin" from forming. Allow mixture to cool completely before next step. (This is very important, as warm pudding might melt the fats).

7. Cream together the shortening, margarine, vanilla, and sugar then beat in cold custard. Beat with electric mixer for 4-6 minutes; frosting should become lighter in color and have a very creamy texture, similar to very thick whipped cream. Frost on cooled cake and sprinkle sides with chopped pecans.