Have Your Cake and Vegan Too
Am I seriously the only person on this forum who has this book?! The horror!
Here is what I've made so far:
Orange you glad it's pudding cake - Meh. I thought this was actually plain but everyone else seemed to like it. I'm not sure what it was that could have been added but it just seemed like it tasted of sugar + milk + orange juice.
Banana fudge striped cake - Bananas and chocolate is a winning combo, you'd have to be pretty lame to mess that up. Saying that, this is a great recipe that could be made using all applesauce which makes it lower fat and super moist.
Spiced crumb cake - This little cake packs a lot of flavor from the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom. You don't really see cardamom called for in baked goods all that often so I was excited to use it in this. This tasted great along side some tea for breakfast and goes over well with crowds (I sent it to my partner's work and it was devoured).
Vanilla cake - I hate to say that this has been the worst cake recipe I've ever tried. I mean it straight up tastes like flour, sugar, and liquid. I'm a big fan of Kris's baking but it seems like some of her cakes/breads can be like that since she likes to use simple ingredients. Try this at your own risk.
Glad to know that about the vanilla cake, because I was going to make it for my birthday!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Dream Cake - Doesn't look a thing like the picture. My layers turned out about half the height of the ones in the picture, and my peanut butter filling was less fluffy and more like caramel (that could've been my fault, maybe I beat it too long or it got too warm?). That being said, this cake is amazingly delicious. The cake part is dense and very rich, the filling is creamy peanut butter that melts in your mouth, and the peanut butter ganache topping is a sophisticated touch. I'll be making this again.
I made the Intensely Chocolate Bundt Cake while I was vacationing with my family, hoping to tempt my chocolate-loving but vegan-phobic dad & uncles. It worked! My dad admitted that it was pretty good, and my mother commented that it was very moist. I thought it was delicious and fairly easy to make. The cake part, as my mother said, is nice and moist. The syrup hardens to a kind of glaze on top and stays sticky on the bottom, which was a nice contrast. I didn't have a lot of pecans, so I left those out, but I will use them next time for sure.
I made the basic chocolate cake recipe for my son's birthday, and we all loved it. I frosted it with a boiled frosting (my favorite), and we all ate cake until we were sick. The cake is very moist, almost spongy in texture, and chocolatey. I think it's a veganized version of Hershey's chocolate cake recipe, that recipe uses boiling water as well. I'm not sure what exactly the boiling water does, but it works for me!
I made the Dad Is Great Chocolate Cake and loved it. It made a nice presentation by baking it in a loaf pan and then splitting it in two. However, I'm not a fan of the tofu frosting. Definitely going to stick with a vegan buttercream for the next time.