French Chocolate Cake

[stars]

Here's a half recipe, frosted with leftover cream cheese frosting from the Incredible Carrot Cake recipe with 2 tablespoons chocolate chips melted and mixed in.  As you can see, not all the chips melted too well...

[bookmama]

Looks beautiful to me. Very gourmet! I thought it was professionally done when I first looked at it.

[just_eat_it]

hey stars!  these cakes are absolutely gorgeous!  i'm sure they taste great too, which is all the more intimidating
so mother's day is coming up and i would like to make something special for mums.  i was wondering if you could clue me in on your technique with the rosette cake?  did you bake that in a sheet pan and roll it like a buch de noel or is that just some fancy handiwork on the top?  if you baked it flat, what size pan did you use and did you adjust the cooking time? 

[stars]

Oh, I can't take any credit for the rose cake- it's a pan:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/prod/sku4529236.jsp

Mine was cheaper than that, but I don't remember where I bought it- Macy's or Dillard's or some department store.  I love it.  It makes a fancy cake right when you pop it out of the pan, and you don't even need to frost it.  If you make a lot of cakes, a shaped bundt pan is worth it, I think.

Don't be intimidated, it's a very easy cake. 

[abrimmer]

My daughter is allergic to oranges. Any suggestions on a suitable sub for the o.j.? Thanks!

[stars]

You know, I've never treid it without the OJ.  I would try faux vegan 'buttermilk,' add about a tablespoon of lemon juice to a cup of soymilk.  That way it's thick, slightly acidic and has more body than just plain soymilk. 

[abrimmer]

Thanks for the tip...I'll give it a try.

[appletart]

This was my first attempt at vegan baking and I'm hooked.  This cake is incredible.  It really does taste better than any other chocolate cake I've had before.  I took it to work and it was gone in a day.

I added raspberry flavoring to it but could not really taste it in the end.  I can't taste any orange falvor either, and do agree it tastes better the next day.  I still reccomend it though!!!

[workingdee]

This is a good recipe.  I served it at a cast party this weekend and it went over ok with the meat eaters.  Everyone agreed the texture was fabulous.  Super moist and fluffy, but still substantial.  This was the first vegan cake that I've made that actually came out of my silcone baking pan in-tact! 

Some of the comments  got were that it was a little floury, could use more sugar and  more cocoa powder.  I have to say that I basically agree with these comments especially about adding more cocoa.  The orange overwhelemed the chocolatiness of the cake.

 I made a few alterations to the recipe:
-no salt
-bottled OJ, no pulp
-Triple Sec, instead of Orange extract.

I actually just forgot to add the salt, but I don't think that hurt it any.  Also I only gave it about 20 minutes of rest time out of the pan before i placed it in my cake saver for transport.  Then it sat warm in the cake saver for about 3 1/2 hours until we cut it. So it practically steamed it self for 3 hours and I believe that contributed to it's super-moist quality.

I'll be making this again and posting pics and a my new results! 

[amandajomac]

A friend of mine and I made this cake for my boyfriend's 20th birthday, and OH MAN it was good. We topped the cake with melted raspberry perserves and powdered sugar. My boyfriend and I both agree it's the best cake we have ever had. It's not super rich and sugary like most vegan baked goods are, it's just perfect. I'd like to try it in one of those perty rose bundt pans next time.

[tlcbbp]

This recipe looks really amazing, can't wait to try it!
Check out some the recipes on my blog, they are pretty similar... <a href="www.tatianacochran.com">Awesome Vegan Girl</a>

[shelloid]

hands down, without a doubt the BEST chocolate cake I have ever made, vegan or otherwise.  I will not use another recipe again!

I followed the recipe exactly, using the vanilla flavouring and found it really easy to make.  I baked the cake for 55 mins and then I let it sit for about 30 mins before inverting and getting it out of the pan.  The cake had risen wonderfully and it was very easy to get out of the pan.

I did make a chocolate frosting for the cake and that made it super rich - yum!  With out the frosting it would have been really really good too.
It was very rich and chocolatey and I couldn't taste the orange juice.  The texture was amazing - really fluffy and moist, and it slice up really well.

I took the cake to work the day after I made it and had so so many compliments on it.  Someone even asked if I had bought the cake because they didn't believe a homemade cake could be so good - yay!  Then they were even more shocked when I said that it was vegan - to me that's always a good sign.

Thank you so so much for the recipe.  5 stars!

[DontKillTheCows]

I made this cake today, but just to test it out I only made half of the recipe. I thought it would rise a bit more, but it was only half of it. I'm planning on making a 3 tier cake, but will most likely make the full recipe to see if it rises more.

[RiskyRussians]

I was a bit skeptical of this recipe at first, but it looked worth trying.

I LOVE it!! It isn't very sweet (I recommend making a sweet chocolate frosting), but it is very rich and flavorful. It's a simple recipe, but one of high quality. I'm making different flavored bundt cakes for my wedding, and this will be one of them.

I served it with a sweeter chocolate and raspberry glaze, and defrosted raspberries on the side.

I think this guy knows what he's doing. Thanks for the delicious recipe!!