29.10.11

Thank You Cake



Sometimes words just are not enough. Sometimes you have to find other ways of expressing gratitude to someone. The solution to this problem is always chocolate cake. Trust me.

I took a train back to school from New York and it was delayed 3 hours and my poor friend was stuck waiting for me at the station, freezing in her car while I called her every five minutes saying "Okay, they said we should be there in 20 minutes. Oh wait, make that an hour. Oh wait, two hours...." The least I could do was bake her a cake.

This cake is fairly basic, so I decided to boost the chocolatey goodness by drizzling homemade chocolate sauce all over it. Mmmm it came out light and fluffy and was so easy to make! It's the perfect recipe to whip out when you need another way to say "thank you" or "sorry" or "you're the best."



Basic Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Sauce (from The Joy of Vegan Baking)

Cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 heaping cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp white distilled vinegar

1 cup cold water

1. Preheat oven to 350° and oil a bundt pan or 9" round cake pan.

2. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for about 15 minutes and flip onto a plate.

Chocolate Sauce:

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tbsp flour

1/8 tsp salt

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup vanilla soy milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine dry ingredients in a sauce pan and then add the milk and vanilla.

2. Stir over medium heat and let it boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, it will thicken as it cools.



Of course, my kitchen lacks a real sauce pan, so I came up with the genius idea of using a tea kettle instead. It was actually perfect for easy pouring! ...Oh college life.


Enjoy!


18 comments:

  1. Lauren29.10.11

    Love the teapot! And your photos are stunning- you make college life look beautiful! What a great thank you!

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  2. Yum! You are just the kind of friend people want to do things for - whether or not you bake them a cake. Stunning photos!

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  3. Yes... words are not always enough... Chocolate cake, however, is... :) It always is... :)

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  4. Your photos are amazing.. and this cake looks amazing as well! I love anything chocolatey covered in chocolate!

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  5. Thank you so much! Me too, who doesn't? :)

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  6. hmmmm.... let me guess: she forgave you, right? 'Cause that cake looks pretty convincing to me

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  7. Yep! All was forgiven as soon as she took one bite

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  8. Yum! What a recipe. I will definitely be sharing this cake with my vegan best friend.

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  9. oh yum! i love anything chocolate.

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  10. Me too! Thanks for stopping by!

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  11. I hope he enjoys it as much as my friend did :)

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  12. matthew smith31.10.11

    SO, I can't really eat much chocolate; but these photos are a feast in and of themselves. Great contrast of dark brown with white/light backgrounds. So elegant!

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  13. made this cake last night (not the sauce though).
    amazing! we used unfiltered sunflower seed oil and it ended up tasting like chocolate halva (sooo good).
    also, didn't have white vinegar, used balsamic and it worked fine, couldn't even taste it!
    thanks for the recipe :)

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  14. I'm so glad you liked it! The sunflower seed oil sounds really interesting, but delicious.

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