celebration: 1st Birthday Cake – Chocolate Vegan Cake with Homemade No-Fuss Whipped Cream

This cake is my go-to cake for first birthday cakes.  Call me a tad obnoxious (I am definitely more relaxed with #2 ;), but I had no desire to get one of those extremely fattening, who knows what is in it (except a large quantity of sugar), over butter-creamed cake :)  Oh, I know you know what I am talking about ;)  If that cake was in this house, it wouldn’t have made its way to T…my face would have been buried in it for days, so it’s best we not dare let that in this house :)

Anywho, I made this cake for V’s first birthday and wasn’t sure how it would turn out, you know, with the “vegan” title and all, but I really didn’t want to send her, or myself, into diabetic shock with the thick butter-cream option on her first birthday.  I also waited to introduce eggs to both V & T until after their first birthday.

Well, forget the “vegan” title assumption; this cake is yummy!  I remember vividly, my first attempt 19 months ago, that I flubbed V’s cake for some reason & had to remake it, so I got to eat my flubbed version (looking back, maybe it was secretly on purpose so I had a reason to bury my face in her cake – HA!).  So I knew that when I was going to make T’s 1st birthday cake I would make this one again.  I like to make the kiddos their own mini personal birthday cakes.  It’s their special day; they deserve their own little kiddo-style cake & the rest of us can eat cupcakes :)

For T’s cake shown above, I made two 6” cakes.  I halved one of the 6” cakes horizontally, split it in two, and used one of the two split pieces as the bottom layer, then spread the whipped cream on top.  The other complete 6″ cake went next, on top of the whipped cream layer, and then another layer of whipped cream.  I decorated the top of the cake with three mustaches, for T’s “little man” party theme.  I used mustache cookie cutters from the other half of the of the two split pieces, from the bottom layer (you also will have the scraps from the mustache cutters for the aforementioned mama snacking :).  I then added whipped cream to each mustache cut out, and finished it with sprinkling light brown sanding sugar on top of each mustache, loosely sprinkling in between, catching some on the cake as well.  The recipe below makes one cup of whipped cream, enough to make this, and we even had some left over :)

Well, that’s it!

It’s a great feel-good, healthier than traditional butter-cream, homemade from scratch, first birthday cake!  Enjoy!

I leave you with T conquering & devouring his little cake :) :) :)

CHOCOLATE VEGAN CAKE

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup cold water
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. white vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
2. Grease & flour (I use Pam baking spray w/flour) two small 6 by 2 inch deep round cake pans (Wilton Aluminum Performance Pans) , or one 12 by 2 inch deep cake pan, whichever you prefer;  Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and sugar together until blended.
4. In a separate small bowl combine vegetable oil, cold water, and vanilla extract together until blended.
5. Stir the small bowl of wet ingredients into large bowl of dry ingredients; Blend well until mixed.
6. VERY IMPORTANT – by hand quickly stir in white vinegar and immediately pour batter into your pre-greased pan(s).
7. Then without delay, as soon as the batter hits the pan, put the pan(s) into oven for 25 – 30 minutes.
8. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
9. Remove from oven & let sit in pan for 5 minutes.
10. After 5 minutes of cooling in pan, transfer to a wire rack for further cooling.
11. Apply homemade no-fuss whipped cream after cake is completely cooled.  Yields two small round 6” cakes, or one round 12” cake.

HOMEMADE NO-FUSS WHIPPED CREAM

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cold heavy cream (chilled for at least 24 hrs.)
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Pour cream in a chilled bowl.
2. Using a mixer beat the cream on high until it thickens.
3. Once thickened, add the sugar & vanilla, and continue to beat until soft peaks form  (to test the whipped cream, once mixer is stopped, pull up beaters & if the cream forms little mountains that stand up on their own, then it is done).  Makes 1 cup of whipped cream and must be refrigerated immediately.

And here are the printable recipes (click on each button for a printable PDF file):

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