Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

I made this cake that I saw on Lora@cakeduchess' blog a few weeks ago. I knew that I wanted to make this cake to take to the vegan side of the family's Christmas Eve.  Lora had gone to Michael' and found Martha's stencils for less than $5.  Coupon in hand, I went to Michael's and found the stencils for less than $3!!  Elisabeth@foodandthrift would be proud of me:)

My husband loves Terry's Chocolate Orange, the Chocolate  orange flavored ball that breaks into 20 sections, so I made a few changes to the recipe.  I added the zest of one orange and one Tbsp. of Triple Sec.to the cake batter. You could use Grand Marnier, but I was out, and Santa didn't bring any. Also, my dark chocolate chips weren't vegan, but I thought that I had the 80% Cacao bars from Trader Joe's in my chocolate stash, however someone ate them, and it wasn't Bailey or me:)  I increased the amount of cocoa to 2/3 cup, so the cake was very chocolaty with an orange flavor in the background.

I made my cake in a 8" square pan, so we had to play with stencil a little bit to get in position.  I baked the cake, and Scott put the stencil on, right before we left.  One caveat, however, is to keep  the cake with stencil, refrigerated as long as possible, othewise the stencil will sink into the cake, and disappear, like this.

Stencil on the cake or not, it is a very rich, moist, chocolaty cake, and no one would think that it was vegan. You could put a light chocolate or orange glaze on the cake, if you wanted. I hope that everyone had wonderful holidays and have a wonderful New Year!

Lora@cakeduchess.com and Sanjeetakk are hosting a virtual New Years Eve Party!  Come and join the fun to Leap into 2012!

Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake Adapted from cake duchess.com

1/4 dark chocolate chips ( I didn’t use these)
1/4 cup hot brewed coffee (I used espresso) (I didn’t use this)
1 cup almond milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I didn’t use this)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract ( I didn’t use this)

1 Tbsp Triple Sec or Grand Marnier

Zest of one orange
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular (or a mix of both) (I used 2/3 c cocoa)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line the bottom of an 8 inch cake pan and spray with baking spray.

Put the chocolate chips in a medium bowl with hot coffee. Let it stand, stirring occasionally until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. If used

Whisk together the almond milk (or whatever milk you chose) and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle (yes, you’re making a vegan “buttermilk”). Add the sugar, oil, vanilla or Triple Sec, orange zest, and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain. If you have some tiny lumps in the batter, not a huge problem.

Pour in the batter and bake for 32 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted through the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely. Remove from pan.

When the cake is cooled, you can sift on the powdered sugar or whatever glaze you prefer.