Trial and Error: Whole Wheat Vegan Cake

So I learned today that you really can’t just “wing it” when it comes to baking. I’m a big fan of making recipes up on the spot or substituting when I don’t have what they ask for. With baking this often results in a big FLAT cake…lol!

I searched around a bit for a Whole Wheat Cake, still working on not making anything with WHITE flour. I found two recipes that looked good. This Sour Cream Coffee Cake sounded good (using Whole Wheat Flour, as well as this Whole Wheat Walnut Coffee Cake. I’ve also recently been a little obsessed with Alicia Silverstone’s Website The Kind Life and her take on eating Vegan. So I thought I could just combine some recipes and make a cake vegan…lol…it turned out…interesting.

Here is what I did:

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  packed brown sugar
• 1  teaspoons  ground cinnamon
• 1  cup  granulated sugar (although to do it again I would only use 1/2 cup)
• 1/4  cup Earth Balance (vegan butter)
• 2/3 cup Unsweetened Organic Applesauce
• 1  cup  Vegan Sour cream
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 1 3/4  cups Whole Wheat flour
• 1  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1 small apple diced small
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine first 2 ingredients; set aside.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well-blended (about 5 minutes). Add Apple Sauce and Apples, beating well after each addition. Beat in sour cream and vanilla. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, stirring well with a whisk. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat well. Pour into sprayed round pan, sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool the cake on a wire rack.

Optional lemon Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 to 3 tablespoons water or milk

Pour on top of cooling cake, add fresh sliced strawberries.

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In the end both Mr. Gaunt and I thought this tasted good, but it didn’t really rise. It would have been nice if it had been thicker and fluffier. The whole Wheat Flour gives it a very wheaty taste, I liked it. I will have to keep trying this to see if I can’t find a better recipe…err…a REAL recipe…lol!

In better news, we won our softball game! I kinda pulled my groin so that sucks. I just keep hurting myself, oh well. Hoping to take it easier tomorrow at work, I busted my ass today. Oh and I have Easter pics to show you too! Soon enough.