Recipe: Vegan Chocolate Cake and Smooth Homemade Almond Milk

Good enough to be featured on FoodGawker (top left)?

How to make vegan chocolate cake with Ener-G Egg Replacer and smooth, creamy homemade almond milk.

You will need:

1.  A box of chocolate cake mix.
2.  Egg replacer (I used Ener-G Egg Replacer)
3.  A Vitamix blender.
4.  Oil and Water!
5.  Almonds (I get mine in bulk at Patel Brothers)

Now, first you will make the chocolate cake according to the directions on the box.  I purchased a box of chocolate cake mix from Fine Fare, a local grocery store in New York.  The box was on sale for $1.14 (which means you can eat cake on the cheap).  This also goes to show you don't need a Big Law salary to enjoy moist, delicious, vegan cake!

Now, to make the cake vegan, you will want to use the Ener-G Egg Replacer instead of regular eggs. 





Are Eggs Gross? 

Source: PETA

So, a human “period” is an unfertilized reproductive cycle and the eggs at the grocery store are unfertilized reproductive cycles. I’ll let you decide if eggs are “chicken periods,” but don’t get grossed out now! When you really think about it, our bodies and chickens’ bodies do some pretty awesome things. It’s reassuring to know that our bodies are working fulltime whether we are studying hard or on summer vacation. It’s the egg industry that should gross you out with their lazy practices.

Practically all of the hens who lay eggs to be eaten in our country have their claws and beaks cruelly sliced off and are never given the chance to spread their wings. Hens undergo these conditions their entire lives. These practices leave hens mutilated, stressed, and more prone to become infected with salmonella … which they pass on in their eggs to humans.

Many people decide not to eat eggs for cruelty reasons and many more decide not to eat eggs because they are loaded with artery-clogging cholesterol and saturated fat (70 percent of the calories in one egg is from pure fat!). Eggs are wonderful for nourishing a baby chick for a few days, but all of that fat can lead to heart problems in humans.

Nice article, Kelli Ellis! 

Now, mix the egg replacer and add it to the mix.  Stir and bake in a non-stick pan.  It's not rocket science, and if you are smart enough to be a law school student or graduate, you should be smart enough to know how to bake a box cake.  Right?

Now, for the Almond milk.   I used the following recipe to make the milk while the cake was baking:

VEGAN ALMOND MILK

• 1/2 almonds (you can replace cashews for a more creamy milk)
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 2.5 cups cold water (you can replace some ice for the cold water)
• Sugar, salt and vanilla to taste

Mix the almonds and hot water in the blender for about 15-20 seconds.  Once it is well blended, add the additional ingredients, including the cold water.  You can make it chocolate milk by adding chocolate if you wish.  You may or may not strain the milk.  I decided not to, although I should mention there are some almond pieces in the milk if you do not strain it.

The finished almond milk next to my Vitamix 1782 TurboBlend, 2 Speed.

Once the milk is done, put it in the fridge and let it chill while the cake is getting done.  You can even put the milk in the freezer to allow it to get cold faster.  By this time the cake should almost be ready to come out of the oven.

VEGAN CHOCOLATE FROSTING

To make a quick vegan chocolate frosting, I mixed cocoa powder, powdered sugar, a dash of salt, a bit of vanilla with a couple tablespoons of softened coconut oil.  I pretty much eyeballed what was needed and added things to taste.  You can pretty much experiment with this, as you can't go wrong.  Mix this with a small amount of that creamy vegan almond milk to get the desired consistency.

Now, once the cake is cool, remove from the pan and frost.  The cake itself should probably look a little better than mine (shown below).  Either way, you are in for a delicious and vegan treat!  Enjoy!