Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
As every year, we present you a vegan birthday cake on April 29. Why? Because we turn a year older on that day. On April 29, 2016, we nervously sat in front of our laptops and launched “Zucker&Jagdwurst“. For the launch in 2016, we prepared a vegan lemon poppyseed Cpke. One year later, we baked a vegan naked cake with lemon and thyme, a vegan chocolate cake with sprinkles in 2018, and for our fourth birthday, we had a vegan cake with four different layers. This year, we're continuing our tradition with a simple chocolate sheet cake with a vegan cream cheese frosting and sprinkles.
For the recipe, we used a square cake pan measuring 23x40 cm/9x16 inches. This way, you get a large cake which you can cut in approx. 16 slices. You could also bake the cake in a springform pan, but we would advise you to either reduce the amount of the batter, or use a quite large springform pan as our batter ingredients might be a bit too much for a 24cm/9 inches diameter baking pan. To add more depth in flavor to the chocolate batter, we added strong coffee. If you're baking this cake for children or want to avoid coffee because of other reasons, just replace it with plant-based milk or cocoa.
But now, let's not waste any more time. We want to sit back, look back at the last five years, and enjoy a piece of chocolate cake with you.
Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
For the batter:
- 180 ml (0.75 cup) strong coffee
- 550 ml (2.33 cup) plant-based milk
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 525 g (4.25 cups) flour (type 405)
- 350 g (2.75 cups) sugar
- 150 g (1.5 cups) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 16 g (3 tsp) baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 pinch of salt
- 450 g (1.75 cups) applesauce
- 225 ml (1 cup) canola oil
For the cream:
- 300 ml (1.25 cups) plant-based cream for whipping
- 16 g (1.5 tbsp) vanilla sugar
- 16 g (2.5 tbsp) cream stiffener
- 300 g (10.5 oz) plant-based cream cheese
- 50 g (0.5 cup) confectioner's sugar
- 1 lemon (zest)
Also:
- vegan butter or vegetable oil for greasing
- colorful vegan sugar sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
Brew strong coffee and let it cool down. In the meantime, mix plant-based milk and apple cider vinegar in a bowl and let the mixture sit for approx. 5 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180°C/355°F (circulation air) and grease a square baking pan (23x40 cm/ 9x16 inches) with vegan butter or vegetable oil.
For the batter, mix flour, sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a second bowl, whisk together applesauce, canola oil, cooled coffee, and the plant-based milk mixture. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and stir to combine, until you get a smooth batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for approx. 60 minutes at 180°C/355°F (circulation air). Use a wooden pick to test whether the cake is done: poke the wooden pick into the cake at an angle. If you pull it out, there should be no batter sticking to it. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool down completely.
For the cream, whip plant-based heavy cream with vanilla sugar and cream stiffener until stiff. Carefully fold in the plant-based cream cheese and season the cream with confectioner's sugar and lemon zest to taste. Refrigerate the cream until the cake has cooled out completely.
Spread the cream mixture on top of the cooled cake and garnish with colorful sugar sprinkles.
