Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake (Minus the Reese’s)

Ok, just a warning, what you are about to encounter is pretty much the most amazing chocolate peanut butter cake you’ll ever be able to make in the universe. Pretty much this is THE chocolate peanut butter cake I’ve always dreamt of making, creating, and eating. After some inspiration, (and how can you go wrong? Chocolate and peanut butter does do a body good, and it won the #1 spot on Peanut Butter Boy’s ‘The Great Peanut Butter Exhibition’ just recently…) I just had to follow and make my own masterpiece. The past few days I’ve toyed around with the idea of doubling the cupcake recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, knowing that I wanted to make a double 9-inch cake and one batch of 12 cupcakes makes only one 9-inch cake. Therefore, I doubled the entire thing and it worked out perfectly! I love VCTOTW not only because everything is vegan and super yummy, but because of how simple the ingredients are and how quick and easy everything is to make! They’re not intimidating or time consuming. It allows you to spend a suitable amount of time baking in the kitchen without going crazy and having to do anything too challenging or out of the ordinary. From now on, anytime I want to make a cake, I’m going to just double any number of the cupcake recipes and make a super duper incredibly delicious vegan extravaganza. Just stay tuned… oh! And not to mention the peanut butter frosting came out PERFECTLY after I tried making this one twice. At first the consistency came out way too sugary and unspreadable… super disappointing. I wasted an entire jar of peanut butter (it probably had something to do with that too… it wasn’t mixing very well with the oil and was giving me a hell of a time) and decided to give the one from VCTOTW another try. The first time I made that one I incorporated the molasses and hated the flavor and texture. The second time I made it I forgot the shortening. This time I made it, I don’t know how or why (maybe it was the greatest organic peanut butter on earth that I love from Trader Joe’s), it came out the best. Which is a relief. Because I’ve been looking for the peanut butter frosting and this is it. No more searching.

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Makes a double 9″ cake

For the cake:

2 cups soy milk

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup canola oil

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup all-purpose whole wheat baking flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and oil your pans. Dust them with a little flour if you’d like. 

2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, and vanilla extract to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. 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. 

3. Pour into cake pans, making sure to evenly distribute the batter. Bake for 26-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and let cool (10-15 minutes) before taking out of pan.

For the peanut butter frosting:

1/4 cup margarine, softened

2 tablespoons shortening (preferably the trans-fat free organic brand)

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (crunchy works, too)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar

1 to 2 tablespoons soy milk

1. With electric handheld mixer, cream together margarine and shortening at medium speed till smooth. Add peanut butter and vanilla and beat until very smooth, 2-3 minutes. Beat in sugar; mixture will be very stiff. Dribble in soy milk a little at a time, beating continuously till frosting is pale tan and very fluffy. 

Chop up a bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups (the smaller ones) and put them on top of the first cake you frost so that there will be some in the middle between the layers. Then frost the rest of the cake and go craaaaazy with whatever you have left! Half ’em, chop em, however you do it, have fun and enjoy the greatest heavenly creation you’ve just made because it deserves golden ribbons.