Vegan Chocolate Cake Take 1

So when Martha and I sat down to discuss what type of cakes she and Ben would like for their wedding it came up that a handful of people attending were vegans, as in they eat no animals or animal byproducts. Being a nice and sweet person Martha did not want them to feel left out so I said I would do some searching and see what I could come up with.

Most of the recipes I found revolved around chocolate, one even included beets! I decided that I would give this version, from Martha Stewart, a whirl. The ingredients are pretty straight forward, soy milk and margarine, apple cider vinegar, natural cane sugar, etc. But the ganache called for brown-rice syrup which I’d never heard of before It’s a thick, almost honey-like syrup made from brown rice and water that somehow has a sweet flavor…

Overall I think that cake turned out really well. Incredibly moist and chocolaty, the cocoa kind of chocolaty not the Hersey’s sort. I do need to find my straight sided cake pans so the layers will line up and create a sleek profile. The buttercream filling could be a little stiffer by adding more powdered sugar. And maybe add a little semi-sweet chocolate to the bitter-sweet in the ganache to sweeten it a little.

Matt said the cake was wonderful, but he tends to say that about anything I bake! Not a bad quality mind you, but I’m looking for a critical eye/pallet for this one. So I am going to take a bit by the fabric store this afternoon and some to work tomorrow to get more feedback.

*The finished cake will not be naked, I plan on placing large curls of chocolate on top.

Update:
I took some cake by Sarahs and work. It was very well received. Unnamed folks at Sarahs probably had a tummy ache from how much they ate, but that’s just a testament to how great it was right? Everyone seemed to think the bittersweet chocolate was perfect a good balance with the sweeter faux buttercream filling so I don’t think I’ll add any semi-sweet to the ganache. It was mentioned that there could be a little more coffee flavor, so I might sprinkle more espresso powder in the filling. All in all I think this one might be a keeper!