Carob Celebration Cake w/ Peanut Butter "Buttercream" Frosting

As promised:

Cake!

I made this for our end-of-the-school-year staff party at work.
For taste it earned an A+.
The composition... well, maybe a C-.
Still, this recipe makes the honor roll for being delicious and soundly vegan!

Our oven is terrible and I partially blame it for the way this cake stuck to the pan. The other reason is I think I used the wrong kind of pan. I didn't have a round cake pan but wanted a round cake, so I used a Springform pan. I have only used these to make cheesecake, and I think they are not meant for regular cakes. Someone enlighten me on pan ettiquette, please.

Meanwhile, the taste proved that I am getting better at substitutions. I started with this recipe for the frosting and this recipe for the cake itself, then tried to make them healthier. These are the modified recipes I came up with:

No-Chocolate Carob Cake (Vegan, Gluten Free): 

1 1/4 cups gluten-free flour
1 cup turbinado sugar
2/3 cup carob powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar
1 cup carob chips

 

Vegan Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup vegan margarine or coconut oil
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons vanilla almond milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together flour, sugar, carob powder, baking soda, and salt with a fork, making sure it is really blended together.
Add the water, vanilla, oil, and vinegar, and mix together very well. Gently stir in the carob chips. Pour into a cake pan. A real one. Do as I say, not as I pan'd.

Bake for 30 minutes (until a knife or toothpick comes out clean) and let cool completely, on a rack if possible. I think. With my bad oven/choice of pan, it took more like an hour and got stuck to the Springform bottom. Which was kind of good, because otherwise it was so moist it might have fallen apart when I unlocked the spring. But oh! The flavor itself was sooooo good.

Meanwhile, the frosting. Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. You can adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar if it’s too thin, and adding more milk if it’s too thick. Mine was too thick, in retrospect, but it tasted out of this world!

Lastly, if you wanna get fancy, use this cool star and banner printable I found on good ol' Pinterest. I used jewelry wire, tape, and tacky glue to hold up the stars, and decorated them with yellow sugar (because glitter on your cake would be the worst!!!) and drew the word "Summer" on the banner to mark the party occasion. Fancy, easy. Enjoy!

See more photos on my Instagram: @veganlifeisgood