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Cooking on Caffeine

making family-favorite recipes vegan and allergy-friendly

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    • Desserts and Pastries
      • Vegan Macarons: Recipes and Resources
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      • Cakes
      • Cookies
    • Main Dishes
      • Vegan Quick and Easy Mexican Red Pozole/Menudo (Instant Pot)
      • Easy Creamy Vegan Tomato Basil Sauce
    • Sides
      • Gochujang Spicy Brussels Sprouts (Vegan)
      • Sautéed Basil Cucumbers and Grapes
    • Sauces, Condiments, and Cheeses
      • Easiest Vegan Cheese Sauce Ever *BASE RECIPE* (no blender needed!)
      • Easy Vegan Cheese for Pizza (Nut-Free, No Blender)
      • Vegan Choriqueso (Queso Dip with Chorizo)
      • Vegan Cream Cheese Filling for Danishes
      • Easy Creamy Vegan Tomato Basil Sauce
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    • Vegan Macarons: Recipes and Resources
    • Macaron Troubleshooting Series
    • Icings, Frostings, Toppings, and Fillings
  • Blog
    • Silk Vegan Heavy Whipping Cream Review
    • Three Common Kitchen Mistakes
    • 21 Amazing Vegan Chickpea Recipes
    • Insert Change Now
  • My Story
  • Amazon Shop

Cakes

Chai Spice Cake (Vegan, Soy-Free, Nut-Free, One-Bowl)

November 8, 2019 //  by Meggan Leal//  Leave a Comment

Pumpkin spice needs to move over, because chai is the fall flavor that is going to fill you with autumnal warmth this year! Warm Indian spices including cinnamon, cardamom, anise, and black pepper turn my favorite hot latte from beverage to show stopping dessert.

Chai Spice?

First off, what the heck is chai?

Well, chai is my favorite tea! Lol. But it’s so much more than that. It’s funny because the word chai actually means tea in India. So my favorite flavor of tea is.. tea. In India this would be known as masala chai – which simply means mixed spiced tea.

But unlike here in the United States, tea in India isn’t just some black tea steeped in hot water – it’s full of warming aromatic spices, and prepared with hot milk and is served sweetened – hence it being masala – or mixed spices.

The spices used can vary, but generally include cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and star anise. I love the ones that also include ginger and black pepper. Some have orange peel and vanilla added. Even coriander and fennel can make appearances! And then of course, there is tea – black tea.

I love chai tea. But I do not mix my own. And I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on it here – because I’m not. I don’t even know 1/10th of 1% of Indian cuisine or culture or the significance of these ingredients to the wonderful people of the country.

I also don’t know anything about tea. What kinds of tea leaves? Heck if I know. Black. Lol. I also like green tea and jasmine tea. And hibiscus tea is wonderful! Those aren’t usually used in Indian teas as far as I know, but that’s pretty much the extent of my knowledge there.

But I love chai tea.

If you want to learn more about Indian tea and how to prepare it authentically, my friend Anushree has an amazing food blog with a great post containing everything you could want to know about it. Head on over there if you want to give it a shot yourself. 🙂

So how am I going to make chai spiced cake if you’re not going to teach me how to make chai spice?!

Good question!

I let the experts do the mixing.

I buy chai tea from the store. I make some, with almond or oat milk, I sweeten it with a little sugar. And I judge – usually not harshly, because apparently I love all chai teas that exist on the market. And if I like the chai tea I’m drinking, I will use those tea bags in my chai spiced cake. With the same milk I used to prepare my tea, and the same sugar I used to sweeten it.

I literally transform my chai tea latte into a cake. And now you can too!

The Ingredients

The ingredients here are pretty simple and straight forward; nothing too fancy or hard to find.

  1. Flour. The flour I use here is all purpose wheat flour. Not self-rising, not cake flour, not bread flour, not any of that. Just plain ole AP flour. You can substitute your favorite gluten-free alternative if you’d like – Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour is my favorite. The longer the name, the better the results. 😉 Follow the instructions on the bag.
  2. Sugar. I use Zulka brand granulated sugar. It’s the same as traditional white granulated sugar, but it hasn’t been filtered through bone char – meaning it’s vegan (that’s right, most American sugars aren’t vegan). It has a slight amber color and gorgeous caramel notes in the flavor. You can use whatever your favorite granulated sugar is, though.
  3. Baking soda. Also known as bicarbonate or bicarb, it’s much more than just for deodorizing you’re freezer or adding to toothpaste! And it is NOT the same thing as baking powder. So make sure to use soda and not powder here (that’s the number one mistake made in my recipes).
  4. Salt. Use whatever. I add it to enhance the flavors and balance out the sweetness a bit. Pink, white, sea, kosher – pick your poison. You could even use black salt if you wanted to give the cake a bit of an eggy taste.
  5. Chai tea! Like I said above, I use the same bags for cake making as I enjoy for drinking.
  6. Milk. Whichever plant milk is your favorite will probably do great here. I love using almond milk and soy milk in my cakes – so I choose based on whether my clients want to avoid one or the other. I opt for unsweetened vanilla to amp up that flavor.
  7. Vinegar. Any vinegar will do! I use white because it’s cheap, but I’ve also used apple cider vinegar and rice wine vinegar in a pinch. And if you can’t have vinegar, use lemon or lime juice! All we are looking for is an acid to react with the baking soda to fill our cake with tiny bubbles – turning it into a sponge.
  8. Vanilla. Whatever your favorite is – either real or synthetic, just make sure it’s not made with beaver butts. Yes, you read that right.
  9. Butter/oil. For cakes that will be stacked or carved, I recommend using your favorite vegan butter. It will give your cake a firmer structure allowing you to manipulate it without it falling apart on you. For cupcakes, oil is wonderful for giving them a light and airy texture – not great for stacking and carving, but perfect for cupcakes!

The Method

The first thing you’re going to do is pick out a chai tea that you like to drink. The best way to figure this out is to buy some, make it, and drink it. And my favorite way to do this is to steep it in hot almond or oat milk with a touch of sugar added.

Love the H-E-B brand Chai, but if you’re not fortunate enough to have an H-E-B near you, I really like the Stash brand Double Chai, as well (it’s made with cinnamon and clove oil that pops really well in the cake, though it doesn’t contain black pepper – so add some if you want it spicier).

One batch of this recipe is going to take five tea bags worth of tea. So get five envelopes out, rip em open, and pull the bags out.

Using a pair of scissors, snip off the top of each bag. Keep in mind that the tea bag might actually just be a folded tube, so make sure you hold on tight or you’ll make a big mess! Once you snip one, dump the contents into a coffee/spice grinder before moving on to the next.

If you don’t have a grinder, that’s fine – just dump the tea into your flour mixture as is. Your cake will just have larger flecks instead of a smoother color. And if you don’t want to do that, then steep ten bags in your hot milk instead.

Once you’ve unloaded the contents of your five tea bags into the grinder, give it one nice sniff before closing it and buzzing it into a fine powder.

After grinding the tea, I advise letting it settle in the grinder for at least five to ten minutes before attempting to open it. It’s going to be a spicy cloud that will likely make you cough and gag if you open it before that. Direct inhalation of cinnamon and black pepper is never a good thing, people.

In the meantime, whisk your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl – that would be your flour, sugar (yes, it counts as a dry ingredient in whacky cake recipes – which this is), baking SODA, and salt.

Once you’ve mixed your dry ingredients together and your chai powder has had the chance to settle, dump the contents of the grinder into your bowl.

Gently whisk your chai powder into your dry mix until it’s well combined.

Once your chai and dry are combined, make three wells in the mixture – one large and two small. Into the first small well, pour in your vanilla. The second small one will get your vinegar. And the large well is going to get your melted butter or oil.

Do not mix, yet!

Once you’ve made and filled your three wells, pour your hot milk over the entire bowl.

Gently stir the hot milk into your dry mixture until it’s just combined and you don’t see any dry patches anywhere.

Pour your batter into prepared cake pans or cupcake tins.

Bake cakes at 325F (162C) for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out dry (the time will depend on the size and depth of your cake pans, as well as your individual oven). Cupcakes take around 17 minutes.

Let the cake cool completely before decorating with your preferred frosting. My favorite is my American Meringue Buttercream with 12 drops of LorAnn lavender oil added.

The cake can be stored covered at room temperature for up to a week, or wrapped well (double wrapped in plastic film) and frozen for up to six months.

Pin It!

Whacky Cake Recipe Tutorial Video:

This video is for my chocolate whacky cake, but the process is the same – just using chai tea powder instead of cocoa powder and hot milk instead of coffee.

Recipe:

Yield: 1 10", 2 8", 3 6" cakes, or 24 cupcakes

Chai Spice Cake (Vegan, Soy-Free, Nut-Free, One-Bowl)

Chai Spice Cake (Vegan, Soy-Free, Nut-Free, One-Bowl)

Pumpkin spice needs to move over, because this is the fall flavor that is going to fill you with autumnal warmth this year! Warm Indian spices including cinnamon, cardamom, anise, and black pepper turn my favorite hot latte from beverage to show stopping dessert.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 cups all purpose flour (480g)
  • 2 cups sugar (400g)
  • 2 tsp baking soda (bicarb) (12g)
  • 1 tsp salt (6g)
  • 5 chai tea bags (10 if you don't have a spice/coffee grinder)
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract (10ml)
  • 2 tbsp vinegar (30ml)
  • 3/4 cup of vegan butter/margarine, melted (you can use oil, see notes below) (175ml)
  • 2 cups plant milk, hot (475ml)

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 325F (162C)
  2. Prepare your cake pans with nonstick spray and parchment paper circles on the bottom
  3. Empty the contents of your tea bags into a coffee/spice grinder and blitz until it's a fine powder and let it rest for five minutes without opening (see recipe notes if you don't have a grinder)
  4. Whisk together your flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl
  5. Gently stir your chai tea powder into the dry mix
  6. Create three deep wells in your dry mix
  7. To the first well, add your vanilla. To the second, add the vinegar. To the third, add the melted butter/oil
  8. Pour your hot milk over the entire mixture
  9. Gently whisk or fold your batter until it's well combined and no dry bits remain
  10. Divide your batter evenly among your prepared pans
  11. Bake for 45 minutes or until you insert a toothpick into the center of the cake and it comes out clean (cupcakes only need about 17 minutes)
  12. Remove your cakes from the oven to a cooling rack. Let it sit in the cake pan for five minutes before turning it out. Let cool completely before frosting.

Notes

*This can be made with your favourite cup-for-cup gluten-free flour if you want to make a wheat-free version.

*For a no-sugar-added version, use a cup-for-cup Stevia baking blend in place of the granulated sugar.

*Using melted butter is recommended for stacked or carved cakes. Oil is best for cupcakes as it results in a fluffier texture.

*For soy-free, use melted Country Crock Plant Butter sticks (avoiding the almond one if you have a nut allergy) or Miyoko’s butter if you’d like to also avoid palm-oil. Or use a non-soy oil instead.

*If you don't have a coffee/spice grinder, feel free to add the contents of the tea bags as is to the dry mix. It will leave larger flecks in the finished cake and won't give you as a smooth of a color. If you still want a smooth color, try steeping ten tea bags in your hot milk instead of grinding the contents of five.

© Meggan Leal
Cuisine: American / Category: Desserts and Pastries


Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

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Category: Cakes, Desserts and PastriesTag: cake, coconut-free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-free, Peanut-Free, Soy-Free, Vegan

Vegan Royal Icing

December 20, 2018 //  by Meggan Leal//  32 Comments

Fiiiiinally I’ve got this recipe posted for you all! Thanks for your patience, and sorry for the delay – but I think you’ll find it worth it!

This is my version of a vegan aquafaba royal icing. It dries hard and is suitable to decorate my no-chill, no-spread, vegan rolled sugar cookies with, can hold together a gingerbread house, can be used to decorate cake, can be painted on with edible paints or gel colors mixed with strong alcohol, and is easily colored, flavored, and manipulated to suit your needs (as I’ll get into in a later post).

Scroll down to get the recipe or just take a look at the video here if you prefer that method:

Some gorgeous cookies I made with royal icing for a baby shower; these were actually colored with homemade Skittles vodka!

Equipment:

So here are the things you’ll need:

Stand mixer with the balloon whisk attachment OR hand mixer with a large bowl
Rubber/silicone spatula (more than one is preferred if you’ll be mixing multiple colors)

Ingredients:

One can of garbanzo beans
Vegan powdered/confectioner’s sugar
Vinegar, lemon juice, or cream of tartar
Water or lemon juice
Gel or powdered food coloring, if using

The Method

The method is really quite simple:

1. Drain (and keep!) the water from your garbanzo beans. This is known as “aquafaba” and is our egg white substitute in this recipe. Put the beans away for something else.

2. Add about 1/4 cup of the aquafaba to your mixing bowl. The rest can be put into the fridge for up to a week or the freezer for three months.

3. Add about 1 tsp of vinegar (or a 1/8 tsp cream of tartar or 1 tsp lemon juice if you don’t have it) and the aquafaba and mix with a whisk attachment (you’ll see in my photos I have the paddle attachment connected – these photos are from before I knew better) just until frothy.

4. Add about a pound of powdered (confectioner’s) sugar to the bowl, and mix on low until incorporated.

5. Stop the mixer and add in another few cups of sugar, and mix on low until incorporated. Add more powdered sugar to the bowl a cup at a time, mixing on low between additions, until the mixture is about the consistency of school glue. Add in your 1 tsp of vanilla and white gel coloring at this stage.

6. Turn your mixer on medium high and let it go for about 8 minutes. You’ll end up with the perfect stiff consistency royal icing for piping words and fine details.

7. Thin your royal icing with water or fresh lemon juice (my favorite) to desired consistency. Thicken it with powdered sugar if you need to pipe flowers, use stencils, or glue gingerbread. You can also add any gel or powdered food color at this stage. I’ll add another post later getting more into coloring and consistencies, so be on the lookout for that.

That’s it! It’s that easy! You can keep the prepared icing at room temperature in a sealed container or bag for up to a week, in the fridge for a month, or in the freezer for pretty much forever. Just make sure to stir it well before you use as the water will start to separate from the marshmallow fluff you’ve created.

Consistency Tutorial:

This recipe will make AT LEAST a couple dozen cookies’ worth of icing. Us cookiers are always making too much icing because we really have no idea how many cookies it covers. Lol.

Have fun and please share your creations with me on Facebook!

Pin it for later:

vegan royal icing cover photo
5 from 2 votes
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Vegan Royal Icing

An eggless royal icing made with aquafaba. It can be used in all the same ways as tradition egg white royal, including decorating cookies, gluing gingerbread houses, decorating cakes, and making sprinkles and royal icing transfers.

Course Dessert
Prep Time 12 minutes
Total Time 12 minutes
Author Meggan Leal

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup ish Aquafaba (the cooking or canned liquid from beans; I prefer garbanzo)
  • 2 lbs ish Powdered/Confectioner’s Sugar
  • 1 tsp ish Vinegar (may be substituted with cream of tartar or lemon juice)
  • 1 tsp ish Vanilla (I use clear for bright white icing, but you can use natural)
  • 1.5 tsp ish Gel or Powdered Food Coloring (optional, though I always add AmeriColor Bright White to mine)
  • Water or Lemon Juice to thin prepared icing

Instructions

  1. Add about a teaspoon of vinegar to your mixing bowl

  2. Pour in about a 1/4 cup of aquafaba

  3. Mix on medium to high speed with a whisk attachment just until the top of your aquafaba is frothy/foamy

  4. Turn off the mixer and add in about a pound of your powdered sugar (half a standard sized bag)

  5. Turn the mixer on low until the sugar is mostly incorporated into the aquafaba

  6. Turn the mixer off and add half of what’s remaining of your powdered sugar

  7. Turn the mixer on low until everything is incorporated

  8. Turn the mixer off and lift the whisk to check the consistency of your icing. We are trying to get a school-glue type consistency. If it’s not there yet, add more powdered sugar about a cup at a time until you achieve it

  9. Once you achieve the school-glue consistency, add about a teaspoon of vanilla and a teaspoon and a half of white gel coloring (if you’re using it)

  10. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and let it go for about eight minutes

  11. After eight minutes or so, turn the mixer off. You should have nice, stiff royal icing! It’s perfect for coloring and thinning out to decorate cookies or thickening up for flowers, or using as is for writing and other fine detail work.

  12. Store the icing in an airtight container right away – it dries out very quickly – at room temperature for up to a week, in the fridge for a month, or the freezer for pretty much as long as you want

Recipe Notes

Find a video tutorial on our YouTube channel!

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Category: Buttercreams, Cakes, Cookies, Desserts and Pastries, MacaronsTag: aquafaba, cookies, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, eggless, Gluten-Free, icing, lactose-free, macarons, Soy-Free, Vegan

Chocolate Wacky/Crazy Cake (one-bowl, vegan)

December 20, 2018 //  by Meggan Leal//  45 Comments

My grandma’s recipe from the depression era, called “whacky”, “wacky”, or “crazy” cake because it’s made with no dairy or eggs (they were not affordable) and still turns out marvelously. It’s an intense chocolate cake that is naturally vegan, super easy to make, and will be your new go-to recipe for decadent desserts!


This recipe was proudly featured in the January/February 2020 issue of Sierra Magazine!

Sierra Magazine logo

So many people ask me for my chocolate cake recipe, saying that it’s the best chocolate cake they’ve ever tasted – so here you go! It’s adapted from a recipe my grandmother used during the depression (or so I was told) when eggs and milk were scarce. It’s rich and indulgent and no one is ever the wiser that it’s vegan and oh-so-simple to make with oh-so-simple ingredients.

It’s amazing for making show-stopping layer cakes, carved cakes, cake pops or cupcakes.

Once you’ve made your batter, pour it into oiled and parchment-paper-lined pans and bake at 325F (162C) for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. I usually check at 40 minutes by giving the pan a jiggle, and if the batter jiggles as well I check in another ten minutes. If it doesn’t jiggle, I test with a cake tester/toothpick. If that comes out with wet batter, I give it another five minutes before checking again.

Makes a quarter sheet (9×13), or two 8” round cakes, or three 6” round cakes, or 24-30 cupcakes.

Cover it in my easiest vegan buttercream ever or the less sweet American meringue version– or go super chocolatey with my quick and easy vegan ganache! 

Once it’s baked, the cake can be stored in the freezer – either frosted or naked – double wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to a month. Triple wrap and put it in a box to leave it in the freezer for up to six months. Otherwise it can be kept covered at room temp for up to a week.

Watch Me Make It!

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Printable Recipe Card:

Yield: 1 10", 2 8", 3 6" cakes, or 24 cupcakes

One-Bowl Chocolate Whacky Cake (vegan, soy-free, nut-free)

One-Bowl Chocolate Whacky Cake (vegan, soy-free, nut-free)

The ultimate chocolate cake. It's rich, moist, delicious with a tender crumb, and perfect for carving and stacking. My grandma gave me this recipe, and said it's what they used during the depression when milk and eggs were not affordable. It's super allergy-friendly and many people say this is the best chocolate cake they've ever had.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3.5 cups all purpose flour (420g)
  • 2 cups sugar (400g)
  • 2 tsp baking soda (bicarb) (12g)
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder (dark cocoa is my favorite) (50g)
  • 1 tsp salt (6g)
  • 2 tbsp vinegar (30ml)
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract (10ml)
  • 3/4 cup of melted vegan butter/margarine (you can use oil, see notes below) (175ml)
  • 2 cups hot coffee (475ml)

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 325F (162C)
  2. Prepare your cake pans with nonstick spray and parchment paper circles on the bottom
  3. Whisk together your flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl
  4. Create three deep wells in your dry mix
  5. To the first well, add your vinegar. To the second, add the vanilla. To the third, add the melted butter/oil
  6. Pour your hot coffee over the entire mixture
  7. Gently whisk or fold your batter until it's well combined and no dry bits remain
  8. Divide your batter evenly among your prepared pans
  9. Bake for 45 minutes or until you insert a toothpick into the center of the cake and it comes out clean
  10. Remove your cakes from the oven to a cooling rack. Let it sit in the cake pan for five minutes before turning it out.

Notes

*This can be made with your favourite cup-for-cup gluten-free flour if you want to make a wheat-free version.

*For a no-sugar-added version, use a cup-for-cup Stevia baking blend in place of the granulated sugar.

*Using melted butter is recommended for stacked or carved cakes. Oil is best for cupcakes as it results in a fluffier cake.

*Use your favorite plant milk instead of coffee for a delicious milk-chocolate cake

*For soy-free, use melted Country Crock Plant Butter sticks (avoiding the almond one if you have a nut allergy) or Miyoko’s butter if you’d like to also avoid palm-oil. Or use a non-soy oil instead.

© Meggan Leal
Cuisine: American / Category: Desserts and Pastries

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melty vegan cheese sauce on a pizza

Easy Vegan Cheese for Pizza (Nut-Free, No Blender)

Vegan cheese for pizza that actually tastes good, is quick and easy to make…

Easy Vegan Cheese for Pizza (Nut-Free, No Blender)Read More

Vegan Cheesecake Dip (dairy-free, nut-free, coconut-free, cream-cheese-free)

Two inexpensive and easy-to-find grocery items combine to perform magic in this simple but…

Vegan Cheesecake Dip (dairy-free, nut-free, coconut-free, cream-cheese-free)Read More

Koala Macaron Template cover photo

Koala Macaron Template & Tutorial

To support ongoing bushfire relief efforts in Australia Printable pdf macaron template and tutorial…

Koala Macaron Template & TutorialRead More

Silk Vegan Heavy Whipping Cream Review

Wondering if the new dairy-free, vegan heavy whipping cream alternative from Silk is perfect?…

Silk Vegan Heavy Whipping Cream ReviewRead More

Vegan meringues

Easiest Vegan Meringue Cookies Ever with Aquafaba

Vegan meringue cookies are super easy to make, with ingredients you probably have right…

Easiest Vegan Meringue Cookies Ever with AquafabaRead More

Category: Cakes, Desserts and PastriesTag: cake, chocolate, Dessert, Vegan

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