SHEEEEEET CAKEEEEEE! The ultimate crowd pleaser at a family reunion, 100 guest-list birthday party, high school graduation, etc… often procured from megastores and supermarkets, frosted hastily by power-professionals churning them out by the icing-from-a-bucket dozen. Except this one is a perfectly cute little square, topped with a garden of buttercream roses, made on a very hot day in July, made to celebrate the adorable and awesome Amy Ho’s new baking book: Blooms And Baking! Amy is so talented – one look at her Instagram and you will fall under her whimsical, fantastical spell of perfectly rendered cupcakes, cream puffs, cakes and cookies. Blooms And Baking is jammed with beautiful photos, recipes, step-by-steps and decorating tutorials, all focused on adding unique floral flavours and design to your desserts!
Blooms and Baking!!! Amy of Constellation Inspiration is such a gem. I also love how she combines her Chinese heritage, her love of flowers and cakes and everything cute, into her amazing blog and Instagram.
Since I am on a deep plant-based tear right now, I gently swapped out just a few ingredients to make this a vegan buttercream rose cake! I used Ener-G brand egg replacer instead of one large egg. Note on egg replacers: I find that some egg replacers thicken up your batter toooo much – Bob’s Red Mill was a bust for me. But Ener-G stays loose and doesn’t make your batter into a thick gummy blob. Amy’s one bowl chocolate cake bakes up into a moist, springy delight, and topped with a myriad of buttercream roses?? You’ve got a flower-power winner.
Vegan chocolate cake with piped buttercream roses
ingredients
For the one bowl chocolate cake
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- egg replacer equivalent to one large egg
- 1 cup cold coffee
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
For the buttercream
- 1 cup of vegetable shortening
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, I used Melt Organics buttery sticks
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- splash of plant milk if needed
instructions
Make the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C). Spritz a 9 x 9 inch square cake pan with vegetable oil and line with parchment paper if desired.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the egg replacer, coffee, oil and vinegar and mix until no streaks of the flour mixture remain.
- Scrape down the side of the bowl to make sure no clumps remain.
- Pour batter into prepared cake pan.
- Bake the cake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
Make the buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the shortening and vegan butter on high to combine, about one minute.
- Add the icing sugar and pure vanilla extract. Pulse mixer on lowest speed until combined. Increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, about three minutes.
- Divide buttercream amongst bowls to colour individually for buttercream roses, drop stars and leaves.
Decorate the cake
- Make a whole whack load of buttercream roses!
- You will need a large flower nail, parchment paper squares, piping bags and a few petal piping tips – Wilton #103 or #104.
- Cut 1×1 inch squares of parchment paper.
- Watch Amy pipe buttercream roses here!! Instead of a cupcake, add a dab of buttercream to a piping nail. Stick a piece of parchment paper on top of it. Then, create the center bud of the rose – then the petals!
- Freeze all of your buttercream roses until firm, about twenty minutes, before placing them onto your completely cooled cake.
- Fill in the gaps and holes with drop stars and piped leaves.
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