A Very Vegan Birthday Cake

Prepared by Matt, compliments of Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home.

Six Minute Chocolate Cake

Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold water or brewed coffee (we used water since I had bad luck with coffee making Matt's birthday cake)
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp vinegar

Glaze
1/2 pound bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup hot water (if you're avoiding animal products), or milk or half & half
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375.

Sift together (or, if you're like us, just mix) the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar into an ungreased 8 inch square or 9 inch round baking pan.

In a 2 cup measuring cup, measure and mix together the oil, water or coffee (we used water), and vanilla. Pour the liquid ingredients into the baking pan and mix the batter with a fork or a small wisk. When the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir quickly. There will be pale swirls in the batter where the baking soda and the vinegar are reacting. Stir just until the vinegar is is evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let the cake cool.

For the glaze, reset the oven to 300. Melt the chocolate in an overproof bowl or skillet in the oven for about 15 minutes. Stir in the hot liquid and the vanilla until smooth.

Spoon the glaze over the cooled cake, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (or put in the freezer for about 15 minutes) before serving.

The cake was good last night, but it was GREAT today. Don't ask me why that is. The cake itself is very moist, and so mild that it would be nothing to write home about without the showstoppingly intense chocolate glaze (which I'm not sure is really the right word for it) on top. Together, they're addictively perfect, and even more so topped with a little powdered sugar and some fresh berries. We liked it so much that we had it instead of dinner.