Adam’s 1st birthday + vegan Chocolate Mocha Cake

The day is here. Adam’s first birthday. I can’t believe that he is one year old already? It feels like he was born just yesterday. This year has been wonderful. Really, it has. Of course it has been tough from time to time, but that is nothing compared to how much happiness and joy we have experienced over the year. 

Adam has been very easy so far. He’s very happy (has been from the beginning), and laughs a lot. He’s stubborn, in a good way. He loves dogs and laughs out loud every time he sees one. He LOVES to be outside and we are taking long walks (yeah, several) every day. When we’re inside, he often crawls to the door to tell us that he wants to go out. He loves food – berries are his favorite, but also curry lentil stew and carrots. And peanut butter. Oh and oven baked cauliflower. Oh my, he eats that like there’s no tomorrow. 

He suffers from motion sickness, which is so sad. I did too so it’s no surprise really (well, still do to be honest). He’s extremely loving and loves to be close to us and to give hugs. Being carried is the best of course. He loves books and wooden blocks. He understands quite a lot of words and he can say mum, dad, hello, look outside and lamp. He also has a special sound that he makes every time he looks outside and that is so cute. He also loves our neighbour’s cat and he’s super gentle when he pets it. 

This little boy is indeed the best thing that has ever happened to us so of course we wanted to celebrate his first birthday. And for that, we needed cake. Since both me and K just had our birthdays too, we decided to make one cake and celebrate all our birthdays at the same time. Adam got as many berries as he wanted, and of course his favorite food, and we made a cake for the grown-ups. 

As I promised a while back, there would be more recipes involving coffee (as an ingredient) and this cake is an example of that. It’s the perfect combination of chocolate and coffee – one of my favorite combinations actually. It’s not too sweet and it’s super simple to make. Believe me or not, but it is!

Xx,
Sofia

Vegan Chocolate Mocha Cake

Cake 

2 dl | 200 ml sugar
6 tbsp aquafaba 
6 dl | 600 ml all-purpose flour
pinch of pure vanilla
4 tbsp cacao
4 tsp baking powder
150 g vegan margarine
3 dl | 300 ml oat milk 

Frosting

150 g vegan margarine
2 dl | 200 ml powdered sugar
250 g vegan cream cheese
0,5 dl | 50 ml cacao 
3 tbsp really strong coffee
1/4 tsp pure vanilla bean powder

Chocolate glaze 

70 g dark vegan chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa)

Instructions

Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. 
2. Beat sugar and aquafaba until fluffy. 
3. In a baking bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
4. Melt the margarine and add the oat milk. 
5. Add the margarine to the aquafaba mixture and stir together. 
6. Add the mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until smooth.
7. Pour the batter into a cake pan and bake in the middle of the oven for about 40 minutes. 
8. Let the cake cool completely before removing it from the pan. 

Vegan Mocha Buttercream 

1. Prepare the frosting. Start by beating margarine and powdered sugar until fluffy. 
2. Add cream cheese, cacao, coffee and vanilla powder and beat until smooth. 
3. Let the frosting rest in the fridge for about five minutes. 

Assembly & chocolate glaze 

1. Cut the cake in three using a serrated knife so you get three cake layers. 
2. Place the first cake layer on a cake stand or on a plate. Spread a layer of frosting on the first layer. Repeat until you’ve used up all three layers. 
3. Now spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake. Remember to save some for the decoration on top (see pictures). You need about 1 dl frosting (100 ml) for this.
4. Place the cake in the fridge. 
5. Melt the chocolate. 
6. Pour the melted chocolate over the cake and spread it over the edges to make it run down the sides of the cake. 
7. Place it in the fridge for a few minutes. 
8. Pipe the leftover frosting on top of the cake (feel free to do whatever you like here).
9. Enjoy!