Vegan Grasshopper Cake

♫ Listening to: Slow Down by Twiceyoung ♫

I promise that no grasshoppers were harmed in the making of this 2-layer 8” or 9” round chocolate mint kawaii birthday cake.

Vegan Chocolate Cake Ingredients

• 2 cups nondairy milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or substitute white vinegar)
• 2 ½ cups unbleached white flour
• ⅔ cup cocoa powder
• ½ tablespoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon non-aluminum baking powder
• ⅔ cup sunflower oil
• 1 ½ cups organic sugar*
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Vegan Chocolate Cake Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Coat two 8" round cake pans with any vegetable oil (or vegan nonstick spray).

Combine vinegar and nondairy milk and let sit.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa powder into another bowl.

Add the oil, sugar, and vanilla to the soymilk mixture and stir well.

Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet, mixing continuously. Stop mixing when you can no longer see any dry ingredients.

Pour half of the batter into each cake pan.

Bake for 35 minutes, until when you insert a toothpick into the center of one, it comes out clean. (If making cupcakes, bake for 18-20 minutes. If making 4” cakes, bake for 22-25 minutes.) Set both 8" round cake pans on cooling rack to cool in pan for 10-15 minutes. Then flip the pans upside down and set back on the cooling rack.

Vegan Pastel Mint Frosting Ingredients

• ¾ cup vegan butter or margarine (I like the organic whipped earth balance)*
• ¾ cup organic palm shortening*
• ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ tablespoon peppermint extract
• 5-6 cups organic powdered sugar (a 24-oz bag of 365 organic powdered sugar from Whole Foods is the perfect amount)*
• up to 2 tablespoons nondairy milk (optional, to achieve a creamy consistency if needed)
• vegan food coloring

Vegan Pastel Mint Frosting Directions

Leave the ingredients sitting out before using them. Best results come from using room temperature ingredients.

Whisk the spectrum sustainable organic palm shortening and margarine for 1 minute using a stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer.

Sift in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing for at least minute between each addition.

Add the vanilla and mint extracts, and mix for 2 more minutes.

Divide the frosting into 2 bowls. Leave one white.

Add vegan food coloring to the other bowl of frosting and mix well (I used the stand mixer with the whisk attachment). If you use Color Kitchen natural food coloring like I did, mix 1 packet of yellow with half a packet of blue to achieve the mint color (follow the directions for mixing on the packet).

Fill the 2 cake layers with the green frosting.

Use the white frosting to complete the crumb layer of frosting using a bench scraper/chopper or an offset spatula to smooth it out.

Chill the crumb layer to harden to touch while you make the hello kitty chocolate mints.

Spread the white and green frosting around the cake in any design you prefer. The top doesn’t have to be perfect since it will be covered with ganache.

Spin the cake while smoothing out the icing with an offset spatula or a bench scraper/chopper if you have either of those.

Chill the cake while you make the ganache.

Vegan Chocolate Mint Hello Kitty Candies Ingredients

• ½ cup vegan chocolate chips
• ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
• ⅛ teaspoon coconut oil

Vegan Chocolate Mint Hello Kitty Candies Directions

Heat ¼ teaspoon mint extract, ⅛ teaspoon coconut oil, and ½ cup vegan chocolate chips over a double boiler until completely smooth and melted.

Spoon the melted vegan chocolate chips into candy molds. I used a silicone hello kitty mold of her and her friends that I got in Japan, but here’s hello kitty silicone mold on amazon.

Leave to harden (or refrigerate to speed up the process).

Vegan Chocolate Ganache Ingredients

• 6 ounces vegan chocolate chips
• 4 ounces nondairy milk

Vegan Chocolate Ganache Directions

Heat the nondairy milk on the stove until it starts to simmer.

Add the vegan chocolate chips and remove from heat, cover the pot, and swirl it around.

Wait for 5 minutes before uncovering and whisking the chocolate ganache until smooth and melted.

Cool the ganache for around 15 minutes before decorating cake.

Decorating the Vegan Grasshopper Cake

Spoon ganache around the perimeter of the cake at one-inch intervals to get the perfect size drips to start falling down the sides of your cake.

Fill the top of the cake once you have all the drips on the sides. Use an offset spatula to smooth out the ganache on the top. You can also tap the entire cake on the counter to get the spatula lines to settle.

Chill the cake while you prepare the decorations.

Fill a piping bag with the remaining frosting. I like to add the green and white side by side so that they pipe out like an ombré.

Gather sprinkles or any other decorative treats you plan to use.

Remove the hello kitty chocolate mints from the molds.

Remove the cake from the fridge.

Pipe frosting on top of the cake and around the perimeter of the cake as you choose.

Decorate with whatever you have.

If you like this cake, you might also like my 6” chocolate mint cake or my 2-layer chocolate orange cake.

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* I use mostly organic ingredients when I cook, but I realize that not everyone has the disposable income to purchase all organic ingredients. Therefore, I only specify organic on the ingredients that really matter - when buying the organic version is the only way to ensure that the item is vegan.