Vegan Coffee Cake with Chocolate and Vanilla Frosting

♫ Listening to: Shout at the Devil by Motley Crue ♫

My friend Skott has an unhealthy obsession with the band KISS. Since I’ve missed his birthday for all of our friendship due to his poor life decisions (aka. living on the other side of the country), he’s never had a vegandollhouse cake! But, his luck is changing because he’s moving to California. This cake is for his welcome to California party. Don’t get me wrong, he has a lot of obsessions other than KISS, like running and talking about his vasectomy. But this KISS cake is perfect because I’m participating in a cake collab where all the cakes are inspired by fashion in music! To check them all out, just visit the #fashioninmusiccollab hashtag on instagram.

If you like coffee-flavored cakes, check out my mocha cupcakes recipe.

This recipe makes a 3-layer 6” coffee cake, but you can also use this recipe to make a 2-layer 8” or 9” cake or 24 cupcakes.

Vegan Coffee Cake Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups nondairy milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or substitute white vinegar)
• 3 ½ cups organic unbleached flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 3-4 pinches of salt
• ½ cup cold brew concentrate
• ⅔ cup safflower oil
• 1 ½ cups organic sugar* (or vegan sugar)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vegan Coffee Cake Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Coat 3 6" round cake pans using a paper towel with safflower oil on it.

Cut 3 round pieces of parchment paper by tracing the cake pans.

Set each piece of parchment paper on the bottom of each cake pan and then coat again with safflower oil.

Combine vinegar and nondairy milk, stir, and let sit.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in another bowl and whisk together.

Add oil, cold brew concentrate , sugar, and vanilla to the milk mixture and stir well. Add dry ingredients into the wet and mix until smooth.

Quickly divide the batter evenly into the 3 6" round cake pans .

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until when you insert a toothpick into the center of one, it comes out clean. (If making cupcakes, bake for 18-20 minutes, and if making a 8-9” cake, bake for 40-45 minutes.) Set cake pans on cooling rack to cool for 30 minutes before flipping over. Then cool completely on cooling rack.

Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Ingredients

• ⅓ cup vegan butter or margarine (if you avoid soy, buy the soy-free earth balance; otherwise buy the organic whipped earth balance)*
• ⅓ cup organic palm shortening*
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup cocoa powder
• 1 ⅓ cups organic powdered sugar*

Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Directions

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

Sift in the cocoa powder mixing for a minute after adding.

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

Spread or pipe the frosting between the 3 cake layers. I piped mine using a piping bag fitted with a Wilton large round tip 1A (the largest round one). If the cakes aren’t flat on top, use a bread knife to slice the hump off the tops before assembling.

Pipe 2 rings of frosting around the gap between cake layers if you have any leftover frosting after the cake is assembled.

Freeze the entire cake until you’re ready to decorate it. Wrap it well with plastic wrap before you freeze it so that no air can get to the cake. Sometimes I freeze cakes for up to 3 weeks so I can get a head start on cakes during weeks when I have more free time.

Vegan Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Ingredients

• ½ cup vegan butter or margarine (if you avoid soy, buy the soy-free earth balance; otherwise buy the organic whipped earth balance)*
• ½ cup organic palm shortening*
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 ½ cups organic powdered sugar*

Vegan Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Directions

Whisk the spectrum sustainable organic palm shortening , margarine, and vanilla 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 a minute between each addition.

Frost the entire outside of the cake with white frosting, using an offset spatula to smooth it out.

Chill the frosted cake while you make the buttercream transfers.

Vegan KISS Makeup Ingredients and Decorations

• dutch cocoa powder
• vegan black food coloring
• vegan green food coloring
• vegan silver paint
• vegan sprinkles (I used some silver dusted balls from Natural Sprinkles and a sprinkle mix from Baking Time Club)
• vegan edible glitter (optional)

Vegan KISS Cake Decorating

Transfer around a cup a half of the frosting to a bowl. Add a few tablespoons of dutch cocoa powder to get a darker color and mix well.

Transfer a few tablespoons of the chocolate buttercream to another bowl and add wilton leaf green gel color until you get a dark green color.

Add americolor black gel color to original bowl of frosting, and mix well.

Transfer each bowl of colored frosting to a disposable piping bag with either no tip or a Wilton small round tip 1 . If you don’t have a piping bag, you can use a ziplock bag.

Print out pictures of the KISS makeup. Cut out half from each band member’s face.

Cut acetate or parchment paper to the same size as what you plan to trace, and tape it down. I taped mine to a cutting board but it kept sliding around, so next time, I’ll probably tape it directly to the table or counter.

Cut small holes off the tips of each disposable piping bag if you’re not already using a Wilton small round tip 1 .

Trace the KISS makeup and fill in each shape using the correct color of frosting. I used the black frosting for the silver parts because I think it’s easier to paint the silver paint over black that over white.

Hint: I figured this out just in the nick of time, but because these are transfers, they’re the opposite of what you’re drawing. So, if you want a right side, you should trace the left side. Does that make sense? If not, look at all the pictures in this blog post, and that should help. Still confused? Just email me or message me on instagram.

Press each design onto the sides of the cake in any design you prefer. Then place the cake back in the freezer with the acetate or parchment paper stuck on the sides. It will peel off easily once the frosting is completely frozen.

Transfer the remaining white frosting to a disposable piping bag with no tip.

Set the white frosting bag and the black frosting bag side-by-side inside of a piping bag with a large Wilton star tip 1M .

Pipe the black and white frosting onto a plate or a piece of garbage until it starts to come out swirled (both colors showing).

Remove the cake from the freezer after 3-4 hours of freezing. Slowly and carefully peel the acetate or parchment paper off of the cake.

Pipe the black and white frosting around the perimeter of top of the cake in any design you like.

Sprinkle vegan sprinkles all over the top of the cake.

Spray with edible glitter spray (optional).

Paint the silver parts of the cake silver using silver food paint that’s vegan.

Freeze the cake until the silver food paint is no longer wet.

Wrap the cake with plastic wrap so that no air can get to it.

Freeze the cake until 24 hours before you’re ready to serve it, and then move it to the fridge. Remove it from the fridge 30 minutes before you want to serve it.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

* 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.