Inside-Out German Chocolate Cake

This cake is delicious.  It’s incredibly moist, and not too sweet or dense.  In fact, my non-vegan boyfriend said it was the best German Chocolate cake he’s ever had.  He said it’s better than anything he’s had at Sweet Life, a bakery in Eugene that’s known for their amazing vegan cakes.  Then, he said that he’s decided he likes vegan cakes better than normal ones.  Yup, it’s THAT good.  :)

The finished product...

Inside-Out German Chocolate Cake

The ‘cake’ part of this cake is courtesy of One World Café

For the Cake:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise (try Nayonaise)
1/2 cup applesauce

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray 3 8-inch round pans with nonstick cooking spray and lay parchment paper on the bottoms.

2. In a medium-size bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the soy milk, vanilla, “mayonnaise,” and applesauce until smooth.

4. Slowly add to the dry mixture and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared pans and bake for 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  After a few minutes, take cakes out of pans and let cook on wire racks.  Cool completely before icing.

The filling recipe originally comes from the FatFree Vegan Kitchen Blog

For the Filling:
1 cup plain soymilk
1/3 cup coconut milk (may use lite coconut milk)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water until smooth
2 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (original recipe calls for pecans)

In a medium saucepan, mix the soymilk, coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla together. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Cook for one minute after it boils. Remove from heat and stir in coconut and pecans.

Allow to cool for about 10 minutes (mixture should still be warm) before spreading on cake.
Makes enough for one 3-layer 8-inch cake.

Here's what my cake looked like before I put the ganache on. The frosting layers are almost as thick as the cake layers!

For the ganache topping…
2-1/2 sticks unsalted Earth balance vegan butter (1-1/4 c.)
10 oz. semisweet chocolate (can use vegan chocolate chips)
3 T light corn syrup

To prepare the topping, melt the vegan butter in a sauce pan.  Remove it from the heat and add the chocolate in small pieces, stirring until the chocolate is melted. Stir in the corn syrup.  Reserve 1 cup in a bowl and place it in the fridge to thicken, about 1 hour.  Stir well occasionally until it reaches a spreadable point.  Keep the rest of the chocolate mixture at room temperature.

To Assemble:

1. Place 1 cake on a cake plate and frost the top with half of the coconut filling. It will be thick.  Place another cake on top and frost, then place the last cake on top.

2. Using the ganache that was in the fridge, frost the top and sides of the entire cake.  This will be a pretty thin layer.

3. Carefully pour the rest of the ganache over the top of the cake, and let it drip down the sides.  Be careful!  I didn’t use all of mine.  You don’t want it to overflow down the bottom of the cake and get the plate all gross.  It should be smooth and glossy, with pretty drips down the sides when you’re done.
Makes 8 to 10 BIG servings of cake.
Note: I screwed up on the ganache with the cake I made.  I used unsweetened Baker’s chocolate, and had to then add a bunch more sugar to make it sweet enough.  However, the sugar that I added didn’t quite dissolve, so the ganache was a bit crunchy in the end.  It wasn’t horrible, but don’t make the same mistake I did.  It’s better smooth.