9: Vegan vanilla cake with eggnog caramel glaze!

Yep, it's all vegan here! From the cake to glaze, no animals were harmed during the making of this cake. When you hear eggnog (at least me) I think of yucky eggs and milk all mixed together to create the holiday tradition. My hubby and father-in-law have an eggnog tradition every year in which they drink a glass or two as I get grossed out. Just not my cup of tea. However! In a previous post, I mentioned the vegan eggnog I absolutely love from Silk! Ken says it's too thin, which I get, but I'm just happy I can partake in their tradition with my own, segregated eggnog :)

I was perusing Pinterest for some inspiration for out of the ordinary Christmas treats when I saw a pin about eggnog caramels. I had the idea to make them vegan with the eggnog I had, so I gave them a whirl. Long story short, I didn't take the whole dairy-free stuff cooks differently than regular. So while this  tasted heavenly and had the apartment smelling like Christmas, they texture never set to the caramel-y thickness you need. I chilled them overnight as the recipe called for, and the whole batch was still a pan of liquid caramel rather than solid, chewy goodness. It was way too yummy to waste, so I thought about other ways I could use it. Alas, I figured it might be perfect for a glaze!



The glaze was so easy that it's almost not worth describing here, but I will. See below!

I'm pretty wary about vegan baking; the whole no eggs thing has been my downfall in the past. I don't have any cookbooks with solid recipes to follow yet, so until then I do a lot of guess and check. My point is, I've been picky about recipes I try and want to be sure it has a lot of positive reviews. I searched for vegan vanilla cakes on Pinterest, and this particular recipe popped up that was positively glowing. Nearly all the reviews says it tastes like a traditional vanilla cake and they wouldn't use any other recipe from then on. Sheesh, I was sold!
This cake was sooooo simple. I become a tad hesitant with the vegan baking thing because of all the substitutes you have to work with/figure out. This one wasn't like that at all. I had everything in my pantry; no weird, bizarre sounding ingredients were needed. Also, You sift the dry ingredients, mix the wet, combine, and boom! In the oven it went! In the words of Ina Garten, "How easy is that?"

Gotta tell you, the apartment smelled sooooo good as this cake baked. I couldn't wait for it to be ready! When the buzzer finally went off, the cake was smooth, rounded perfectly, and had a light golden color. Um. DROOL!! I was super pleased and was praying to the Good Lord it would taste as amazing as it smelled.










I allowed the cake to cool a bit before adding the glaze. It was difficult though; my husband seemed to think so, too. "Smells good, when can I eat it?" I am really happy to report hubby had two pieces, I had one, and Elphie was smelling my plate the entire time. The cake was light, fluffy and reminiscent of a shoo-fly-pie cake my parents used to buy when I was a kid. It had a really soft texture, but still chewy- if that makes any sense? Either way, it brought me back! All in all, definitely my go-to vegan vanilla cake!

For the eggnog caramel glaze:
(For the caramels, go to WonkyWonderful's Chewy Eggnog Caramels

3/4 cups Silk eggnog (or use regular)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp TBS vanilla

Directions: Combine all ingredient but the vanilla  in a large sauce pot (allows the caramel to boil like crazy without spilling over) and stir continuously until the mixture boils. Once boiling, stir in the vanilla and let it cook on the stove until it reaches a rich, golden brown color (imagine a caramel). Then you're done! Take it off the heat and let it cool. You can line a pan with foil and pour the caramel glaze into it to cool if you'd like.

For the vanilla cake: (Courtesy of Vegweb.com)

1 1/2 cups flour 
1 cup sugar 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup icy cold water (important) 
1/2 cup oil 2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8" or 9" cake pan. 
2. In a bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt until very light and airy, about 3 times. 
3. In a small bowl, combine cold water, oil, and vanilla. Add liquid ingredients (except lemon juice) to dry and combine. 
4. Once the batter is combined, add the lemon juice and stir quickly then pour into prepared pan.
5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until cake tests done with toothpick.