Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake

January is a tricky month for our household. It is a month when our diets consist of 50% vegetables, 25% fruit and 25% Mexican cuisine, with only slight deviation. The Mister is his usual gluten-free, vegetarian (and handsome!) self, and I decide to go the 31-day vegan route. In the past, it was simply to balance out all the tasty, surgary, heavenly morsels I inhaled in December. Vegan-O-Con 2011 is not much different, except I have another reason to deprive my hiney of cheese - training for the sneaky half marathon that I somehow signed up for. I think that actually occured in one of December's sugar-rushed, lethargic, cotton-headed states at my parent's house, so I can probably just blame that whole thing on my mom. She's good for many a thing, that mother.

I really do love all things earthly, so everything fine until my sweet tooth decided to rear it's hideous head back into my life. This was the outcome:

Gluten-Free, Vegan CHOCOLATE AVOCADO CAKE

Um. Yum. This was courtesty of Joy the Baker, who I can't get enough of. You know there are those certain websites packed in your Google Reader that make you smile everytime you see a new addition? She's one of 'em. Check her out right after you check out the following green goo creation.

The cake is almost fudge-like, but not too rich, meaning you can easily eat it for breakfast. And the frosting, WHOA, the frosting. Let me tell you, if you like avocados, the frosting will not make it onto the cake. And for you wackos that don't have a love affair with avocados, you will still like this.

While Joy's recipe was already in vegan form (thank you!), it required slight adaptation for the boy. Here's how it went:

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake
Yields one, round 9-inch cake
(double if you want a double-decker)



1.5 cups gluten free flour blend (I'm a lover of Pamela's)
3 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1/8 cup oil (I used vegetable, I bet coconut would be outstanding)
1/4 cup mashed, very ripe avocado (about 1 small)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vinegar (Joy uses white; I was out and used red wine)
1 teaspoon vanilla


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease your cake pan(s).

2. In a large mixing bowl, sift all dry ingredients together except for the sugar. This is important for gluten free baking, as it aerates the flour to create a more fluffy, less rock-like result.

3. Mix all the wet ingredients together, including your mashed avocado.

4. Add sugar to the wet mixture and stir.

5. Add in the wet ingredients to the dry, and beat with a whisk by hand until smooth.

6. Pour into greased cake pan and bake for about 40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Once the cake is done, let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then on a cooling rack until you frost that baby.

Speaking of...



Avocado Frosting
Yields enough frosting for one round 9-inch cake

4 oz. avocado meat (about 1 small very ripe)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
half pound of powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Peel, pit and mash the avocado in a medium bowl.

Beat in lemon juice for about 2-3 minutes, until light in color.

Beat in powdered sugar a little at a time.

Add vanilla until just combined.

Refrigerate if not using immediately (but I totally suggest you do).

I frosted half with leftover chocolate butter cream frosting (making this, yes, not vegan), which the boy very much enjoyed. And BONUS (sing song tone), I get leftover avocado frosting to frost some strawberry brownie bites that were somehow leftover. Done deal, yo.

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