One of my recipes that I did for Bliss is featured on The Huffington Post today! I realized I never shared this one with you and it is one of my favorite vegan desserts.
This recipe is super easy since the avocado helps replace the usual butter and eggs. The frosting is made simply by combining avocado, cocoa powder and powdered sugar and it can be used whenever you need a frosting fix in a hurry. With the addition of whole-wheat pastry flour and ground hazelnuts this cake is rich, dense and has a brownie like texture that is sinfully delicious. I have to admit that if I made this cake and left off the frosting I would gleefully eat a slice of this for breakfast. If you are hesitating because it seems to weird, trust me you have to try this one.
- For the cake:
- 2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup hazelnut meal
- 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup soft avocado, mashed, about 1 medium avocado
- 2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup chopped hazelnuts for garnish
- For the frosting:
- 1 large ripe avocado, peeled and seeded
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1¼ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- For the cake:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans. Set aside.
- Sift together all the dry ingredients except for the sugar.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the avocado and mix on medium speed until smooth. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and the sugar and mix until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.
- Divide batter between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Let cakes cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks to cool completely before frosting.
- Once the cake is completely cool spread the frosting on the top of one layer, place the other layer on top and cover with remaining frosting. Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the top and serve.
- For the frosting:
- In a stand mixer whip the avocado until it forms a smooth mixture. In a medium bowl sift the cocoa powder and powdered sugar together and then add to the bowl along with the salt and vanilla extract. Whisk the mixture until you get a smooth frosting.
Congratulations on being featured in the Huffington Post!
And you have no idea how excited I am to find this recipe. I am most definitely going to make it at some point! I love whole grain baking and the addition of hazelnut meal and avocado just… I can’t. I HAVE to make this!
I’ve tried this recipe and it is so amazingly simple and DELICIOUS!!!
Hi Melissa
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. It’s the first recipe I turn to when I know a vegan dessert is called for. Thanks for trying it out!
Wow this looks absolutely amazing! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Sounds amazing! Do you think coconut oil could be used in place of the vegetable oil?
You could use coconut oil, just melt it and let it cool slightly before adding it to the recipe.
Hey, I know it sounds a little insane, but do you think this recipe would work without the oil? Haha. I’m fasting and I need to be on a vegan diet plus no oil. This sounds amazing.
Hi Stephanie,
You could probably get away without the oil, I’d just add a little bit more avocado and see how it works out. Let me know how it comes out if you try it! Good luck with the fast!
Can I use a gluten free pastry flour instead as I am Gluten Free but this sounds amazing and would love to try it
Hi Heather,
I haven’t tried it with a gluten-free flour but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work. Let me know if you try it and how it comes out!
To make an espresso flavored frosting, about how much espresso should I add to the mixture? Do you think it would work?
I think adding some espresso would be a great idea and might actually make the frosting a better consistency since it tends to be a bit on the thicker side. I would start with one shot and see if it is strong enough. If you are using instant espresso I would prepare it with hot water and add it to the frosting. Let me know how it turns out if you try it, I would love to know!
I love the whole idea of this~ but so much sugar! Can I use less without screwing up the consistency do you think?And I don’t want to use stevia. Maybe a little agave…
Amazing all of the great recipes using alternative (healthy!) ingredients out now. Who knew avocado, black beans and chickpeas could create such great desserts!
Hi Michele,
You could easily cut the sugar in this recipe. It was one of the first vegan desserts that I created so I based it on a few recipes that I found on the web. I know for a fact that you could cut the sugar in the cake to 1 1/2 without any sacrifice of taste or texture and reduce the sugar in the frosting to 1 cup. Cutting it any further than that could change the texture/flavor of the cake. I’d love to hear how it turns out if you try it with less sugar!
I’ve been looking for something a bit different to bake for my partners birthday this week, he’d love this!
Rough Measures | eat, laugh, love.
I’ve made this recipe with a few changes, and, it was absolutely amazing!
The cake was over in the same night. Thank you!
Made this for my 2 year old’s birthday tomorrow. It’s staring me in the face right now. : P
Hi Jen,
I hope that your little one enjoys it! It’s one of my favorites! Let me know how it turned out and I hope the birthday is a big success!
This looks awesome and I can’t wait to try it! But why water instead of soymilk? (Or almond or rice)
Hi Sabra,
I created this recipe using a vegan chocolate cake recipe as a jumping off point. I don’t think there is any reason that you couldn’t substitute a non-dairy milk for the liquid. If you try the recipe with soy milk let me know how it turns out!
Okay, I tried it with Silk Original. Still wonderfully moist, but it does have a slight soy taste to it. I think that if I had used half soymilk, half water, it would have been a great balance.
I probably should have just followed your recipe to the T, but I have this pathological need to tweak every recipe I ever experiment with. 😛
I’m exactly the same way. Some of my biggest recipe innovations come from playing around with someone else’s perfectly delicious recipe. That’s one of my favorite parts of cooking, experimenting and coming up with something you haven’t seen before! Thanks for trying the recipe!
Your recipe sounds divine! This is just my style; I can hardly wait to try this and then experiment with variations. Thank you for sharing Tina! 🙂
Ok so i tried this recipe and the middle is still under cooked. Any reason why this may have happened? ?
I’m sorry to hear that the cake didn’t work out for you. Did you use an 8-inch cake pan for the recipe? The cake is a bit dense since it is a vegan cake but it should be cooked through. The 40 minutes is a recommendation but you may need to cook it a bit longer in your oven. Have you ever tested the temperature on your oven? I’ve made the cake several times and find that it usually takes closer to 40 minutes to get the layers to cook through.
These are so delcious, they turned out perfect when i made them. Thanks so much for sharing.
Simon