Finding the perfect moist Vegan wedding cake.

The awesome cake - decorated with flowers from a friends garden.

Nat and I got married in July this year. The wedding was pretty much vegan. Mum and I decided that we would design the cake ourselves. The fruit layer was not hard at all as mum has an AMAZING fruit cake recipe that is just awesome. The Chocolate Mud Cake (Nat's request) was a lot harder. I hate to think how many chocolate cakes I baked and how many samples my family and friends were presented with. (Do you know how hard this is when you are desperately trying to not put on weight before the wedding!!!) In the end I found the most incredible cake ever. It is NOT healthy - it is decadent and moist and chocolaty and fantastic. The whole cake was SOOOOO heavy - It was incredible!!

So without further ado - here are the recipes for our vegan wedding cake. I will slowly add other recipes from the wedding.

My Dark Rich Chocolate Wedding Cake.

Makes 30cm square cake - prep time 20mins - cooking time 4 1/2 hours

1.68kg - Dark Vegan Cooking Chocolate (I used Sweet William)
1kg - Margarine (I used Nuttalex - use one that has no transfat)
1/3 cup - dry instant coffee
3 cups - water
3 cups - brown sugar
4 cups - plain flour
1 cup - self-raising flour
egg replacer equivalent for 8 eggs (I used Organ No Egg mixed with required amount of water)
1 cup - coffee liqueur

1. Grease and line baking pan with one thickness of baking paper, bringing the paper 5 cm above the rim.
2. Combine chopped chocolate, margarine, coffee, water and sugar in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and sugar is dissolved. Transfer mixture into a bowl - cool for 15 mins
3. Stir in sifted flours, egg replacer and liqueur.Pour mixture into prepared pan.
4. Bake in moderately slow oven for 4 1/2 hours. Cover with foil halfway through baking if cake starts to become dark and crusty.
5. Cake will develop a thick sugary crust during baking: test for doneness by touching with fingers about 5 mins before the end of the baking time. Then test with skewer.
6. Cool cake in pan.
7. This cake will keep for one week in an airtight container or can be frozen for 3 months.

No - I am not going to stab him...

Wedding Fruit Cake - Sugar Free

Makes one large cake (2kg) - 20cm pan

INGREDIENTS
150g natural currants*
200g natural sultanas*
200g sun-dried diced peaches*
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
200g sun-dried pitted dates, diced
200g dehydrated pineapple pieces*
2 cups pure water
¾ cup cold-pressed vegetable oil
2 large very ripe bananas
80g almond kernels

METHOD

1. Pre-soak the currants, sultanas, and peaches in the water overnight for best result (or for at least 2 hours).
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the flours with the dates, pineapple and two thirds of the almonds chopped.
3. Drain the excess water from the pre-soaked fruit; retain 3/4 cup for use.
4. Add the pre-soaked fruit to the mixture in the mixing bowl.
5. Blend together the water, oil and bananas until smooth (half full speed for a quarter of a minute).
6. Pour the blended liquid into the mixing bowl with the fruit and flour and thoroughly mix in.
7. Line a 20cm-square cake tin with baking paper (or brush a little oil over the inside surfaces).
8. Pack the mixture into the tin, ensuring that no air pockets remain.
9. Decorate the top of the mixture with the rest of almonds halved.
10. Lightly brush a little oil over top of mixture.
11. Cover top with baking paper.
12. Bake at 135ºC (275ºF) in a pre-heated oven until cooked through (about 2 to 3 hours, depending on depth of tin).

*You can vary the dried fruit. Possible alternatives include figs, sun-dried apricots, nectarines, cherries, crystallised ginger, mango, pawpaw, and apples (all diced).