the purple carrot: Vegan chocolate cake with avocado buttercream

Hope your week is going great!

Who else is watching The X Factor? We caught up on it after it was over last night (commercial free is the way to go!) and I think I’m going to be into it. There’s some people we really like so far! Anywho … onto the goods.

Yes, this good:

I hardly ever make cakes and I even more rarely making frosting! And I’ve never, ever made a tiered cake. Erik’s 30th birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity!

It’s probably one of the most decadent desserts I’ve made, largely due to the frosting, but what better time for decadent desserts than a 30th birthday? I agree. And at least it’s full of healthy avocado and coconut oil fats!

Chocolate Cake with Avocado Buttercream
Adapted from Joy the Baker

Cake {makes three 8 or 9 inch tiers}

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
9 tablespoons cacao powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups unbleached vegan cane sugar (or other sugar of choice)
1/2 cup coconut oil (or oil of choice)
1 cup soft avocado, mashed well (about 1 1/2 avocados)
3 cups water
3 tablespoons white vinegar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Stir together all dry ingredients except cane sugar.
In a separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients with cane sugar and avocado.
Mix together the wet and dry ingredients and with a whisk, beat until smooth.
Pour mixture into greased cake tins. I used 8 inch pans, but 9 would work as well, the layers would just be thinner. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let completely cool before adding frosting.

Avocado Buttercream
from Alton Brown

Ingredients:

8 ounces avocado meat from very ripe avocados (about 2 avocados)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 pound powdered sugar (I used vegan-friendly powdered cane sugar)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Place the meat of avocado in bowl of stand mixer. Add lemon juice and whisk on medium speed until the avocado is lightened in color and smooth (a few minutes).
Slowly add the powdered sugar and beat. Add the vanilla until it’s all combined.

Notes: If you use a lot of frosting and are making a three tiered cake, I would suggest making 1 1/2 batches of this frosting. That’s what I initially did but tried to go easy when frosting my cake and had quite a bit leftover, and would have been fine with just 1 batch and 3 tiers. However, this recipe was originally used for just two tiers. Frosting will hold up well stored in the fridge if it’s made ahead of time and will not turn brown!