vanilla cake with variations

This is a good base recipe which really lets you play around with tasty enhancements depending on what you have on hand.

The following recipe makes enough for a double layer 9" round cake. I usually just make the one cake and cut it in half rather than making 2 cakes with half the batter each.

dry ingredients:

• 1/2 cups flour of your choice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• optional: 1 Tbsp vanilla flavored soy protein powder

wet ingredients:

• 3/4 cup soy or rice milk (vanilla or plain)
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil
• 2/3 cup organic cane sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

method:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl sift together dry ingredients.

In a small bowl whisk together wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.

Pour wet ingredients over dry and mix well.

"Grease" a 9" round springform pan (or other pan of your choice - an 8"x8" brownie pan will work as well); I use Earth Balance.

Place in oven and bake 25 min. or until top is golden and springs back to the touch.

Cool on wire rack for 1 hr. before cutting in half and allowing to cool more before icing and decorating.

a few icing ideas:

• chocolate frosting (this mousse recipe works very well if you use about 1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chunks instead of 1 cup)
• raspberry jam
• combine the chocolate frosting with some raspberry jam - super yum!!
  
• strawberries
• lemon icing (sorry, no recipe yet...)

Recipe by: Trudel; April 2008