Beggin' For Cake! Chocolate Birthday Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (Vegan & Allergen Free!)

My son vividly remembered me making this cake for his 6th birthday and sadly it took me another year to bake this cake again. After one slice he was hooked again! He would NOT stop begging for this cake!

Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 25 mins | Total time: 40-60 mins (see recipe) | Serves: 10

Ingredients

Cake
2 cups (473 ml) of your favorite plant based milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups (10 oz) unsweetened applesauce
2/3 cup (158 ml) oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups (320 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (118 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups (268 g) sugar

Frosting
1 (8 ounce) package Toffuti cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup (76 grams) Earth Balance sticks, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups (256 g) powdered sugar

Directions

Cake

• Preheat oven to 350°F (176 C) and lightly spray pans.
• Mix the milk and vinegar in a large mixing bowl.
• Add the oil, coffee, vanilla extract, and applesauce and beat until foamy.
• Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a smaller bowl.  Whisk in sugar. 
• Add dry to the wet mixture while beating. Beat until no large lumps remain. It should be creamy and pourable. 
• Pour batter into cake pans.
• Bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 
• Allow cake to cool in pans for 7-10 minutes.
• Place rack on top of cake and flip. Repeat for each pan and allow to cool completely. You can wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight for even better crumb coat

Frosting

• For frosting, beat cream cheese and Earth Balance. Add vanilla. Add sugar.
• Frost the top of one of the cake layers. 
• Place the second layer on top and add a thin coat (crumb coat) of frosting to the entire cake. 
• Refrigerate or freeze to harden. 
• Apply the rest of the frosting and refrigerate or serve immediately!

Additive Free Decorating

Since my little guy has so many sensitivities, I avoid adding anything unnecessary to the cake, and that includes creepy decorative icing with synthetic dyes. Since my oldest was little, we've built them a new Lego as a decoration for their cake. The past two years, I enlisted my oldest to build it! I even found a little Happy Birthday! I know it's not the most beautiful cake in the world, but my guy was ecstatic over it. I also reminded him that not many kids get a homemade cake these days!