So there was obviously no better person to ask for a vegan cake recipe for this year’s Veganuary. Veganuary is a non-profit organisation from the UK that encourages people to try a vegan life for the month of January and beyond every year since 2014. Participation has increased massively in the 10 plus years they have been running this challenge and it reaches global audiences, raising awareness about the catastrophic impact our food consumption has on the wellbeing of farmed animals and the environment.
We asked Rachel why she decided to go vegan 7 years ago and it stemmed from her desire to reduce her exploitation of both human and non-human life, to reduce her consumption in an environmental context, and to nourish her body more deeply. He had never considered a vegan lifestyle, until one day purely by chance she was confronted by a moral question from a very kind activist she had stumbled upon that day. “Suddenly, I realized I could no longer consume animals and their by-products on a regular basis.” She doesn’t think veganism is about perfection, it’s simply the natural extension of many personal values we already hold actualised in other contexts. She thinks anyone can make a positive difference by incorporating more plant-based food into their lives when they are able to.
The recipe Rachel decided to share with us is actually her mother’s. It’s based on the Texas Sheet Cake. This chocolate sheet cake is gently spiced with cinnamon, has a rich glaze, and is traditionally topped with pecans. The first known recipe appeared in a Dallas, Texas newspaper in the 1950s. Many people suggest that it originated from the German Chocolate Cake, which is not actually a German recipe at all, but named after an English-American chocolate maker named Samuel German (fun fact that might be helpful in a pub quiz one day). “In my family, my Mom always made this cake for our birthdays (even though traditionally this cake is associated with funerals to bring some true Southern Comfort to a solemn moment). I remember seeing it glowing with colorful candles as we sang the “Happy Birthday” song every year.
This perfectly warm chocolate cake with fudgy frosting was everything I could dream of, and you could especially taste how it was made with love,” says Rachel. The cake progressed over the years, from elaborately decorated with whatever Rachel or her siblings were obsessed with at the time of their birthdays to simpler versions, decorated only with glowing candles that invite you to make a meaningful wish for the coming year while blowing them out. But apparently it wasn’t free from minor baking fails either. “One year, the cake came out like the leaning tower of Pisa. One side was very thick, and the other was thin like a cookie. Only later did we realize the problem! I had been using the oven prior and had replaced the rack incorrectly leaving it angled, hence the crazy-looking cake!” Rachel recalls.
Needless to say that Rachel’s family needed a new version when she decided to stop eating animal products. Rachel and her mother worked together to turn the decades-old recipe into a vegan version so that the family tradition of Texas Sheet Cake on birthdays could be kept alive. And that is the recipe she has shared with us for this feature.
Ingredients and Preparation
What are the key ingredients required for the recipe?
The ingredients are simple and easy to find, and even the vegan substitutes are not complicated at all and available in all supermarkets. So if you have been a bit intimidated by the thought of vegan baking, this might be the recipe to start you off!
