Vanilla Green Tea Cake

Vegan Vanilla Green Tea Cake
Originally uploaded by M Molina

This is the second cake I baked this past weekend. This one was my son's birthday cake and everyone loved it. Even our omnivorous neighbors, with whom we shared the leftovers, thought it was delicious. And one of them was eyebrow-raisingly skeptical about vegan food. Even he liked it.

Vanilla Green Tea Cake

• 3 cups unbleached flour
  
• 1 cup oil
  
• 2 cups sugar
  
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 scant cup non-dairy vanilla milk of choice
  
• 1 scant cup strong-brewed green tea, cooled

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix ingredients until batter is smooth and pour equally into two, well-greased, 8-inch cake pans.
2. Bake for 30 minutes.
3. Allow to cool to touch (a few minutes) and then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

I based my icing on this fabulous recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Vanilla Green Tea Buttercream Icing

• 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening
  
• 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, I used Earth Balance
  
• 3 1/2 cups veganized powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  
• 1/4 cup strong-brewed green tea, cooled

1. Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
2. Add the vanilla and green tea, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy.