How to win friends and influence people

I now understand the whole cupcake thing. Frankly, I never really understood the obsession with cupcakes. But now I've realized that its not that cupcakes are that good, but that cakes are so damn difficult to frost. And really is there a point to cake without frosting? I think not.

That being said, today I'm in the mood for cake. Not just any cake, but chocolate cake, with vanilla frosting and chocolate chips and hazelnuts.

So I started out with the simple chocolate cake recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. The recipe is actually one of the sample recipes so you can go make this cake right now. Basically, the secret to the cake is using baking soda and vinegar for leavening. The cake WILL NOT taste like vinegar. But the batter will be a bit thinner than conventional cake batter. Everything will turn out fine. I promise!

I doubled the recipe so I could make a two layer cake.

Next up the vanilla buttercream:
1 cup of earth balance buttery spread,
4 cups confectioners sugar,
3 tsp vanilla,
4 tbsp almond milk

Yes, for those of you who have never made frosting before, it is basically just butter and sugar whipped into a tizzy. I was horrified when I realized that I was basically eating sugary butter. But then I took a bite and forgot about how horrified I was.

The tricky part is getting the frosting onto the cake. The cake is very delicate so unfortunately it is not the easiest cake to trim and frost. Professional chefs will actually put on two coats of frosting. First a crumb coating. Then the cake will be chilled. Then the second coat. But I only had one coat of frosting in me.

First place the bottom cake on a plate and spread the frosting in the center. This is when I put a layer of chocolate chips and hazelnuts in the middle. Then, obviously, place the second cake on top. I have no advice on how to frost the outside of the cake. I'm still figuring that out. I managed to get it on there some how though.