Reviews written by ChocoholicPhilosopher

This cake was a hit. It was a little bit dry, but I'm pretty sure that was my fault for overbaking it, and not the fault of the recipe. It was deliciously rich and chocolately, and looked great, though I decorated it differently to the recommendations here. I've given it only 4 stars because mine turned out a little dry, but the recipe probably deserves 5 stars, I think I just left it in the oven too long after I checked it the first time.

Some points of interest:
* I used Dutch processed cocoa powder, with some apprehension, because I have kilos of the stuff, and it turned out fine.
* I didn't have bread flour, so I added vital wheat gluten to my plain flour (1 teaspoon per cup), and that worked.

If anyone's interested, I've written up what I did and how I decorated it in more detail on my blog, linked below.

In response to knoxing27, I can't tell you anything precise, but I made Mattie's easy buttercream frosting using this butter on the weekend. I prepared the frosting the day before, then put it back in the fridge, in a bowl covered in clingwrap. The next day, I made and iced the cake, and it was out on the counter for several hours (maybe 4 or 5), although it is currently winter in Australia, so temperatures were probably around 10 degrees C for most of that time, and it tasted just fine. Hope that helps.

This on fresh hot bread is absolutely incredible.

This recipe is one of the best vegan discoveries I've made. I don't think it tastes exactly like butter (I was fairly new to veganism when I first made it), but it sure tastes great. I always have some in the freezer now, and I no longer feel inordinately jealous of Americans with their access to Earth Balance. I use it as a spread and bake with it, and it's never let me down. Omnivores and lacto-vegetarians have also given me positive feedback.

Since Australian tablespoons and cups are slightly different, and because I always make a tripple batch, I've posted a trippled for-Aussies version of the recipe at the website below. If you're an Aussie, you might find it convenient.

I made this (regular vegan butter coconut oil base) to ice my < href="http://chocoholicphilosopher.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/happy-birthday-hunter-vegan-vanilla.html">husband's birthday cake yesterday. It tasted amazing! The apple cider vinegar is genius, it gave the icing a wonderfully complex balance of flavours. However, I found that it was very sweet even with just half of the recommended sugar. Maybe that's an Australian thing. It also didn't do too well at holding strawberries on top of my slightly domed sponge cake, but that might have been due to the reduced sugar content affecting the stiffness.

Also, I didn't sift my icing sugar, and then found it difficult to get the lumps out. Perhaps the instructions could be updated to specify sifting, even though most people would probably do this automatically? I'm lazy, and also have no experience with icing, and so it didn't occur to me to sift the icing sugar

As an aside, I used this to decorate a sponge cake, and although Google brings up veganbaking.net as a result for vegan sponge cakes, when I try to access the page, it says "Please check the widget code and install again". Do you actually have a sponge cake recipe Mattie? The one I ended up using was OK, but not brilliant, and I suspect that yours would be better.

I made these yesterday. The texture is perfect, and the subtle hint of cinnamon is sheer brilliance. However, they're way too sweet for my tastes, though surprisingly, my husband (who generally has a lower sugar tolerance than me) loves them. Next time, I'm going to try cutting back the sugar to 1 cup, and hope that this doesn't change the texture too much. Will report back.

I've made these 3 times now, and they are truly fantastic. I wrote up my last attempt at making them at http://chocoholicphilosopher.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/rich-chocolate-brownies-with-raspberries.html

I added frozen raspberries and choc chips instead of the walnuts, and they disappeared very quickly, served to mixed company of vegans, vegetarians and omnivores.