I have a dear friend named Jason. As with most of my dear friends, I have asked Jason from time to time if there is something in particular he would like for me to bake for him. He always says, “White cake, white icing.” I never understood what the difference between vanilla cake and white cake would be, so I began seeking out white cake recipes in order to sort out the difference.  It quickly became apparent to me that there WAS a difference between white and vanilla cakes. But what was the best recipe for white cake? I found two that appealed to me, both of which are vegan (because I’m a really weird vegan-baking omnivore.  Let me rephrase: I’m not an omnivore who bakes vegans; I’m an omnivore who makes vegan baked goods. Glad I got that cleared up…)

I decided the best way to get to the bottom of the matter was to just to start testing these recipes. Seemed like a good excuse to make some mini-cakes and start some taste-testing (PURELY for research purposes, mind you…)

Test one: Vegan White Birthday Cake recipe

I know I make this cake look goooood, but it was not quite what I felt it should’ve been. I’m pretty good at being able to figure out what I do or don’t like about a recipe and then tweaking the recipe to be more to my liking. I thought the flavor was good on this, but texture wasn’t right, the batter was too thin, and it just didn’t rise the way I thought it ought to.  I didn’t eat half the cake and then take this picture; the layers were so thin that I had to slice each one into two semicirlces – yielding four layers. Yes, there are only three layers in the assembled cake…I had to do a taste test on the fourth semicircle! There were parts of this recipe that I felt were good, and which I knew I would keep in mind for future cakes.

Test two: Vegan White Cake recipe

If I had to use one phrase to describe this cake, it would be: old-fashioned. I hadn’t realized what a difference using a solid fat in a cake, such as margarine or shortening, made in comparison with using oil in a cake. The texture of the cake brought to mind the types of cakes I’d have at my Mamaw Coley’s house growing up. I’m guessing using butter or shortening in a cake is old-timey thing to do. As you can see, I didn’t use white icing on this white cake. I KNOW how to make a good buttercream icing like the one I used on the first white cake recipe.  I thought I’d give my taste buds a little variety by using the chocolate icing recipe that was given with the recipe for this cake. The chocolate icing was old-fashioned style also. It uses oil rather than butter and shortening like buttercream-type recipes do. It yielded almost a fudge candy-like chocolate icing. So sugary that you feel it’s teeth-shatteringly sweet, but yet you want to lick every last drop of the icing off the plate. The verdict for this cake recipe: passable, but not really what I was looking for. The old-fashioned style of it was dense and, while certainly tasty, just not what I like in a cake.

Trial Three: Vegan White Birthday Cake, redux

I decided there were aspects of the first recipe I tried that I really liked, and the fact that it didn’t turn out right just seemed like a fluke to me. I tweaked this recipe just slightly the second time around, using tried-and-true cake making techniques that I felt would improve the outcome of the recipe. Boy, was I glad I gave this cake another shot! I was worried that I had made a mistake when I halved the original recipe size to make it fit the mini-cake, so I went whole hog and made the full-sized recipe this time. It baked up beauuuuuutifully. I did have to add more flour to the batter since it was still thinner than I thought it should be. I knew I had had cake overload already that week and COULDN’T be soley responsible for disposing of this whole cake. I said to myself “What am I gonna do with this ginourmous cake??” Thankfully, it was the day before Halloween and the perfect excuse to decorate the cake and take into work.

We have a winner folks! The texture was wonderful, the flavor was outstanding, and it baked up tall and proud. I now have a solid standard white cake recipe in my arsenal!