Chocolate Cake with Coffee Buttercream Frosting

I know, I know. . . it's been a while. This past week has been busy with work, the Easter holiday, training, and life.

I really would love nothing more than to stay in the kitchen all day and make delicious vegan and vegetarian treats, but work has to be done, duties have to be carried out, and money has to be made. I always have weekends to play. . .

With that said, I really haven't gotten to make anything really spectacular lately, but I did manage to get this together for Jon's mom's Birthday with help from Have Your Cake and vegan too, By Kris Holechek.

Chocolate Cake With Coffee Butter Cream Frosting
You'll need (for the cake)
1 3/4 C flour (I used gluten free flour)
1 1/2 C organic granulated sugar
3/4 C baking cocoa
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
1 1/2 C unsweetened almond milk
1/2 t apple cider vinegar
1/2 C canola oil
2 t vanilla extract
1 C boiling water

To make:
1. Preheat oven to 350'F. Lightly grease 9''x13'' pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, combine milk and vinegar with an electric mixer. Add oil and vinegar. Combine with mixer.
5. Incorporate half the dry mixture into the wet, blend until smooth. Add remaining dry mixture and, again, blend until smooth.
6. Add the boiling water to the mixture and blend until smooth. Batter will seem watery. Pour into greased cake pan.
7. Bake in oven for  40 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center). Let cool completely in pan on wire rack before frosting.

For the frosting, you'll need:
1/2 C Earth Balance Buttery Stick
1/2 - 1 t instant coffee granules (I used 1/2 but next time I'll do more)
1 T unsweetened almond milk
1 3/4 C powdered sugar

To make:
1. Cream Earth Balance in a medium bowl with beaters.
2. Dissolve coffee in almond milk and add to Earth Balance. Mix.
3. Add the powered sugar in 2 parts, mixing to combine. Beat until smooth and creamy.

I was very pleasantly surprised with this cake. It came out much better than I thought it would. The cake was mildly sweet, and the texture was similar to pound cake in that it was very compact, but it was not dense - it was very light and almost spongy.
The frosting was very smooth and the coffee sang through the sugar and combined with the bittersweet chocolate flavor of the cake to harmonize into a lovely Birthday treat!

P.S.: Notice anything a little different about these photos? I used natural sun light and WOW, what a difference!