Bernice's Birthday Cakes

I made two birthday cakes for Bernice, a chocolate one for her to take to work and a lemon and guava one for her family party. I forgot to take pictures of the chocolate but the lemon one is pictured below. This was an experiment in buttercream frosting because the chocolate one was vegan. The cake is easy, just make the always-vegan crazy cake, but frosting is harder. I read up on the frosting tub labels in Safeway and the common thickener seems to be cornstarch. I messed around and it worked pretty well. I'm going to record the recipe although I'm likely to play with it more next time.

For the lemon cake I tried a flour buttercream from The Tough Cookie. It was good although it tasted rather like vanilla pudding and got soft easily.

Vegan Chocolate Buttercream (not pictured)
Mix 1/2 c water, 1/2 t salt, and 2 T cornstarch. Cook stirring constantly until cornstarch thickens. Mix in 1 c sugar and stir until dissolved. Keep cooking to thicken further, watching closely and stirring while reducing heat if necessary.

Cool to room temperature.

With a mixer, beat in 3 T shortening (helps to stabilize it) and 3 T coconut oil (helps it set in the cold). Add 1/4 c cocoa powder, 1 t cinnamon, 1/8 t cayenne, 2 t vanilla. Chill in refrigerator for 10 minutes. Beat again (chilling should help it stiffen properly if the room is warm) and gradually beat in 1 c of vegan margarine and 3 oz of melted dark chocolate. Continue beating, alternated with chilling time, until fluffy and creamy. Store in the fridge but warm to soften before use. Note that it must be kept cooler than room temp or it will melt and possibly sag and lose the fluffy texture. The cake should be refrigerated after frosting. (and in between layers if needed)

Next time:
Try more cornstarch. Possibly more sugar. Maybe more cocoa. And vary the other flavors as desired.

The lemon cake is layered and the crumb coat is going on

Crumb coat finished

The cake is fully frosted. I just have to remove the parchment shields from the tray.