Philosophical Vegan Forum

Let's just cut to the chase, guys: Vegan chocolate mug cakes can be REVOLTINGLY EARTHY. I should know, because I use my microwave WAY TOO MUCH. My little project for you guys is to find me a vegan chocolate mug cake that doesn't make me want to throw my face across the room, tear it from the wall, and repeat. Ready, set, do crap!

This would be better posted in the tavern
I've actually never heard of mug cakes and thus not vegan mug cakes

What recipe are you currently using? I don't see any reason it should be earthy.

You need cocoa powder
Vanilla extract (cocoa powder, due to processing, has a flat taste without vanilla -- or you can use raw cocoa and skip the vanilla)
Sweetener
Flour (pastry flour is better, since it's finer)
Leavening (aluminum free baking powder usually)
Fat (vegetable oil, or nut butter)
Water

Sweetener is a challenge.
You can use fruit juice concentrate if you want, in which case you would cut back on the water. Of course you can also use plain white sugar. I lean toward calorie free sweeteners though (Sucralose, Stevia, etc.), and Xylitol (tooth friendly).

You can use whole wheat pastry flour, but you complained of earthiness, so that's something you might want to avoid. You may also just want to use canola oil for the fat content, since nut butter can be earthy.
Also, you should probably go easy on the cocoa powder, and mainly flavor with vanilla. Some people may consider cocoa powder earthy too.

Cirion Spellbinder wrote:This would be better posted in the tavern
I've actually never heard of mug cakes and thus not vegan mug cakes

It's where you mix the batter in a mug and microwave it, and it fluffs up into a single serving cake inside the mug (from which it is eaten).

chocolate mug cakes I found to be earthy:
http://www.food.com/recipe/5-minute-wac ... one-458008
http://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/micro ... lebration/
http://freerangecookies.com/2012/12/11/ ... 2-minutes/

brimstoneSalad wrote:What recipe are you currently using? I don't see any reason it should be earthy.

You need cocoa powder
Vanilla extract (cocoa powder, due to processing, has a flat taste without vanilla -- or you can use raw cocoa and skip the vanilla)
Sweetener
Flour (pastry flour is better, since it's finer)
Leavening (aluminum free baking powder usually)
Fat (vegetable oil, or nut butter)
Water

Sweetener is a challenge.
You can use fruit juice concentrate if you want, in which case you would cut back on the water. Of course you can also use plain white sugar. I lean toward calorie free sweeteners though (Sucralose, Stevia, etc.), and Xylitol (tooth friendly).

You can use whole wheat pastry flour, but you complained of earthiness, so that's something you might want to avoid. You may also just want to use canola oil for the fat content, since nut butter can be earthy.
Also, you should probably go easy on the cocoa powder, and mainly flavor with vanilla. Some people may consider cocoa powder earthy too.

Thank you for the tips! I think my main problem was that I didn't use enough vanilla and I used too much cocoa power. Fruit juice concentrate as a sweetener is brilliant! Thank you so much.

Most of those links don't work properly.

Don't put vinegar in it. Use baking powder.
If you use fruit juice concentrate, you can use baking soda (because of the acid in the fruit juice).
Also, those recipes don't call for enough oil for cake, although nut butter is really much healthier.
Also, oats and cinnamon can be a bit earthy in a chocolate cake.

Cutting back on the cocoa powder could help.

Also, consider how you're mixing things. If you're using granulated sugar, it can be grainy and not mix in properly, which will make matters worse.
Try powdered sugar, or pre-mix sugar and water, and heat to dissolve, then let it cool before adding in other liquids then your solids.

brimstoneSalad wrote:Most of those links don't work properly.

They all work for me.

Cinnamon is probably the main culprit.

EquALLity wrote:

brimstoneSalad wrote:Most of those links don't work properly.

They all work for me.

Ah, it's just the one, I clicked it twice by mistake. It's the one that lists a huge number or recipes, starting with strawberry or something. I thought it was a recipe directory.

[quote="brimstoneSalad"]"...consider how you're mixing things. If you're using granulated sugar, it can be grainy and not mix in properly, which will make matters worse.
Try powdered sugar, or pre-mix sugar and water..."
I always use brown sugar because white sugar is filtered with cow bone marrow and (I'm 98% sure) powdered sugar is, too. Also, how would one "pre-mix" sugar and water, or is that some packaged thing?