In keeping with tradition, I will be attending a midnight showing of the final Harry Potter film in the company of my sister, Lindsay, and her longtime friend, Melissa. But, before we hurry off to the cinema to stand in line for hours and then sit in the theater for another hour waiting for the show to start, I think this would be an appropriate occasion to help ourselves to a sweet, decadent (and vegan!) slice of...
Butterbeer-Flavored Golden Snitch Cake
***Warning!!!*** Before starting this recipe, please see the update at the end of this post!
Tools:
One round cake pan for the snitch one non-round cake pan for its wings. I used a heart-shaped pan, but I envision good result ensuing from the use of a rectangular pan.
Ingredients:
for the cake
•1/2 cup soymilk
•2 tsp apple cider vinegar
•2 cups flour
•1 1/2 tsp baking powder
•1/2 tsp baking soda
•1/4 tsp salt
•1/2 cup (1 stick) non-hydrogenated vegan margarine, softened
•1/2 granulated sugar
•1/2 brown sugar, packed
•3/4 cup plain soy yogurt (I use WholeSoy & Co.)
•1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
•1 tsp butter flavoring
•1/2 cup cream soda
for the butterscotch sauce
•4 tbsp (1/2 stick) non-hydrogenated vegan margarine
•1 cup brown sugar, packed
•1/3 cup plain soy yogurt
•1/3 cup soymilk
•1 tsp vanilla extract
•1 to 1 1/2 tsp salt
for the frosting
•1/2 cup (1 stick) non-hydrogenated vegan margarine, softened
•1/3 cup butterscotch sauce (see recipe above)
•1 tsp vanilla extract
•1 1/2 tsp butter flavoring
•1/4 tsp salt
•3 cups powdered sugar
•2 to 3 tbsp plain soy yogurt
Method:
Grease and lightly flour two cake pans. Preheat oven to 350° F.
In a small bowl, combine ½ cup soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Whisk together and then set aside to curdle.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine dry ingredients, from the flour through the salt.
In a large bowl, whip the margarine—by hand or by electric mixer—until light and fluffy. Add sugars and mix well. Stir in yogurt, vanilla, butter flavoring. Add soymilk mixture, cream soda, and dry ingredients. Stir until smooth. Pour into prepared cake pans and bake in preheated oven 24-28 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
While the cake is baking, prepare the butterscotch sauce:
In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan over medium-low heat, melt the margarine until just melted. Add sugar and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture is somewhat smooth and not grainy. Add the soymilk and soy yogurt all at once, lower the heat slightly, and combine thoroughly with a whisk. Let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes, whisking regularly. After ten minutes, remove from heat and place in a heat-safe bowl. Mix in vanilla and salt, to taste.
Allow the cakes to cool completely. Then, transfer to a large flat surface, such as a big cutting board. Cut the non-circular-shaped cake in half to form into two wings. Do your best to arrange the pieces so that they most closely resemble your idea of what a golden snitch should look like.
Now it's time to make the frosting. In a large bowl, whip margarine (again, by hand or by electric mixer; whichever you fancy) until light. Mix in butterscotch sauce, vanilla extract, butter flavoring, and salt. Whisk until well combined. Sift in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, adding the soy yogurt intermittently as well, little by little, until desired consistency is achieved.
Frost the cake and decorate with remaining butterscotch sauce. If you're lucky, you'll have better quality cake-decorating tools than I've got and, if you decide to write any words on your snitch (say, for instance, "I open at the close"), they will be a bit more legible than mine were.
Serve alongside a cold glass of fresh pumpkin juice.
Tuck in!
***Update! 07/15/2011***
Though this cake was certainly very tasty, I do not, after all, recommend that you make this recipe as directed unless you have an exceptionally high tolerance for sugar! As it turns out, I and every one else who had a slice of cake last night had a yucky sort of tummy ache this morning. Too bad.
