Vegan Chocolate Cake

I am not vegan, so if there is anything I've overlooked here, please let me know! But people ask me to come up with vegan recipes all the time, and I realized that since this chocolate cake contains no eggs or dairy, it fits the bill nicely. It is the same as the Quick and Easy Skillet Cake with only a minor modification to the frosting.

1 1/2 Cups All-purpose Flour

3 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder (natural, not dutch-process)

1 Cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

1 cup cold Water

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Grease or line with parchment paper one 9" cake pan for a single layer, or two 6" cake pans for a double layer cake.

Sift dry ingredients together and stir with a fork until well-mixed. Make three wells in the dry ingredients. Pour the oil into the first well, the vinegar into the second, and the vanilla into the third. Pour the cold water over the top of it all, then stir with a fork until well-blended. Pour into greased or parchment-lined pan and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let it cool, then frost.

Vegan Mocha Frosting:

4 Tablespoons Crisco

2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar

dash of salt

2 Tablespoons strong black coffee

Cream together the Crisco, sugar, cocoa and salt until well-mixed. Add the liquid and beat until fluffy. You can do this by hand since it is such a small batch, you really don't need to use a stand mixer for this.

If you prefer just a glaze on top, you can omit the crisco - just mix the coffee (or use soy milk if you don't want the mocha flavor) with the sugar and cocoa powder. You can add more liquid or more sugar to get the consistency you want.