Vegan German Mole Cake

Did you have a wonderful New Year’s Eve? Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? I am somebody who usually doesn’t start with many ambitious resolutions. In my opinion it does not take long for those ambitious dreams to crash, the very latest in February. They don’t last very long. However, this year I decided to eat a bit healthier during January. Especially after the very decadent December it feels good. For that reason the recipes of January 2022 are going to be healthier. I am saying “healthier” as “healthy” is too strong of a word and also depends on what you consider this to be. I am going to post only vegan recipes in January. They are still going to be sweet and some people consider sugar to be bad. It has gotten a pretty bad reputation. I will start with the German mole cake as pictured.

During the coffee date no. 9 I told you that I was diagnosed with endometriosis. It is still unclear whether it actually is an auto-immune disease, at least here in Germany it is not considered as such. Regardless, one thing is very clear, if you have inflammations in your body, it is recommended to not eat any dairy products and to go vegan. For that reason I want to give vegan January a try. But don’t worry, this is not going to be a vegan blog any time soon. I already have a few vegan recipes on my blog, you can find them here. I usually don’t follow any diet. I prefer eating everything, but in small amounts and for special occasions. For me this vegan January is also an experiment to see whether it does make any difference. Even though I am going to eat sweet stuff as well, at least for the weekend. For that reason I am starting off this month with this German mole cake.

Since I am pretty new to this vegan diet, it was a lot of fun doing some research. First, for me the most important is that you don’t need a lot of fancy ingredients which are hard to come by and which are expensive. The chocolate cake below consists of many simple ingredients you can easily find in a grocery store. The only “special” ingredient is the vegan whipping cream, which I had no clue where to get and to see which one is actually good. If you are interested in some comparisons, I can recommend this article (in German) as well as this one (also in German). The whipping cream pictured below is from the store Rewe and from the brand bedda. I have to say, I was susprised how much this vegan version was similar in looks and taste to real whipping cream. Maybe this was only my imagination, but I felt it took less time to whip this cream into stiff whipping cream than some made from cow milk. I was tempted to see whether you can also overwhip vegan cream, but decided not to.

What I do like about this German mole cake vegan style is the following:

• You will find the ingredients in a regular grocery store
• This vegan version is just as good as the original
• You will make adults just as happy with it, not only children
• Chocolate and banana are the perfect combo
• This cake is prepared in a jiffy as the fridge takes care of most of it

I don’t think it is any accident that my non-vegan chocolate banana cake has been your number 3 for a long time already and has been baked by many readers. This vegan mole cake is similar in taste and thus seemed perfect to start off vegan January. I simply love the combination of chocolate with banana. I haven’t eaten this mole cake too often, so I decided to change it as it is a German classic. I don’t think it was ever served during any childhood birthday, but hey, I am sure if you don’t mention to anyone that this is vegan, nobody will notice.

Credit Veggie Einhorn (in German)

Print Recipe

Vegan German Mole Cake

Serves: One 20 cm/8inch ∅ springform

Prep Time: 30min – Cooking Time: 50min – Total Time: 1hr 30min

This vegan German mole cake is easy to prepare and does not require fancy ingredients.

Ingredients

• Cake Base
• 225 grams of all-purpose flour
• 125 grams of regular sugar
• 25 grams of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 60 grams of neutral oil (I used sunflower)
• 100 grams of vegan milk (I used almond)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 175 grams of water with gas (you can do without, however, the cake will be lighter if you find water with gas)
• 
  
• Filling
• 300 grams of vegan whipping cream (here in Germany I used the brand Bedda, you may also use Rama or Schlagfix)
• 50 grams of vegan chocolate shavings (you can also make them yourself using a peeler)
• 25 grams of regular sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 bananas
• A bit of lemon or lime juice

Instructions

1

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line the bottom of a 20cm/8inch springform with parchment paper. The springform or cake form should be deep enough as the cake will rise.

2

For the dough mix flour, sugar, cocoa, and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and only whisk together until combined. Pour into prepared springform for about 40-50min, an inserted toothpick should come out clean. Let cool.

3

Using a tablespoon, scoop out the cake only leaving a rim of about 5mm-1cm. Keep the leftovers, they will be used as the "soil" on the molehill.

4

For the filling beat the heavy cream with the sugar and vanilla extract until stiff, fold in chocolate shavings. Cut the bananas lengthwise and half and fill the carved out cake with them, filling the bottom completely. Sprinkle with a bit of lemon or lime juice. Now spread the prepared heavy cream on top creating a dome. Rub the leftover cake into crumbs and press into the heavy cream, you want to create the illusion of a molehill, so try to cover all areas. Let the cake chill for at least an hour or overnight and enjoy.

P.S.: If you are interested in “Veganuary” = vegan January, check out this article.