Make a Vegan Mother's Day Sweet with Easy Cakes

Maneuvering a shopping cart through grocery aisles stocked with shelves of gift-wrapped milk chocolates and past bakery cases full of egg-raised cakes prettied with dairy-infused icing, it's easy for a vegan mother to feel, well, left out.

Like so many other holidays, the traditional celebratory foods of Mother's Day have long been decidedly un-vegan. Must we show Mom we care by plying her with a buffet of eclairs, croissants, Danish, cakes, truffles, and cookies?

The chocolates! Don't forget the chocolates! White chocolates, milk chocolates today, even a lot of dark chocolates have jumped on the dairy bandwagon and contain milk products.

Many vegan dessert recipes are full of strange, hard-to-locate ingredients that simply aren't stocked in the average grocery store (powdered egg replacer, anyone?).

What's a vegan mama to do? Munch on celery sticks while the rest of the mothering population enjoys high-caloric ecstasy? Absolutely not! These two simple recipes, made with regular ingredients will let your egg-free, dairy-free mom know that she's special and oh-so-sweet

Fabulous Fake-ola Coffee Cake

This coffee cake is so simple, even the youngest little bakers can pull it off (with a little help from Dad, who must supervise dicing and melting processes).

3 c. dairy-free baking mix, such as Bisquick HeartSmart

1 T. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

1/3 c. granulated vegan sugar

1 c. vanilla soymilk

1 large Granny Smith apple, cored and diced

1/2 c. whey-free stick margarine, such as Nucoa

Topping

2 T. granulated vegan sugar

½ t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 450°. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients for cake except stick margarine. Batter should be thick and sticky.

Melt margarine in microwave or on stovetop. Drop batter by large spoonfuls into melted margarine, coating the batter, then place into bottom of 10 round cake pan. Continue coating and putting batter into pan until no batter remains in mixing bowl. Press lightly into bottom of cake pan so that batter is evenly spread.

Prepare topping by mixing sugar and cinnamon and sprinkling over cake batter.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cake is done when toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean.

Double Chocolate Espresso Cake

This cake is a twist on Betty Crocker's tired-and-true Double Chocolate Cake recipe. The espresso gives it not only a delectable, grown-up flavor, but a hip twenty-first century update!

1 2/3 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. granulated vegan sugar

¼ c. unsweetened cocoa powder, such as Hershey's or Royal Dutch

1 t. baking soda

½ t. salt

1 c. cooled espresso or strong black coffee

1/3 c. vegetable or olive oil

1 t. apple cider vinegar

1 t. vanilla flavoring

Topping

½ c. non-dairy semi-sweet chocolate chips, such as Sunspire (but the FMV brand from Fred Meyer and the Organics label from Safeway are also vegan and often cheaper)

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients for cake, then add wet ingredients, stirring thoroughly. Pour into an oiled 8 round cake pan.

Sprinkle top of batter with chocolate chips and bake for 35-40 minutes. Cake is done when toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean.

For best results, these cakes should be served with Mom's favorite tea in bed, of course!