Chocolate Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray (2) 8″ cake pans with nonstick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
2. Mix the cashew milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle (making a vegan buttermilk).
3. Whisk together the flour, coconut sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, vegan buttermilk mixture, avocado oil, and vanilla paste.
5. To the milk mixture, alternate whisking in the coffee and flour mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture. The batter will look very thin and syrupy; this is totally normal! 
6. Pour the batter into the cake pans and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out mostly clean. 
7. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 20 minutes, then remove from the pans and let them completely cool at room temperature for 2 hours before frosting. To speed up this process, you can pop them into the fridge. 

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Using an electric mixer (I used an immersion blender with the whisk attachment), cream together the softened vegan butter and vegan cream cheese. 
2. Dump in the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla paste and salt. Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the frosting. I love doing this as opposed to whisking the powdered sugar as it minimizes the poof of sugar and cocoa that always ends up on your cabinets if you’re not careful. 
3. Once combined, cream the frosting together for 2 minutes on high. Finally, add the cashew milk and cream together on high for an additional 2 minutes. It should be fluffy and light in color. 

Assemble

1. Spread about ~2 cups of frosting in between each cake layer; I love using a small offset spatula for this. Once the two layers are stacked, place the naked cake in the fridge to set for 15 minutes. This will ensure the cake doesn’t slide around when you’re trying to frost the sides. 
2. Once chilled, remove the cake and plop the rest of the frosting on top of the cake (yep, all of it). Spread it out towards the sides and let it hang over the edges. Then gently spread that overhang down to the bottom of the cake. Continue to smooth and frosting the cake until it’s completely covered and has sharp-ish edges. Feel free to use your offset spatula or spoon to create swoops and swirls all around the cake. Sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles, cacao nibs, or chopped chocolate for decoration and enjoy!