Vegan Ombre Cake

5 from 1 vote

Prep Time: 35

Cook Time: 25

Cool Time: 2

Total Time: 3

Whisk together the almond milk and the white vinegar and let it sit for a few minutes. Now whisk together the 2 1/2 cups of the flour (set the other 1/2 cup aside), sugar, baking soda, vanilla, and sea salt. Add the melted coconut oil to the almond milk and give it a quick whisk. Now add the wet to the dry and combine.
Now, divide this batter into four equal portions. We are going to call them batch #1, #2, #3 and #4. Batch #1 will be the lightest, and #4 will be the darkest. Line them up on your counter. Add 3 tablespoons of flour to batch #1 and mix. This batch is done. Add 2 1/2 tablespoons of flour to batch #2, 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour for batch #3 and 1 tablespoons of flour to batch #4. To batch #4, add enough cocoa powder to make the batter pretty dark, like, darker than milk chocolate. To batch #3, add a little over half the amount you added to batch #4. Lastly, to batch #2, add just a little bit of cocoa powder. You should now have four different shades: beige, light brown, medium brown and dark brown.
Line four cake tins (20cm / 8″ each) with parchment paper (or grease them), then pour each of the layers into a tin and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool completely and refrigerate for a few hours and then cut off the domed tops of the cakes to make them more even.

With a stand mixer or electric whisk beat the butter until softened and light. Now add in the remaining ingredients (except the cocoa powder) and whisk until fluffy. Divide into four portions and add an increasing amount of cocoa powder to batch 2, 3 and 4, to make four different shades. Once your cake layers are fully cooled, add the frosting as you build the cake (see "Assembly" below.)

Finely chop the dark chocolate. In a small saucepan, heat up the cream and syrup and stir. Take it off the heat before it starts to simmer. Pour over the chocolate and quickly whisk together.

On a cake stand or plate, place the first layer of cake followed by a dollop of buttercream frosting. Spread the frosting to the edges and add another layer of cake. Keep going until all four layers are in place. Add a thin layer of buttercream frosting all over the cake and then refrigerate for about 30 minutes until the frosting layer has set. Now add a final layer of buttercream frosting to the cake. Refrigerate again so the ganache will set fast when it hits the cake.
Pour the ganache over the top of the cake and quickly spread it to the edges so it will start to drip down the sides. Decorate with leftover frosting, sprinkles, truffles, chocolate shavings, little candles or whatever you are in the mood for.

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