This Mini Vegan Chocolate Hibiscus Cake combines classic, dairy free chocolate cake with a mildly sweet hibiscus icing. Give it a try—you’re going to love it!
Ohhhhh yeah, remember when I was obsessed with hibiscus ? That phase lasted about two weeks, and within that two week span I managed to whip up my hibiscus tea several times, and I also created this vegan hibiscus cake, because why not? Hibiscus tea has a very bold, distinct flavor, but this hibiscus cake is really just chocolate cake topped with a mild hibiscus icing. Even people who think ‘what, that’s weird’ (aka my husband) will enjoy it!
This post was going to go up Friday, but then I realized that I wanted to update you guys on Natural Products Expo East and I hadn’t really experienced much of it by Friday morning. So, here we are! If you aren’t familiar, Expo East is a gathering of natural food companies, buyers, retailers, and influencers alike. It’s a chance to meet brands in person, connect, network, and snack on a lot of really delicious food. This year it was in Baltimore and I stayed with Ashley and Jess in an AirBnB and it was a lot of fun. Even just having the ability to meet brands that I already love in person was super cool–if you were debating it this year, I highly recommend attending next year.
We arrived Thursday around lunch time and opted to grab some Chipotle because Chipotle is never a bad idea. We then proceeded to go back to our Airbnb and just hang out before meeting up with a few other bloggers and grabbing a salad for dinner, aka a very chill night. Friday morning we grabbed breakfast and coffee and then headed to the convention center and spent all day–I’m talking from 10-6–there. Oddly enough the time flew by because there were SO many brands both old and new to see. The night ended at Sweet Green before heading home and relaxing for the rest of the evening.
Now onto the food… My favorite thing about mini cakes is that you don’t feel as bad eating them. When you cut yourself a piece, the slices are smaller (obviously…), so you’re typically less likely to over eat. They’re easier to transport, and like anything mini, they’re kind of cute. What’s better than a cute cake?!
This cake starts out like most cakes: combining the wet ingredients, then the dry ingredients and then mixing them together. Once your cakes have baked, then that’s when the hibiscus comes into play. You’ll brew some hibiscus tea and then use that in the icing, aka add it to the butter and powdered sugar icing combo you’ll already have created. It’s good guys, like way better than you think, and like I mentioned earlier, fairly mild in flavor. I know you’re curious, so just give it a try!
Mini Vegan Chocolate Hibiscus Cake
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 50 mins
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup cane sugar
- 1/4 cup dairy free butter, softened
- 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- For the icing:
- 1/4 cup dairy free butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 1/2 tbsp brewed hibiscus tea
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar together and then add the milk, applesauce, vinegar and vanilla; stir to combine.
- Add wet and dry ingredients together and stir to combine, preferably with an electric mixer.
- Grease two 4″ cake pans with coconut oil and then distribute the batter evenly amongst the pans, pounding them on the counter a few times to even out the batter.
- Bake cakes for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Leave cakes in the pans for 10 minutes before carefully transferring them to a cooling rack. Wait until cakes have cooled completely before icing them.
- For the icing: brew a batch of hibiscus tea according to the instructions on the package.
- Cream butter and sugar together and then add 2 1/2 tbsp brewed tea and vanilla extract; stir to combine.
- To assemble: use a serrated knife to slice the tops off of the cakes. Add icing to the top of one of the cakes, and then place a second cake on top of it. Repeat this same step for the third cake, and then ice the sides of the cakes.
- Enjoy!
Nice! When you brew the tea do you do so with the sugar?
Or do you do it plain?
hi! It’s in step 7 of the instructions, but you’ll want to brew the tea separately them add it in with the icing.
I’d like to know if the hibiscus tea gives the icing that violet color. Also, what was on top of the icing. It’s lovely and looks like
Potpourri. I’d like to replicate it for a function l’m going to. 💮
Hi! yes, the brewed hibiscus tea is what gives the icing that coloring, and I placed hibiscus tea leaves on top of the cake for the photos, but I don’t recommend actually doing that as you can’t eat the leaves (I mean, you can… but they’re not super tasty).
I will make a dairy version out of it. Looks divine. I’m looking forward to my baking session at the weekend.
So I can totally eat the whole thing then right? 😉 I LOVE the thin layer of frosting on this. What a lovely color too!
Um YES–that’s the whole point of a mini cake, right? 😉