This recipe is simple, delicious, uses only one bowl, and is quick—it will only take about 15 minutes to prep and then 30 minutes to bake. It’s completely delicious and only has ¼ of the emissions of a traditional recipe!

This recipe is only slightly modified from a great vegan dessert cookbook:  Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  I highly recommend this book!

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Yummy and Planet Friendly Vanilla Pride Cake
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This recipe is simple, delicious, uses only one bowl, and is quick—it will only take about 15 minutes to prep and then 30 minutes to bake. It’s completely delicious and only has ¼ of the emissions of a traditional recipe!
Ingredients
Frosting
Servings
Ingredients
Frosting
Servings
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Grease and flour and 8-inch layer pan.
  3. For the cake, add the flour, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder (the first four ingredients) to a bowl and mix well with a fork.
  4. Add the wet ingredients and mix with a spoon or mixer.
  5. Pour into the pan or pans and bake for approximately 30 minutes.
  6. It’s done if a toothpick inserted into it comes out clean.
Frosting Instructions
  1. For the frosting, put all ingredients in a bowl except a bit of the soy milk into a bowl and mix well.
  2. Add the remaining milk as needed to get the right consistency. You can also add more powdered sugar if it gets too runny.
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Frost the cake when cool, and add seasonal fruits.

Here it is with just berries:

Berry Cake

Check out the ingredient-by-ingredient carbon footprint information.

Carbon footprint for cake alone:

Ingredient

(this recipe)

Carbon Footprint

g CO2-equivalents

Ingredient

(traditional recipe)

Carbon Footprint

g CO2-equivalents

1.5 cups flour 118 1.5 cups flour 118
¾ cup sugar 138 ¾ cup sugar 138
1 cup soymilk 56 1 cup 2% milk 326
½ margarine 131 ½ cup butter 1335
1 egg 156
Total 443 Total 2,073

Carbon footprint for frosting alone:

Ingredient

(this recipe)

Carbon Footprint

g CO2-equivalents

Ingredient

(traditional recipe)

Carbon Footprint

g CO2-equivalents

3.75 cups conf. sugar 432 1.5 cups flour 432
½ cup margarine 131 ½ cup butter 1335
¼ cup soymilk 14 1/4 cup 2% milk 81
Total 577 Total 1,848

Carbon Footprint for Frosted Cake:

Total (this recipe) 1,020 Total (tradit.) 3,921

The big difference in carbon footprint comes primarily from switching out the butter and milk.  This is because these are both dairy products, and raising cattle for both beef and dairy is particularly resource-intensive, even when compared to other animal agriculture.  Like all livestock, most of the energy they consume throughout their lives goes toward their metabolism or is lost in manure.  But for cows and other ruminants, methane–a highly potent greenhouse gas– is naturally produced as part of their digestive process.  So, reducing products from ruminant animals seriously shrinks your carbon footprint!

Enjoy!

If you do make this, you can put it on Instagram with #easymealsfortheplanet so we can check out what you made!

And please follow the blog for 1-2 low carbon footprint recipes per week!