Vegan Red Velvet Cake From a Box!

My first venture into vegan "baking" (I'm using that term very loosely here) was this red velvet cake mix I made for my roommate's birthday. I'm super intrigued by vegan baking and all the creative egg substitutes that are out there. In my reading, I stumbled across this really simple method and was curious to try it out, especially because you could use it with a box mix. As much as I would love to try to bake some real recipes from scratch, I honestly just wasn't feeling up to all the effort that would require. So box mix it was!!
You may be wondering what the secret "egg substitute" ingredient is... and it's actually soda! To be honest, I was really skeptical about this before I tried it. I have hated soda and all kinds of carbonated drinks since childhood and was certain I would be able to taste the 20 ounces of soda I poured into this cake. But I honestly couldn't at all, despite my aversion to it.

Before I really get into the post, a word on the mix I used:
You probably know that when you make a cake (or brownies or most baked goods) from a box it calls for the addition of eggs, water, oil, and sometimes butter or other ingredients. But even if you use vegan substitutes for the eggs or butter sometimes required, almost all boxed baked goods contain some kind of animal or dairy product in the mix itself, making it not vegan. However, the Duncan Hines brand is an exception- at least most of their mixes are from my (unprofessional) reading of the ingredients lists on a random sample of boxes I picked up in the grocery store; there may be some that are not vegan. So, Duncan Hines box mix and frosting+ soda= vegan cake from a box! :)

You Will Need:
1. Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Mix
2. Duncan Hines Creamy Home-Style Frosting, cream cheese flavored (can we talk about how weird it is that this cream cheese flavored frosting is actually vegan?!)
3. Soda of your choice (I used 20 oz of Dr. Pepper, but it may be fun to experiment with different brands and flavors)
4. Large mixing bowl
5. Whisk, or electric mixer if you're fancy
6. One or two round cake pans, depending on if you want a one or two-layered cake

Preheat your oven before starting, grease your cake pans (I used Pam spray), and dump the mix and the bottle of soda into the mixing bowl. There's no need to add any oil or water to the mixture- the soda is enough. I like to break apart some of the big chunks in the powder before adding the liquid because I find it's a lot harder to break them up later. Mix the batter until all the lumps are gone.

Isn't it beautiful?

Since the procedure is so simple, I'm going to include a resourceful trick I use every time I make cake. Growing up, I had two cake pans in my house and always made double layered cakes. When I moved into my first apartment after starting college, my roommate brought most of the kitchen equipment and we only have one cake pan. Unwilling to give up my double layered cakes, I have learned to fashion a makeshift cake pan with aluminum foil! It's really simple: you just lay a sheet of aluminum foil into the cake pan you have and mold it so it's the same shape. Because of the dimensions of the foil, one layer is only "tall" enough for two sides of the pan, so rip out another sheet of foil and lay it the other way for a complete circle tall enough to hold your batter on all sides. Make it as smooth as you can so your finished layer isn't lumpy. Take it out of the real cake pan and voilà- you've got an aluminum foil cake pan! Put it on a baking sheet for stability, otherwise it would be really hard to transfer from counter to oven and back. Then you just pour the batter as evenly as possible into both pans.

Ready for the oven!

Bake the batter according to the box directions, depending on the size and color of your pan(s). To check if the cake is done, stick a toothpick or fork into the batter- if it comes out clean, it's done; if not, wait a few more minutes. I found that I had to bake this cake a lot longer than the box directed, and the toothpick never came out clean. I got scared of burning it so I eventually just took it out anyway. Normally that trick works but I think the red food coloring in this batter clung to the toothpick even after it was actually done baking.

Let the cake cool for at least an hour before you frost it. To frost a two-layer cake, you just frost one layer at a time, with a thin layer of frosting between the two cakes. After you put the top layer on and frost the top of that, frost the sides and hide the gap between the two layers. Then you're all set to eat your delicious red velvet soda cake!

The finished product!

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I tried to only take a tiny slice, but ended up getting more... oh well!