Tag: vegan cake

Chocolate Orange Baobab Cake with Citrus Cashew Cream Cheese Frosting

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Chocolate Baobab Cake with Citrus Cashew Cream Cheese Frosting

Here is my second recipe using PONA’s Baobab powder.  Remember you can get a 20 % discount off your order using my exclusive discount code VEGEBRIT at http://www.pona.fi/shop until 24.6.  PONA sources their baobab from a local co-op in Zimbabwe and have a commitment to only using organic fruit powder.  One of baobab’s biggest strengths is its versatility.  With high levels of fibre, it works well in cakes, breads and baking.   If you haven’t read my previous post, I will quickly repeat what a super food powerhouse baobab is, it contains:

  • 10 times more antioxidants than blueberries
  • More calcium than milk
  • More iron than red meat
  • More potassium than a banana
  • More magnesium than spinach
  • The high content of vitamin C allows for a better absorption of iron

So it is great for anyone wanting to boost their nutritional levels and for those on a vegan diet looking for another source of these essential vitamins and minerals.

This cake was inspired by Cat Elliot’s paleo mud cake.  I have mixed it up a little and serve this cold with a baobab citrus cashew cream cheese.  Baobab really boosts any citrusy flavour as well as helping the cake and icing to set properly.    The cake is super moist, wheat free and not too sweet.  It lasts well in the fridge and I topped mine with poppy seeds, edible rose petals and chopped toasted pecans.

Chocolate Orange Baobab Cake with a Citrus Cashew Cream Cheese Frosting

Dry Ingredients:

200g of ground almonds

35g of raw cacao powder

4 Tbsp of PONA’s organic baobab powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

a pinch sea salt

 

Wet Ingredients:

3 tbsp of chia seeds

50g  of fresh blueberries blended with 1 dl of water

1 and 1/4 dl of maple syrup

2 tbsp melted coconut oil

zest of an orange

 

For the cashew Cream Cheese:

3 tsp PONA’s Baobab powder

125 g  cashews, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed

juice of 1/2 an orange

Zest and juice of a lime

1 tbsp coconut oil, melted

maple syrup (optional – see note below)

 

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees c. and grease and line a 22 cm round loose bottom cake tin.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set to one side.  In another bowl add the chia seeds and 9 tbsp of water, stir and allow to thicken for a couple of minutes.  Stir in all the other wet ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.  Pour into your cake tin and bake for 35 – 40 mins, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Set to one side and allow to cool completely, preferably in the fridge.

Meanwhile make the cashew cream cheese.  Add all the ingredients, except the maple syrup, into a food processor and blend until super smooth and creamy.  Depending on how juicy you fruit is, you may need to add a little more juice or water, but remember the icing will get thicker as it cools in the fridge.  If you prefer a sweeter icing, add maple syrup to taste.  I chose to colour my icing with a little beetroot juice, but you could also use fruit powder, or simply leave it plain.

Carefully remove the cake from the tin.  The cake is fairly soft, however it will firm up the longer it is chilled.  Spread the cake with the cashew cream cheese.  Finally I decorated my cake with toasted pecans, poppy seeds and dried rose petals.

Allow the cake to chill in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving, this will allow the icing to firm and make the cake easier to cut.

 

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Vegan Black Forest Cake (Schwarzwald torte)

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Vegan Black Forest Cake (Schwarzwald torte)

As soon as I heard my Austrian friend and colleague was going back to Vienna for the weekend I jumped at the chance to get a bottle of authentic kirschwasser, a clear cherry brandy.  Kirschwasser is an important ingredient in a traditional Black forest cake and here is my vegan version.  This cake is just too good and I don’t think you would be able to tell that it is vegan at all.  Although the cake is maybe a little more dense than a traditional black forest cake, it really soaks up the alcohol well and has a great dark chocolatey taste.  Luckily kirschwasser is available at Alko here in finland, although it is a little expensive. If you want, you can leave the alcohol out and simply add a little more cherry juice.

Black Forest Cake – makes 18 cm 3 layer cake

330 g plain flour

170 g sugar

25 g cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

75 ml oil

4 dl water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cider vinegar

5 dl plant based cream

425g / 750 ml jar of  sour cherries with juice reserved

4 tbsp Kirschwasser mixed with 2 tbsp of the cherry juice

100 g vegan friendly dark chocolate, grated

1 jar of sour cherry jam

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees and line an 18 cm round cake tin.  Mix the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Pour the oil, water, vanilla and vinegar into a jug and give it a good mix.  Now pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, stir thoroughly until smooth and pour into your prepared tin.  Bake for 40 – 45 mins until firm.  Set aside to cool

Once cool slice the cake into three layers and sprinkle with the kirschwasser juice mixture.  Whip the cream and mix the jar of cherries with 3 tbsp of the cherry jam.  Now spread 2 tbsp of cherry jam on 2 of the cake layers.  Top with a few of the sour cherries and top again with a dollop of whipped cream.  Now place one of the layers on top of the other and finally top with the final reserved layer.

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Vegan Black Forest Cake

Spread cream around the edges of the cake and press the grated chocolate to the sides, until the cake is covered.  don’t worry if it seems to be falling off, be patient and keep pressing and you will get a good finish.  Pipe small roses around the edges of the top of the cake and finally fill the centre with the remaining sour cherries as pictured above.

Vegan Easter Simnel cake

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Simnel Cake

The Finns eat pasha and the dreaded mämmi at Easter (I still cannot understand the appeal of mämmi, no matter how much cream and sugar is added) and for my fellow Brits, Easter means hot cross buns and Simnel cake.  Although Simnel cake is a little old fashioned, I try to make one every year.  It is similar to a Christmas fruit cake, but it is lighter and has a layer of marzipan running through the middle and a marzipan top.  The 12 marzipan balls on top of the cake represent the 12 disciples and the cake is put under the grill to lightly toast the marzipan.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI have adapted Vegan Richa’s  spiced fruit cake recipe to create this vegan Simnel cake.  By making it a little lighter, less sweet, adding the marzipan and lemon zest the cake turned out really well.  So why not give it a try this Easter?

Vegan Easter Simnel Cake 

175 g mixed dried fruit (I used raisins, cranberries and chopped apricots)

2 dl orange juice

zest of a lemon

400 g vegan friendly marzipan and powdered sugar for rolling

1 tbsp apricot jam

Dry Ingredients:

75 g mixed chopped nuts (for example almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts)

50 g chopped candied orange peel

150 g plain flour

50 g wholewheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp ground flax seed

80 g soft brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cloves

a grating of fresh nutmeg

1/4 tsp of salt

Wet Ingredients:

2 tbsp golden syrup or light syrup

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 dl coconut milk

80 g coconut oil, melted

Soak the dried fruit and zest in the orange juice overnight.  The next day, line an 18 cm round cake tin with baking paper and preheat the oven to 185 degrees.

Mix all the dry ingredients together.  In a separate bowl mix all the wet ingredients and then add to the dry ingredients along with the soaked fruit and any remaining juice.

Spoon half the mix into the bottom of the tin and level it off.  Roll out a third of the marzipan on a sugared surface and cut into a round slightly smaller than the cake tin.  Carefully place the marzipan disk onto the bottom cake mix and top with the remaining mixture.

Bake for 45 mins then turn down the temperature and bake for a further 20 – 30 mins.  If the cake begins to brown too much cover with foil.  Insert a skewer into the centre of the cake and check it comes out clean.  If not, return to the oven for a few more minutes.

Allow the cake to cool completely and remove from the tin.  Heat the apricot jam slightly and spread on the top of the cake.  Roll out another third of the marzipan and cut into a another disc.  Use the tin as a guide so that the marzipan exactly fits the top of the cake.  Place the marzipan onto the jam and push down slightly so it sticks in place.

Roll the final third of the marzipan into 12 small balls and place on top of the cake.  Heat your grill and place the cake under the heat to lightly toast the top of the marzipan.  Keep your eye on the cake as the sugar in the marzipan can cause it to burn very quickly.