Vegan Vanilla Cake with Coconut Frosting
16:16
"Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do."- Oprah Winfrey
Perhaps it's the lack of sunny days even though it's spring. Perhaps it's because of the no running. Perhaps it's just boredom. Most likely it's all three combined. All to say that I'm feeling restless. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever introduce constant adventures into my life. Am I that brave? No, definitely not today.
A colleague and I had a discussion about society's expectations. About the path that we "should" take when we get to a certain age. I don't know how my parents did it. How they went for the deep dive, started a family and went from there. I feel paralysed with fear just thinking about the minutiae of how we're "supposed" to live our lives. Should we really wait until our retirement to see the world? To taste the colourful cultures that we only read about in books written by those who went for it when we "finally have time"?
Funnily enough, I told a friend this morning that I don't quite know what to do with myself so I bake. All the time. I have to restrain myself. But you see, I haven't figured out what I want yet and with the creeping pressures of society (yes, I feel as if I'm somehow behind given my current circumstance...), baking is a good release. My stress reliever. At least until I can finally run again. Then we'll see if I can solve my current conundrum.
Cakes. That's my new thing. I was never really into baking cakes because of the hassle. Then again, I only really baked carrot cake, which, let's be honest, is probable not the most friendly of all cakes. I finally bought vanilla again and my mum mentioned she loves vanilla cake. Nothing fancy, just a simple, fluffy cake with a taste of vanilla. There we go. Right at that moment, I knew I needed to bake a vanilla cake. Add a thick layer of coconut cream frosting. Top with fresh, seasonal fruits. I had to bake it because I wanted to.
I mean, really!
Vegan Vanilla Cake with Coconut Frosting
Serves 8-12
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cup whole spelt flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients:
- 1 cup "buttermilk" (1 cup nut milk of choice + 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar)
- 1/3 cup neutral oil, such as canola
- 2-3 tsp vanilla (depending on how strong you want the vanilla flavour)
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
Frosting:
- 1 can coconut milk, chilled overnight
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
Preheat oven to 350F. Oil a round cake pan with liquefied coconut oil or oil of choice. Set aside.
In a large bowl, sift flours together. Mix baking soda and salt.
In a separate bowl, add all wet ingredients together. Pour into the dry ingredients and fold. Make sure not to over mix.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for at least 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Whilst the cake bakes, prepare the frosting by whisking the coconut milk (remove the water from the can), vanilla and maple syrup until smooth. Chill in the fridge until the mix becomes firmer.
Let the cake cool on a wire rack before frosting.
Top with frosting and fruits of choice. (The first time, I added homemade raspberry jam and mangoes. The second time, I added mangoes and strawberries.)
Enjoy! xx
0 comments