I usually make extravagant layer cakes two times per year. Once for my boyfriends birthday in April, and once for my own birthday in September. This was this years birthday cake for my boyfriend (although I know it's been a while since April now hehe), and it turned out SO DANG DELICIOUS. If you're looking for a show-stopping vegan cake for a special occasion I can only recommend giving this recipe a go.
Equipment:
Electric beater
3x 22cm diameter springform cake tins
2 wire racks for the oven
Parchment paper
Paper towels (quite a lot of them)
Aluminium foil
Cling film
Offset spatula
Bench scraper
Cake turntable
Piping bag/ziplock bag for piping
Ingredients Cake:
450g all purpose flour
450g granulated sugar
90g brown sugar
120g cocoa powder
3tsp baking powder
1.5tsp baking soda
630g unsweetened soy milk
30g apple cider vinegar
270g vegan butter
1tbsp vanilla extract
powdered egg replacer equivalent of 3 eggs (in my case: 3 tsp powdered egg replacer + 2tbsp water)
1.5 tsp fine table salt
Frosting:
500g vegan butter
850g powdered sugar
2tsp vanilla extract
150g crushed Oreo-style cookies (one packet)
Oreo filling 300g vegan whipping cream
200g icing sugar
200g vegan cream cheese
140g crushed Oreo-style cookies
To decorate:
Fresh strawberries
Melted chocolate
150g Oreo-style cookies
Method: To make the cakes
Add apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract and soy milk to a bowl and leave to curdle. Mix all dry ingredients (including the sugars) and set aside. Prepare the egg replacer, and heat the butter until just melted (or use one that is liquid at room temperature). Add the curdled soy milk, egg replacer and butter into the dry mix and mix until everything is well incorporated. Chop the chocolate into fairly fine chunks and fold into the batter. Line the bottom of 3x22cm springform cake tins with parchment paper. Evenly distribute the batter into all three tins.
Lay out three strips of paper towels that are all long enough to wrap around the outside of your cake tins (and then a bit extra), and do the same with aluminium foil. Wet the paper towels in cold water - they should be damp but not dripping - and wrap each of them in the aluminium foil. Wrap each strip of paper towel/aluminium foil around one cake pan each. Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius and place two wire racks in the oven for the cake pans to bake on. Place the cake pans evenly in the oven, two at the bottom and one at the top, making sure no cake is directly placed above another. Bake for about 45-50 minutes (switching the wire racks once you’re a little over half way through the baking), until a toothpick or fork comes out clean indicating all cakes are cooked through. Leave the cakes to cool completely before wrapping in cling film or placing in an airtight container and place them in the fridge overnight.
To make the frosting, add all your Oreo-style cookies to a blender and blend until completely pulverised. Whip vegan butter, icing sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the cookie crumbs and whip again until all is evenly incorporated. Chill in the fridge until you start to assemble.
Make the filling by adding vegan whipping cream, icing sugar and cream cheese to a bowl and whipping until stiff peaks form. Crush cookies and fold into the mixture.
How to frost and assemble: If you find the instructions here a bit complicated or hard to understand, I highly recommend watching this video from Claire from the BA test kitchen as she has an excellent tutorial on cake assembly and decoration (which is where I learned what I’m about to tell you!)
Assembly:
Frosting:
Unwrap the cake layers from the cling film and remove the parchment paper from the bottom. Place one cake back on the bottom of the cake tin you baked it in and use this as your “cake plate” when decorating and moving it around. Place this bottom layer onto the turntable. Pipe a ring of frosting approximately 1.5-2cm high around the edge of the cake. Spoon in the cream cheese filling inside of the ring of frosting until it just about reaches the top. Place the next cake layer on top and repeat the process. Ensure each layer is placed right on top of the other and make sure the cake is level at all times as it’s a lot harder to correct this after the cake is fully frosted! Add your final cake layer and give the cake a crumb coat. This is done by spreading a thin, even layer of frosting all around with the offset spatula and using your bench scraper to scrape off any excess. This “locks” the cake crumbs in place and makes it a lot easier to frost the cake later. Let the crumb coat set for a few minutes and then add the rest of your frosting on top, evenly spreading it to coat the entire cake. Use your offset spatula to scrape off excess frosting and even out the whole thing. Roughly chop some more cookies and press the them into the frosting around the bottom half of the cake. Pipe some frosting on top and decorate with more cookies, fresh berries and maybe a drizzle of melted chocolate. You can really get creative and use whatever toppings you wish here! I recommend letting the cake set for a couple of hours before slicing into it just to make it easier to serve, but this is not strictly necessary. Enjoy your fabulous cookies and cream cake!
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