VEGETARIAN COFFEE WALNUT CAKE, easy-peasy indulgence, egg & butter free

 Who would have believed a cake free of egg & butter could be as good as this?

Vegetarian Coffee & Walnut Cake
'Very, very good on the day after it was made' Taster

Nothing beats Nigel Slater's ultra-rich Coffee and Walnut Cake but this vegetarian one comes in a good second.  Darkly flavoured, heavy-crumbed and not overly moist, it's achieved without eggs or butter.  It has lovely 'bite': dense rather than airy, more gingerbread in texture than sponge.  

67 has been testing several vegan and vegetarian cakes (see Notes Below) and this one is so tasty, it can pass for the conventional thing. It was inspired by a vegan website but has undergone so many changes since the first test (not least of which is the substitution of organic milk for plant milk) can now be considered a 67 recipe.      

Make it a day before it's needed to give the flavours time to settle.  A thin layer of icing and a few (optional) nuts are all that's needed to dress it up. 

Cost: £2 (without icing) + £1 for icing
Makes: 1 8x11.5inch/20x30xcm rectangle (or 9inch/23cm round/18 cupcakes)

Ingredients:
   220gm/7.75oz plain flour 
   175gm/6.1oz sugar +
     20gm/3/4oz ground almonds  OR 200gm/7oz sugar
   1 tsp baking soda
   1/2 tsp salt

   240ml dairy or plant milk less 1 tablespoon
   1tbsp instant coffee in 1 tbsp boiling water
   2 tsp vanilla
   80ml light veg oil
   15ml (1 tbsp) white wine vinegar

   Icing
     50gm butter or vegetable substitute, at room temperature
     50gm icing sugar
     25 finely chopped nuts

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180c/350f
2. Line an 8x11.5inch/20x30cm rectangular pan with greaseproof paper
3. Whisk all dry ingred in a large bowl until thoroughly combined
4. Mix liquid ingred in a jug, blending well; pour into flour
5. Blend using electric beaters or a table top mixer - 2-3 mins; don't overbeat but make sure everything is well blended
6. Pour into pan, use a spatula to level the surface
7. Bake 30 mins or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean
8. Cool completely on a cooling rack; place cooling rack on top of the tin and invert it.  Remove paper. Invert back onto a serving platter.
9. Icing: whip butter until creamy; add icing sugar gradually; stir in nuts or scatter nuts over once cake is iced
10. Spread a thin layer over the cake

Comments:
'I wasn't impressed the day it was made but it was very, very good on the day after.' Political Agent
'Gosh, this was good and the coffee tempered the sweetness.' Retired writer

Tips:

• for a circular cake us a 9inch/23cm springform pan, lining the base and generously brushing the sides with vegetable oil
• the flavours might be a bit strong for kids; they'll love chocolate shortbread  - a doodle to prepare - instead
• for cupcakes, reduce cooking time to 20 mins; a toothpick stuck in the centre will come out clean when it's done
• some may prefer to make 1.5 times the icing recipe

Notes:

67 adapted this recipe from a vegan blogsite after experimenting with vegan  ingredients and techniques.  Some of the results have been surprisingly good though nearly all the products have high levels of sugar.  Many are quick and easy to put together.
But there's no doubt about it: some Vegan cakes can be...well, a teensy bit odd, in texture and in aftertaste.  And the recipes call for ingredients which 67 hesitates to use.  Coconut oil (dairy-free) is high in saturated fat and is currently on the American Heart Association's forbidden list.  Nearly all plant milks contain added sugar, oil or other products and those that don't have eye-watering prices.  (Hemp milk is £4/litre.)  
Cooking without eggs and butter isn't a problem - in fact it's a money-saver - but this blog prefers to replace non-dairy milks with skimmed organic milk and coconut oil with light vegetable oil.

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This recipe has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and  may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.