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| Crowd-pleasing egg & butter-free Coffee-Walnut Cake; budget friendly. too 'Very, very good!' 'Gosh, it was tasty; the coffee tempered the sweetness' |
photo 26/4/18
This surprisingly good Vegetarian cake is so tasty and beautifully textured, it can pass for the conventional thing.
Darkly flavoured, heavy-crumbed and not overly moist, it's egg and butter free (except, if desired, in the icing). The Coffee & Walnut flavours have lovely 'bite'. The sponge is dense rather than airy, more gingerbread in texture than sponge but splendidly so.
Originally based on a vegan recipe, 67 made several changes: replacing plant free milks with organic dairy milk and replacing coconut oil with butter. But that was in the days (2018) when plant milks contained sweeteners, oils and fillers.
Since then, plant milks without nasty additives - and enriched with calcium, omega 3 and vitamins - have arrived in supermarkets. (67 tends to use almond* which seems closest in flavour to dairy milk.)
Cost: £2.50 (without icing) + £1 for icing
Makes: 1 8x11.5inch/20x30xcm rectangle (or 9in/23cm round or18 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 less 1 tablespoon dairy or plant milk
1 tbsp instant coffee in 1 tbsp boiling water
2 tsp vanilla
80ml light veg oil
15ml (1 tbsp) white wine vinegar
Icing
50gm butter or plant substitute, at room temperature
50gm icing sugar
25 finely chopped nuts
Method:
- The day before cake is needed, preheat oven to 180c/350f
- Line an 8x11.5inch/20x30cm rectangular pan with greaseproof paper
- Whisk all dry ingred in a large bowl until thoroughly combined
- Blend liquid ingred in a jug, pour into flour
- Using electric beaters or a table top mixer, beat 2-3 mins until everything is well blended but don't overheat
- Pour into pan, level the surface
- Bake 30 mins or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean
- Cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack; slide upside down onto a plate; remove greaseproof paper. Invert back onto serving platter.
- Place in air-tight container at least 24 hours.
- Day of serving: Icing: whip butter/plant substitute until creamy; add icing sugar gradually; spread thinly over cake; scatter nuts over
Comments:
'Gosh this was good, and the coffee tempered the sweetness.' Retired writer
'I wasn't impressed the day it was made but it was very, very good on the day after.' Political Agent
Tips:
- for a circular cake use a 9inch/23cm springform pan, line the base with greaseproof paper and generously brush the sides with vegetable oil
- 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
- the flavours might be a bit strong for kids; they'll love chocolate shortbread - a doodle to prepare - instead
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.
Cooking without eggs and butter isn't a problem - in fact it's a money-saver - but this blog prefers to replace coconut oil with light vegetable oil.
More Vegetarian/Vegan on NavBar:Recipes II
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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.
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