How is this cake vegan?

The main ingredients in a cake always involve some animal-based product, like eggs or butter. This provides the fat content, moisture and flavour you’d expect from a 5-star bake. So, how did we make this cake so yummy without these essentials?

To avoid dairy, we have swapped butter for coconut oil in the cake mixture to ensure our loaf isn’t dry and has a nice consistency. But hang on, doesn’t butter icing contain…well…butter? Don’t worry; we’ve swapped the traditional stuff for plant-based! Wahoo!

Ingredients

For the cake

• 100g ground walnuts
• 180g plain flour
• ½ heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 150 g caster sugar
• 195ml Almond milk
• 1 Double Espresso (or 60ml strong coffee)
• 60ml melted coconut oil
• 30g Walnuts

For the Coffee Buttercream icing

• 150g plant-based butter
• 250g icing sugar
• 2-3 tbsp espresso
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Method: The Loaf

1. Preheat the oven to 180° C/160° C fan/Gas Mark 4. Grease a 1 lb cake tin with a bit of your plant-based butter. You can also line the base with greaseproof paper to avoid the base sticking.
2. Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, caster sugar and ground walnuts. Stir to combine.
3. Warm your almond milk to a lukewarm temperature. This will prevent the coconut oil from solidifying when combined. If your coconut oil is solid, heat it in the microwave until melted.
4. Add your almond milk, melted coconut oil and double espresso to the flour mixture and stir to combine.
5. If any large lumps of walnuts remain, use an electric whisk to mix until smooth.
6. Pour your batter into the cake tin and bake for 45-55 minutes until an inserted cake tester comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin while you make the icing.

The Coffee Buttercream

1. Add the butter to a large bowl and pop it in the microwave until softened (roughly 30 seconds).
2. Mash the butter into smaller chunks using a spoon or whisk.
3. Add half the icing sugar and whisk until combined.
4. Add the rest of the icing sugar and whisk again until pale and creamy.
5. Add 2-3 tbsp of double espresso (depending on how strong of a coffee flavour you want) and ½ tsp of vanilla extract. Whisk until combined.
6. Roughly chop the whole walnuts into quarters.
7. Remove your cake from the tin and top with the icing if completely cooled.
8. Use a spoon to spread the icing over the cake, and top with the chopped walnuts.
9. Dive right in!