This month saw the (much anticipated) return of my comfort tv show, The Great British Bake Off. And with it, came the unquenchable desire to dust off my mixing bowl and wooden spoon for a spot of baking. As Bake Off always kicks off with cake week, I decided to try my hand at a vegan version of my favourite cake - coffee and walnut and it's safe to say the results were an absolute success.
Cake Ingredients:
- 500g self raising flour
- 250g vegan butter
- 250g golden caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 250ml plant based milk
- 3 tablespoons espresso powder (quantity can be adapted based on strength preference)
- 100g chopped walnuts
Frosting Ingredients:
- 400g icing sugar
- 200g vegan butter
- 2 teaspoons espresso powder (quantity can be adapted based on strength preference)
- Walnut halves for decoration
On your marks, get set... BAKE!
Before getting started, preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius and line 2 round cake tins with baking paper.
In a large mixing bowl, cream your vegan butter and golden caster sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add your plant based milk to the bowl and mix together roughly - the milk won't fully combine with the butter mixture until the flour is added so don't worry if the mix looks a little lumpy at this stage.
Sieve in your flour, baking powder and coffee powder and mix until fully combined with no dry mix left.
Finally, stir your chopped walnuts through and transfer the batter into your two cake tins equally, then place in the oven to bake for around 30 minutes - baking time can vary based on your oven but they're ready to come out when they're golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out dry.
After baking leave the cakes to cool fully before touching. Vegan cakes can be extra delicate so trying to assemble or decorate whilst warm is asking for trouble.
When your cakes are completely cool, combine your vegan butter with half of the icing sugar, stirring well until you're left with a butter cream. Once the icing sugar is fully combined with the butter, repeat with the second half. Once the butter cream is made, add the coffee powder and stir to fully combine your coffee frosting.
Place layer one of your cake on a serving plate and add a layer of buttercream. Place the second layer and top and firmly press to sandwich the cake. Add another layer of buttercream to the top of the cake and finally, decorate with walnut halves.
The cake is ready to enjoy and, if you're anything like me, it probably won't last very long. As always, I'd recommend serving with a cuppa - my current go to is the Yorkshire Tea Biscuit Brew.