Strawberry Chocolate Cake

Amy Merrick says “everyone deserves a homemade birthday cake” and I agree. For my daughter’s recent birthday, I made this strawberry chocolate layer cake with coconut icing and piled with delicious fresh strawberries.

A plant-based cake is made without the standard eggs and dairy butter, instead, these ingredients are replaced with substitutes like flaxseed meal for eggs and a combination of baking soda with white vinegar for a rising agent. The frosting is made from whipped plant cream or Coyo coconut yogurt and topped with fresh strawberries (it’s important to use the Coyo brand of coconut yogurt).

Cakes are for special occasions, a time when I sometimes waver the “no sugar” rule for unrefined sugar. Scientific research proves all sugar, regardless of its “exotic” name, is sugar and it’s a myth that one is healthier than the other. If you choose to use sugar, realise the ‘natural’ and wholesome-sounding language used for sugars are still added sugars, the packaging is just more exotic.

If you wish to make a sugar-free cake, substitute the ¾ cup unrefined sugar for 1 cup of date paste.

Date paste - makes 1 cup

16 medjool dates soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain and puree to a paste in the blender.

Health benefits:

·       These potent little packages protect your heart, increase HDL (good) cholesterol, lower your blood pressure, and guard against cancer.

·       Strawberries are packed with vitamins, fibre, and particularly high levels of antioxidants known as polyphenols, strawberries are a sodium-free, fat-free, cholesterol-free, low-calorie food.

STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE CAKE

PB, V, DF, GF option, SF option

Use a 24cm springform tin

1½ cups wheat spelt flour or GF flour

½ cup raw cacao powder

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of sea salt

1 cup date paste (see recipe above) OR ¾ cup unrefined sugar

2 tbsp flaxseed meal

250ml /1 cup plant milk

¼ cup grapeseed oil

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 vanilla bean, slit with a knife and seeds scraped OR zest of 1 orange

VANILLA ICING:

200g Coyo yogurt

1 vanilla bean, split lengthways, seeds scraped

To serve:

fresh strawberries

Preheat the oven to 180’C /160’C fan-forced. Cut a disk the size of the cake tin base and a long strip for the sides. Wet the baking paper under tap water, squeeze out the excess water and line the base and sides of your cake tin. Sift the flour, cacao, baking powder and sea salt into a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix into a smooth cake batter. Pour the batter into the lined cake tin and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the cake is spongy to touch in the centre. Remove the cake from the oven and set aside on a wire rack to cool.

Prior to serving, cut the cake in half with a long knife. Beat the Coyo yogurt with an electric mixer for 10 minutes until stiff peaks form. Drizzle in the scraped vanilla bean seeds and continue to beat for a minute. Spread strawberry jam over the lower layer and also spread some coyo icing over the strawberry jam. Sandwich the other cake half on top, spoon vanilla icing over the top layer and spread without too much fuss. Pile cut in half strawberries on top with a few dainty edible white flowers, like strawberries flowers. Refrigerate the cake for a least 15 minutes before slicing so the cake can hold its shape when cutting.

You may prefer to make a vanilla cake frosted with chocolate icing. Omit the cacao powder in the cake, make either a vanilla icing or chocolate icing, whip as above.

CHOCOLATE ICING:

200g Coyo yogurt, refrigerated overnight

2 tbsp raw cacao