Midsummer culinary experiences: 5-star vegan cake

I made such a delicious vegan chocolate-strawberry cake for my Midsummer party, that I need to post the recipe here. I think it might be the best cake I've done for a long time and the recipe will be definitely used again. In addition, it was quite easy and, in cake standards, it's almost healthy (only 1.5 dl of sugar, a bit of maple syrup, and 8 table spoons of coconut oil as the only oil used).

Mix the liquids:

1 tsp apple vinegar

6 tbs coconut oil

3 dl water

Mix the following and add to the liquid:

2 dl wheat flour

2 dl almond flour

0.5 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1.5 dl sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Bake in springform cake pan in 180°C for 30 min (use coconut oil for the sides of the pan and baking paper for the bottom).

Half the cake when it's well cooled down.

Make the chocolate filling:

2 ripe avocados

2.5 tbs cocoa powder

2 tbs coconut oil

3-4 tbs maple syrup

(water if necessary to make more fluid)

Spread the well mixed smooth filling on the other half of the cake, add strawberries cut in pieces.

Adjust carefully the other half of the cake on top and decorate with more strawberries and coconut flakes. 

Impress your guests and enjoy!

Munan korvaajat

I've often used the excuse that baking without eggs and dairy products is so difficult that I can't be a vegan. Well, after a successful vegan cheesecake, vegan biscuits and now vegan cupcakes, I have to admit that life without eggs is possible. Actually, this whole vegan cooking and baking starts to be a nice hobby.

By the way, I love that in my Finnish vegan cook book, there is a section called "munan korvaajat". It means "egg substitutes", but it can also mean "dick substitutes", which always makes a single lady smile... Indeed, what could be a better dick substitute than some delicious cupcakes? :)

I've started reading a vegan blog Chef Chloe by Chloe Coscarelli who won the American reality show Cupcake Wars with her vegan cupcakes. I tried her raspberry tiramisu cupcake recipe with some adjustments. In this recipe she replaces eggs with baking soda and vinegar. The funny thing is that the cupcakes were of very nice texture but actually had an eggy taste. Weird, but the baking soda + vinegar combination worked!

Here's the recipe if you wanna try my version of it.

12 cupcakes:

3 dl flour

2,5 dl cane sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

0,5 teaspoon salt

2 dl almond milk

0,5 dl canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Mix separately dry ingredients and wet ingredients, then pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Fill your silicon muffin molds 2/3 full. Bake for about 15-18 minutes in 225°C.

Strawberry sauce (raspberries were expensive):

200 g frozen strawberries 

1,5 dl cane sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

some lemon juice

Mix together in a saucepan and let simmer for some minutes. Let cool. Cut off the tops of the cupcakes, make a little hole with your fingers and pour some sauce into the hole. Place the hat back on top of the cupcake.

Frosting:

some espresso

a bit of almond liquor (if you happen to have some)

50 g vegetable margarine

enough powdered sugar to get the right level of liquidity-solidity

Mix together until smooth. Make the cupcakes pretty.

I enjoyed these cupcakes in a great company of a friend who is moving to New York (very appropriate to eat cupcakes in such an occasion) and naturally with some (might have been a bottle of...) champagne.