Week 12 Dish 1: Vegan red velvet cake with cashew cream cheese frosting

It was my sister's birthday yesterday!! Happy belated birthday Sis!! Unfortunately I'm away in Somerset at the moment, but I did go home last weekend so we celebrated her birthday on Sunday. I baked a cake (of course) and we went out for a yummy meal (cake first, then the meal - this is the way it should always be :p). The cake I baked for her was a vegan red velvet. The original recipe was for a two-tier cake but I knew that it would be too much for my family to finish especially with all the Diwali sweets I made, so I only made half the recipe, and as you can see below I made it in a skull cake tin - so cool!! I also left out the food colouring because I didn't have the right type, and didn't put on any frosting because it would just be too sweet for us. But the recipe below is for a two-tier cake with frosting. Enjoy!!

Ingredients
For the cake
440 g plain flour
300 g sugar
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
4 tsp cocoa powder
470 ml soya milk
155 ml vegetable oil
3 tbsp red food colouring - this should be a non-natural type for the colour to stay red. Apparently beetroot juice works too but I haven't tried it!
2 tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
For the cashew frosting
2 cups cashews, soaked for 4 hours
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp liquid coconut oil
1/3-2/3 cup maple syrup/ honey/ golden syrup
Water as needed
Decorations as preferred e.g. nuts, raisins, chocolate etc
Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees C. Line two 8 inch cake tins with grease proof paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cocoa powder. Create a well in the centre and add the milk, oil, food colouring, vinegar and vanilla. Mix until combined.
3. Divide the cake batter evenly between the two cake tins and place in the oven spaced evenly apart. Bake for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the cakes pull away from the sides of the pan.
4. Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then remove and let cool completely on a wire rack.
5. While the cakes are baking and cooling, make the frosting. Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add as little water as possible. Set aside.
6. Once the cakes are cool, you can frost them. Place one cake upside down (slice off the rounded bit of the cake if it doesn't stand straight). Using a palette knife, spread some of the frosting, about 1/4-1/3, over the top of the cake. Carefully set the other cake on top, again upside down and with some of the rounded bit sliced off to help it sit straight if necessary. Cover the cake with the remaining frosting and decorate however you like!!

Original recipes: Red velvet cake, cashew cream cheese frosting