Preparing a vegan and delicious cake, is it really possible?

Yes, it is possible and I will show you exactly how to prepare a delicious cake without eggs, without milk, without butter and even without gluten :)

INGREDIENTS :

First of all, you need to have the right ingredients, don't worry, they are very easy to find in your usual supermarket:

-1kg of buckwheat flour or coconut or oat flour (to replace wheat flour containing gluten and with a glycemic index that is much too high for a healthy diet)

You can also use almond flour (but it's still quite expensive :( )

- vegetable butter composed of vegetable oil, I advise you to check the ingredients of your vegetable butter to make sure that it does not contain palm oil or hydrogenated oil :)

You can also replace the butter with applesauce, mashed zucchini (yes, if you heard right!) or mashed pumpkin.

-vegetable coconut, soy or almond milk (for a more decadent result, I recommend real coconut milk and not the coconut "drink" that can be found in supermarkets, because these "drinks" " contain only 5% coconut cream/milk. You can find more concentrated coconut milk (50% to 70% coconut) in an Asian or Indian grocery store or at Bio-C-bon, Biocoop or one of the others organic signs that are spreading everywhere.

On the other hand, do not put the coconut milk in the fridge, because it will separate into 2 layers, a very thick cream and its water, or remember to take it out of the fridge 5 to 6 hours before using it.

-replace the eggs with "flax eggs", to put it simply, it's a mixture of powdered flax seeds mixed with a little oil. You can also use "aquafaba" to replace beaten egg whites. "Aquafaba" is simply the water in which the canned chickpeas sit when you open the can, this water is then beaten for a long time (at least 4 minutes or it won't work) to obtain a texture and a Tasteless white color that will perfectly replace snow whites. Yes, I know, it sounds a bit crazy, but trust me, keep beating that chickpea water for 4 minutes or more and you'll get perfect whipped egg whites!

If you don't like the idea of ​​using water from a can, you can also simmer fresh chickpeas for 30 minutes in water until half of the liquid has evaporated. water, and what remains of water will have become the famous "aquafaba"

That's it for the healthier ingredients, you see, nothing to complicate :)

Now for the cake recipe:

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients (it's easier with a whisk):

- sift 260 grams of organic buckwheat flour or organic coconut flour (or oat or almond flour)

- sift 150g of organic cocoa powder

-200g of organic sugar (here you can eat healthier by replacing the sugar with 200g of the sweetener of your choice, for example powdered stevia or xylitol or erythritol depending on your preference and what is available near you .

-3 teaspoons of baking powder

-2 teaspoons of baking soda (easy to find in the salt section of your supermarket)

In a smaller bowl, combine the wet ingredients:

-360 ml of organic vegetable milk (preferably coconut milk, but you can use soy milk or oat milk)

-180 ml of organic vegetable oil (sunflower oil or rapeseed oil)

-1 tablespoon of vinegar

-2 teaspoons of organic vanilla extract

-3 tablespoons of vegetable butter

-2 "flax eggs" or 3 tablespoons of organic apple compote or organic zucchini puree (mix 1 zucchini)

The next step is the mixing of the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients, but first we have to prepare our cake pans and preheat our oven, because we don't have to mix our ingredients now so that the baking powder does not come into contact with the liquids, this will activate the yeast too soon.

-Preheat your oven to 150°

-place circles of parchment paper in the bottom of 3 cake molds (round molds from 18 to 20 cm in diameter of your choice)

-rub some oil in the cake pans, and even on the parchment paper at the bottom of your pans so that the cake does not stick to the bottom or the sides of the pan.

 As soon as the oven is at the right temperature, we can mix our ingredients:

-Make a crater in the bowl of dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in the middle

-ATTENTION, to mix, follow these instructions: do not mix the dough too much, mix it by "folding" with a spoon, never with a manual or electric whisk.

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Mix until the flour is 98% incorporated, that is to say, do not try to make all the flour disappear into the dough, if you do this, you will for sure mix the excessively and prevent the cake from rising.

Once the mixture is finished, pour the mixture, using your spoon or spatula, into your 3 molds, the dough will have a fairly thick and difficult to work consistency, don't worry, it's normal :)

Then place your 3 filled molds in the oven and set the timer for 33 minutes, do not open the oven once it has been closed.

After 33 minutes, open the oven and check with a toothpick that the cakes are ready by inserting the toothpick into each of the cakes, it should come out covered with 2 or 3 dried cake crumbs, you can also check by lightly pressing the cake, then it will spring back into shape if ready.

- then place your 3 molds on a flat surface to cool.

We are now going to prepare the ganache, it is the buttercream that will make up 3 layers of our vegan American cake layer, so here we go!

In a medium bowl, combine:

-300g vegetable butter

-100g coconut cream

-100g of organic cocoa butter (microwave for 1 minute)

-100g of sifted organic cocoa powder

-100g to 150g of sugar depending on your preference, some people prefer a ganache with a less sweet taste.

Regarding sugar, I still advise you to replace it with a low glycemic index sweetener.

Now place the ganache in the refrigerator while you finish preparing the cake.

We are now going to assemble the cake and decorate it with ganache, you will see, it's very simple :)

First, unmold your 3 sponge cakes from their mold, be careful not to damage them.

I personally prefer to use springform pans as they are very easy to unmold, but you can also use sturdy aluminum pans as long as you do this gently.

If you don't have a mold to miss and you used a traditional mold then place your hand gently on the sponge cake then turn the mold over in a single gesture and let the sponge cake rest on your hand before passing it on to your other hand then on a flat surface.

Now we are going to place some ganache on our flat surface (either a large platter or your kitchen counter) so that the cake sticks to the surface and doesn't move during assembly.

- place your first sponge cake then cover it with a good layer of ganache

- then place the second sponge cake delicately and cover it with a good layer of ganache then continue with the last layer which we will also cover with ganache.

The result obtained is a naked cake or "naked cake" which is also very fashionable at the moment, but we will prefer to cover it with ganache to make it even more decadent ;)

You will now need a spatula and a wide butter knife to apply your ganache perfectly.

Take your time and cover the edge of the cake well.

For the last step, you need to place parchment paper on the cake to flatten the ganache without any visible defects, do the same for the sides of the cake if you cannot obtain perfectly smooth sides.

We now have our cake perfectly covered with ganache, all that remains is to decorate it according to your wishes and according to the pastry tools you have at home.

If you have a ganache bag with the necessary decoration tips, then it will be very simple, if not, you can simply decorate your cake with colored sugar confetti that you will find in your usual supermarket.

And There you go ! In just 1 hour and 30 minutes, preparation time included, you can now prepare this vegan cake whenever you want.

 We hope you liked it and do not hesitate to send us your comments or questions :)