This week I have been invited to a friend's engagement party, so naturally, I volunteered to bring dessert. The cake is dairy and egg free, since the couple are vegan.
Vegan Lemon-Blueberry Cake
Ingredients:
4 cups sifted cake flour (you can use regular all purpose flour, but I found cake flour makes for a less dense cake)
2 cups sugar
6 TBSP Cornstarch
1/2 TSP Salt
2 TSP Baking soda
4 TSP Baking powder
1/2 cup vegan margarine
1 cup lemon juice
Zest of two lemons
3 cups Almond milk (or other dairy free milk)
Fresh Blueberries
Let's Bake!
1. Set oven to 350
2. Combine almond milk and lemon juice and set aside
3. Cream margarine and sugar
4. Sift remaining dry ingredients in separate bowl and set aside
5. With you stand or hand mixer, pour the almond milk mixture and add flour mixture a little at a time mixing well as you go.
6. Add lemon zest and mix well. You can fold in your fresh blueberries at this step, or you can use it as a filling in the decorating step.
8. You can use a deep 9 inch spring form pan, or two 9 inch cake pans, make sure you spray with non stick spray.
9. Pour batter in cake pans, and place in the oven.
10. This can take 30-45 minutes to bake, but set your timer to 30 minutes.
11. After 30 minutes, check if your cake is cooked all the pat through, if not add another 10-15 minutes. Your cake should be a golden brown.
12. Remove from oven, place on a cooling rack (optional), or allow you cake to cool completely. If making the night before, wrap with saran wrap after cooled and place in the fridge.
Vanilla bean butter cream Icing:
2 cups vegan or vegetable shortening
2 cups vegan margarine
3-6 cups powdered sugar (sift if clumpy, this helps the icing become nice and creamy)
2 TSP vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean
1/8 cup almond milk
1. Cream shortening and margarine together until well combined. Add vanilla extract, vanilla bean, and almond milk.
2. While mixing, add powdered sugar cup by cup, until your frosting becomes nice and fluffy, it should almost double in volume. You may not need to use all 6 cups of powdered sugar, I only used about 4 1/2.
3. Place frosting in fridge for about 30 to allow it to firm up for piping.
Decorate!
1. Take your cooled cake layers and and light brush with paper towels to remove loose crumbs.
2. Ice the first layer and add your fresh blueberries (if you didn't use them to fold into the cake batter)
3. Add the second layer and ice the entire cake evenly and not too thick.
4. Place cake in fridge for 30 minutes to allow the butter cream to solidify.
5. With the food coloring of your choice, color separate batches of icing
6. With your piping bag and 1M tip, create roses on the surface of the cake, the video below is a great tutorial on how to create these easy roses for an elegant look!
