next week I am getting together with one of my blogger friends Kimberly from the little plantation so i thought i had better practice my vegan baking skills and try out some recipes, this one was an experiment that i am so pleased about, the frosting alone is a game changer for me. its made with avocado, coconut cream and lime juice and zest and some icing sugar. The sponge is made with aquafaba which is brine from a can of chickpeas, (first of all how weird does that sound?) but for some reason if you whip if with sugar it turns into a meringue like substance. because of this i wondered if i could make an angel food cake type sponge with it, it ended up close to that type of sponge but its a little heavier and more like a genoese sponge. i baked it in a vintage metal pudding/bundt tin.

Do like the pallet knife I made in pottery class ?

recipe

for the sponge

• 3/4 cup of aquafaba, the brine from a tin of chickpeas (be sure to make sure the tin says chickpeas in water or brine)
• 150g golden granulated sugar
• 150g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

preheat the oven to 170c

add the aquafaba into the bowl of a stand mixer and whip until frothy then add the sugar and whip until thick and meringue like, gently fold in the flour and baking powder then pour into the tin and bake for about 40 minutes or until  knife inserted comes out clean. turn over and let cool in the tin. (i think the type of tin is important as this cake need to be supported in the middle so it doesn’t sink so a bundt style tin will work best, as mine had a flat design i lined it with baking paper so it was easy to remove)

to make the frosting

• half an avocado (ripe)
• tin of coconut cream (just use the solids by removing it from the tin with a spoon and not the clear liquid at the bottom or that will make it too runny)
• juice of one lime
• zest of one lime
• 5 tbsp icing sugar

in a food processor add all the ingredients and pulse until smooth and there are no lumps then scoop it into a bowl and place into the fridge until needed.

once the cake has cooled use a pallet knife to spread the frosting around the cake, i decorated it with some herbs and flowers.