Looking back at some of my recipes and I came across this one from 5 years ago! It really doesn’t seem that long ago as I remember setting up for the photo with my fancy shmancy new camera (well it felt fancy at the time!!). I think I’ll definitely be trying this one out again as it’s just so easy to make. Who am I kidding, I just love eating the extra frosting left in the bowl, so any excuse really!

Keep in mind that this is a small-ish cake, but perfect for if you fancy something to go with your afternoon coffee, or an after dinner nibble and it will keep fine in a tupperware box in the fridge.

Coconut & Vanilla Cake with Hazelnut topped frosting (Vegan & Gluten Free)

MyInspiration Feel The Difference Range

Serves 8 ready in an hour

Ingredients

¾ cup buckwheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

2tbs flaxseed (mixed with 4 tbsp dairy free milk)

1/3 cup desiccated coconut

8 dates (cooked in microwave with 2 tbsp dairy free milk for 30 seconds)

½ cup canned light Coconut Milk

¾ tsp apple cider vinegar

¼ cup dairy free milk ( I used hazelnut)

2.5 tbsp Maple Syrup

1tsp vanilla

¼ tsp cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and lightly grease a 9” round cake tin

2. Pop the dates in the microwave along with the 2 tbsp dairy free milk and heat for 30 seconds, be careful your milk doesn’t boil over, place in your food processor for later (I put mine in a deep plastic container as I have a stick blender).

3. In a small pan toast your coconut until it brown slightly, you can smell when it’s ready, as it seems to release a delicious fragrance when toasted. Add this to your dates in the food processor.

4. In a separate bowl combine your canned coconut milk with the apple cider vinegar and set aside and in a further bowl combine the flax seed with the 4 tbsp dairy free milk, leave for a few minutes.

5. In a large mixing bowl, sieve the flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.

6. Now you should have the dates & coconut in your food processor, now add to this the flax mixture, canned coconut milk mixture, maple syrup, ¼ cup of milk & vanilla and then blitz until it’s almost smooth. As there’s coconut in there it’s still going to be a little grainy but that’s ok.

7. Add the wet mixture to the dry and fold together, then transfer it into your cake tin and smooth out using a spatula.

8. Pop in the oven for 25 minutes (or until your knife comes out clean) then remove from heat and allow to cool completely before adding the frosting and topping.

Vegan Butter Frosting

1 ½ tbsp vegan margarine

1 cup icing sugar (I used tate & lyle)

¼ tsp vanilla extract

Method

In a bowl, combine the above ingredients and mix thoroughly, then using a spatula smear it over the top of your cake, work from the middle outwards, just smoothing it out.

To top off my cake, I roughly chopped 6 whole hazelnuts and grated 1 small square of my favourite dark chocolate (about 1cm square) and mixed this together and just sprinkled it over the frosting.