Vanilla Cardamon Spiced Cake with Raspberry, Rose & Coconut Yogurt Frosting
Who doesn't love cake? How about if I told you this beauty was grain-free, refined sugar-free, loaded in superfoods, and delicious? Soooo you can now have your cake and eat it too, without any BS guilt. Not that I think anyone should let guilt ruin their love of desserts!
I like to play in the kitchen, so honestly, this took me a second attempt (er, excuse?) to get the recipe down on paper, vs just throwing in everything I feel like & not measuring etc. Hopefully, you'll have a little fun making it too!
Cake Base
[this is for 1 x 11 inch cake base, so I doubled the ingredients to make enough for 2 bases -- or 1 bigger one, which you can slice in half to make 2, or even 3 if you're good with knives! -- I'm not]
2 cups Almond Flour
1/2 cup of coconut flour
1/2 cup arrowroot flour
1/2 cup melted coconut oil [sub: olive oil/ghee]
1 cup Chai tea [I steamed chai tea with almond mylk and strained]
1/2 cup maple syrup [sub: coconut sugar]
3 eggs [vegan? sub for flax eggs]
1 tsp baking soda
juice 1/2 orange [sub: lemon]
1 tsp cardamon powder
1/4 tsp pink salt
1 tsp Vanilla extract
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl first. Then make a 'well' in the middle and add in the eggs, and other remaining wet ingredients, mixing well -- before adding in the try ingredients to form a creamy cake batter.
Pour the batter into round 9 - 11" baking tin(s) -- I lined the tins with baking paper-- but you can also grease the tins with coconut oil. And bake on 375F for about 25 minutes [until a knife comes out clean].
Set aside base(s) to cool down -- then remove them from the baking tins onto a flat plate, or board, ready to cover in frosting! Nom.
Raspberry, Rose & Coconut Yogurt Frosting
3 cans of full-fat coconut Milk (or cream) -- refrigerated for at least 4-6 hours prior)
1/4 cup fresh raspberries
1 tbsp food-grade rose petals
1.5 cups Anita's Coconut Yogurt
1/4 cup maple syrup [sub: coconut sugar / few drops of stevia]
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 tsp orange zest
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp pink salt
I like to keep everything as simple as possible when it comes to baking, so for simplicity, simply follow these steps and you can't go too wrong!
Open the chilled cans of coconut milk (careful not to shake!) and scoop out the cream which hopefully has separated and is sitting at the top? (if you used coconut cream, then you should be good to go]. Save the coconut water in the bottom (I poured it into a mason jar for future smoothies, etc).
Combine the coconut cream, coconut yogurt, and all other ingredients in a chilled* mixing bowl (**just place the bowl in the freezer for about 15 minutes-- tea break?)
Using an electric hand mixer (ideally, though you can also just get a really good arm workout and whip it by hand...) mix ingredients together in a high-speed setting for about 1-2 minutes, until it's thick and creamy.
Taste-test. Is it sweet enough? Creamy enough? If not, add in some additional sweetener, and/or a little more coconut yogurt, or coconut oil. [I added 1/2 tsp of unsweetened chai tea powder for a little spice] Play a little. Whip it 30 more seconds.
Spread onto base #1 -- I went heavy-handed here, as it makes the taste more rich and decadent.
Place base #2 on top (if you made a double layer!) adding more frosting to cover the entire top, and spreading evenly (as possible, but NBD if not) around the sides -- of course, you can skip this step if you prefer to show a little, er, cake skin ;-).
Sprinkle on raspberries and rose petals -- even some coconut flakes would look great -- just have fun.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.