West African Spiced Cake

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of soy milk
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 240 g cake flour
• 300 g all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 320 g white sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 whole calabash nutmeg
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 1/2 tsp whole cloves
• 1 1/2 tsp whole ataiko (can sub with 3-4 cardamom pods)
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne/birds eye chilli powder
• 1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 163 g apple sauce (~1/2 cup)
• 100 g tamarind pulp
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 60 g of powder sugar
• 340 g vegan butter
• 612 g powder sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp salt
• Leftover tamarind jam

Instructions

1. 1

   --- Cake Batter ---

2. 2

   Start by preheating your oven to 350°F and line three 8inch baking pans with parchment paper.

3. 3

   In a bowl, measure out the plant based milk and apple cider vinegar and set aside

4. 4

   In a weighed large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (cake flour, all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt). For the best texture make sure to sift the all-purpose and cake flours firts.

5. 5

   Grind the whole spices (cloves, ataiko, calabash nutmeg with the powder spices -- ginger, cinamon powder and pepper) together into a powder and pour into the dry ingredients.

6. 6

   Mix everything together then add in the apple sauce, the oil and the milk + apple cider vinegar mixture

7. 7

   In each baking pans, pour about a third of the batter. I weigh the mixing bowl at the beginning to make proper calculations of the weight of the cake batter and properly divide the batter)

8. 8

   Place the baking pans in the oven (try and fit them on the same rack if possible).

9. 9

   Bake for 25-30 mins or till a toothpick comes out of the cake clean.

10. 10

    Let the cake cool down completely before moving on to the next steps. I like to make the cake layers the night before, cool them down and then wrap it with plastic wrap to maintain moisture before decorating the next day.

11. 11

    --- Tamarind Jam/Purée ---

12. 12

    In a pot, weigh out the tamarind, mix with the hot water, and let it sit for 30 mins - 1 hour. This helps to dissolve the pulp in the water

13. 13

    Add in the powdered sugar and bring to a boil to cook for about 15 - 20 minutes to evaporate enough water to be left with a thick syrup.

14. 14

    Strain the syrup while warm and store in a container till you are ready to assemble the cake.

15. 15

    --- Frosting ---

16. 16

    The frosting should be made when you are ready to assemble the cake. In a bowl, cream the butter with a hand mixer till it is soft, airy and pale in colour.

17. 17

    Add in your vanilla flavour and slowly incorporate the powder sugar into the butter mix till it is all incoproated and you a nice fluffy buttercream

18. 18

    To assemble the cake, you can level the cakes if there are prominent domes but vegan cakes do not tend to rise prominently so it is not necessary.

19. 19

    You can start with a thin layer of frosting on top of one layer of the cake and create a dome by pipping almost like a wall on the edges of the cake to create a barrier that keeps the tamarind filling from spilling out. Pour the tamarind filling on top of the frosting then place the next cake layer on top. Repeat the frosting, and tamarind jam-filling process one more time.

20. 20

    Place the final layer on top and begin to frost as one cake. I like to mix any leftover tamarind jam into the leftover frosting to finish the frosting of the cake. I first fill in any gaps between the cake layers then proceed to frost the top of the cake and give the cake a solid crumb coat. I do not like frosting so my cake is lightly frosted. Feel free to decorate as you please.