EASTER RECIPE

EASTER RECIPE

Vegan Chocolate Caramel Sheet Cake

By The Little Blog of Vegan

 

An Easter Treat, designed to impress and delight, with a smooth & sweet Coconut Cream Caramel piped into a light & delicate Chocolate Cake, smothered in a rich vegan Chocolate Buttercream.

All Dairy-Free but full of flavour and sure to surprise. Decorate as you wish, with some mini vegan Chocolate Eggs our suggestion to finish off. 

 

Servings: 9

Ingredients

  • Ingredients for the Caramel

    100g of caster sugar

    50g of dairy-free block butter

    100g of coconut cream

  • Ingredients for the Cake

    250ml of dairy-free milk

    1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar

    100g of caster sugar

    250g of self raising flour

    30g of cocoa powder

    1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

    1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

    70ml of sunflower oil

  • Ingredients for the Buttercream

    150g of dairy-free block butter

    220g of icing sugar

    1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

    20g of cocoa powder

    Pink food gel

Method (Caramel)

  1. Place the sugar into a medium / large saucepan. Place the pan on the hob over a low heat. Allow the sugar to melt, this will take around 5 minutes. Don’t burn the sugar! Make sure to stir the sugar constantly to prevent burning. You can use a wooden spoon or heat proof spatula.
  2. When all of the sugar has melted and is a golden / amber colour, add in the butter. Be careful, as the sugar is very hot. Remove the pan from the heat and stir to combine. Allow the butter to melt into the sugar. It might bubble but that’s fine. Once it’s combined, it might have a thick consistency, now add in the coconut cream. It will steam and bubble again so be very careful!
  3. Add the pan on the heat and allow to simmer for 3-5 minutes to help thicken it up.
  4. Remove the pan from the heat. Set aside to cool for 30 minutes, then transfer / pour the caramel into a heat proof jar. Place the jar into the fridge. Allow to chill overnight. The caramel will turn into a toffee consistency. Transfer the thick caramel into a piping bag ready for piping into the cake.

Method (Cake)

  1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC fan (or follow the AEG steam setting when using SteamPro) and line an 8 x 8 inch square cake tin with greaseproof paper. Allow the paper to hang over the tin slightly, this makes it easier to remove the cake when baked.
  2. In a bowl, combine the dairy-free milk with the apple cider vinegar and whisk until fully combined. Set aside for 10 minutes to curdle. This creates a vegan ‘buttermilk’.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, sift the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well to combine. Add the oil into the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.
  4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just to combine.
  5. Spoon the batter into the lined tin. Level it out with the back of a spoon or offset spatula.Place the cake into the middle of the preheated oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes. You will know it is done when you put a knife or skewer down the middle of the cake and it comes out clean and it’s springy to the touch. If any batter comes off on the skewer, it needs more time to bake. To prevent burning, top the cake with some greaseproof paper then return back into the oven.

6. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then carefully transfer onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool fully before filling and frosting. You can even place the cake in a sealed container once cool then frost the day after. It’s a very light sponge so be careful with it when removing it from the tin.

7. Once the cake is fully cool to the touch, use the end of a wooden spoon or something similar, poke holes in the cake and fill with the caramel sauce. Don’t add too much that it breaks the cake, but enough so each slice of cake has a generous amount of caramel.

Method (Buttercream)

  1. In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter and whip until creamy. I use a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment, but a hand mixer will work great too.
  2. Sift in the icing sugar and vanilla. Whip on high speed for a couple of minutes to incorporate it. Add a splash of dairy-free milk to get it to a smooth consistency.
  3. Remove a few tablespoons of buttercream and transfer into a piping bag fitted with a round tip nozzle, or snip off the tip.
  4. Add in the cocoa powder to the remaining buttercream in the bowl and whip until combined.
  5. Spoon the chocolate buttercream on-top of the cake. Using a pallet knife, carefully spread and swirl the buttercream over the entire cake. Use the white buttercream to pipe mini bunny shapes to the top of the cake.
  6. Colour any leftover buttercream with some pink food gel, transfer into a piping bag and pipe on the bunny nose and ear details. Use some of the dark buttercream for the eyes.
  7. Decorate with some mini vegan chocolate eggs (optional).