A Very Happy Birthday To My Dearest Hubby!! The date of this month's Recipe Swap hosted by the lovely Christianna from http://www.burwellgeneralstore.com/ coincides, with my better half's birthday . The recipe was for a gorgeous Jelly Cake recipe.
Small problem.... vegans & gelatine don't gel.. (Ha, ha ha bad pun! gotcha!!)
Here's the original recipe -
I put my thinking cap on and decided, that it needed to contain Coconut in some form, because that is his favourite flavour in everything sweet and savoury. So, I present to you a Coconut Cake with a luscious Strawberry Jelly Filling topped with Rich Chocolate Ganache.
For the Coconut Cake, I used my mother's recipe which is very simple to make and good to eat. It apparently does not have a long shelf life but, it hasn't gotten to the shelf yet :)))
We need,
For the Cake,
1 Cup Unbleached Self Raising Flour
1 Cup Raw Sugar
1 Cup Coconut Meal
1 Cup Coconut Milk
To Make,
Throw everything together in any order you fancy, and mix with a wooden spoon till all the lumps dissolve. Preheat the oven to 175 Degrees C at fan forced setting and grease and line a 6 inch square cake pan. (I used square because, hubby prefers it to round cakes). Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Check if baked through. It has a lovely golden crumb crust.
Cool before cutting.
For the Strawberry Jelly,
1 Cup Strawberries, hulled and chopped finely
1/2 Cup Raw Sugar
2 Tablespoons Corn Flour
1/2 Cup Water
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
To make,
Add the strawberries and raw sugar into a thick bottomed pan and heat gently. Whisk the corn flour & water till smooth. Add this mixture to the pan. Stir well to combine everything. Bring to a boil while mixing constantly. Turn the heat off and quickly mix the lemon juice in.
For the Chocolate Ganache,
1 Cup of Vegan Dark Chocolate (I used Sweet William)
1/2 cup Tofutti Cream Cheese
To Make,
Add both the ingredients into a sturdy microwave proof bowl and heat for 20 - 30 seconds at high. My ingredients were at room temperature so it required very little time. Whisk till smooth and silky looking and tasting :)
To assemble,
Slice the cake into equal layers and pour the Strawberry Jelly on the bottom half to spread. It starts to set if allowed to cool so, I needed to work quite fast.
Spread all over with Chocolate Ganache and sprinkle some flaked, dessicated coconut on top, if desired.
