Maple Walnut Vegan Sweet Potato Cake
Author:Tender, moist nutty sponge sandwiched together with creamy maple infused frosting. Completely dairy, egg & oil free yet perfectly sweet & decadent, this maple walnut cake is total perfection!
Ingredients
For the cake
- 130g / 1 packed cup course ground raw walnuts (you can use walnut pieces or halves and grind them up in a food processor or blender)
- 390g / 3⅓ cups spelt flour
- 235g / 1 cup and 3 tablespoons coconut sugar (you can sub this for any granulated brown sugar)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 375mls / 1.5 cups and 1 tablespoon non dairy milk (I used my homemade cashew milk but any unsweetened, unflavoured variety is fine )
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 300g / 1.5 cups cooked sweet potato
For the frosting
- 1 x 398 - 400ml can full fat coconut milk (just the hard cream and not the watery part) from 1 400ml can of full fat coconut milk (refrigerated for at least 12 hours)
- 166g / 1⅓ cup powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons pure maple syrup
For decoration
- 30g / 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
INSTRUCTIONS
- Begin by making sure that you have a well refrigerated can of full fat coconut milk waiting in the fridge.
- Preheat oven to 350° and lightly grease two 8 inch round cake pan then line the bottoms with parchment paper circles. (for cooking in different tins see recipe notes).
- Add all of the dry ingredients to a large bowl.
- In a blender (or with a stick blender) blend the milk, sweet potato, vanilla and vinegar well until very smooth.
- Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Do not over stir. Just enough to combine everything so that you can't see any dry flour. A few little lumps are ok.
- Spoon evenly into the prepared cake pans and place on the middle shelf of your pre-heated oven.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. (It might seem like a long cooking time but it needs it due to the moistness of the sweet potato).
- Remove from the oven and leave in the tins for 5 - 10 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.
- Leave to cool completely.
- Once the cake is cool, scrape out the cream only from the coconut milk into a chilled bowl.
- Beat with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer until thick and very creamy.
- Add the powdered sugar and maple syrup and beat again until well combined.
- If you aren't going to decorate the cake right away refrigerate the cream.
- Place the bottom layer of the cake on a cake stand or plate, flat side up.
- Use just under half of the frosting and spread it all over. Use a palette knife or a knife and if you have trouble spreading it without breaking the cake up, dip the knife in a glass of water before spreading then try again.
- Put on the top layer of the cake, this time flat side down, rounded side up.
- Use the remaining frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake.
- Scatter a few chopped walnuts on top for decoration.
NOTES
If you wish to cook this cake as a single layer halve the ingredients then follow the rest of the instructions as directed. Cooking time remains the same. If you decide to cook in a loaf pan (half of this recipe fits well in a 8.5inch x 4.5inch loaf pan) then the cooking time will increase to around 50 minutes to one hour. Check with a tooth pick or a skewer. it should come out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
NUTRITION
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 505kcal | Carbohydrates: 71g | Protein: 8.2g | Fat: 22g | Sodium: 191mg | Potassium: 629mg | Fiber: 9.5g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin C: 3.3mg | Calcium: 160mg | Iron: 7.2mg
