Amy Merrick says “everyone deserves a homemade birthday cake” and I agree. For my daughter’s recent birthday, I made this strawberry chocolate layer cake with vanilla plant icing and piled with delicious fresh strawberries.

A plant-based cake is made without the standard eggs and dairy butter, instead, these ingredients are replaced with substitutes like flaxseed meal for eggs and a combination of baking soda with white vinegar for a rising agent. The frosting is made from whipped plant cream and topped with fresh strawberries.

Cakes are for special occasions, a time when I sometimes waver the “no sugar” rule for unrefined sugar. Scientific research proves all sugar, regardless of its “exotic” name, is sugar and it’s a myth that one is healthier than the other. If you choose to use sugar, realise the ‘natural’ and wholesome-sounding language used for sugars are still added sugars, the packaging is just more exotic.

Health benefits:

·       These potent little packages protect your heart, increase HDL (good) cholesterol, lower your blood pressure, and guard against cancer.

·       Strawberries are packed with vitamins, fibre, and particularly high levels of antioxidants known as polyphenols, strawberries are a sodium-free, fat-free, cholesterol-free, low-calorie food.

CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY & CREAM CAKE

PB, V, DF, GF option

Makes 1 cake, double for a layer cake

1½ cups (180 g) white spelt flour or GF flour

½ cup (50 g) raw cacao powder

1 tsp (3 g) baking soda

2 tbsp (20 g) flaxseed meal

¾ cup (165 g) unrefined sugar

pinch of sea salt

1 cup (250 ml.) plant milk

¼ cup (62 ml.) grapeseed oil

2 tbsp (30 g) apple cider vinegar

1 tsp (4.2 g) vanilla extract OR zest of 1 orange

CREAM

200 ml. @flora thickened plant cream

1 tsp (4.2 g) vanilla extract

To serve:

fresh strawberries

Preheat the oven to 180’C. Cut a disk the size of the cake tin base and a long strip for the sides. Wet the baking paper under tap water, squeeze out the excess water and line the base and sides of your cake tin. Add the flour, cacao, baking soda, flaxseed meal, unrefined sugar and sea salt into a large bowl and mix well. Add the remaining wet ingredients and mix into a smooth cake batter. Spoon the batter into the 23 cm springform lined cake tin and smooth with the back of the spoon. Bake for about 25-30 minutes until the cake is spongy to touch in the centre and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and set aside on a wire rack to cool.

Beat the Flora thickened plant cream with an electric mixer for 4 minutes until stiff peaks form. Drizzle in the scraped vanilla bean seeds and continue to beat for a minute. Spread strawberry jam over the lower layer and also spread some cream over the strawberry jam. Sandwich the other cake half on top, spoon vanilla cream over the top layer and spread without too much fuss. Pile halved strawberries on top with a few dainty edible white flowers, like strawberries flowers. Refrigerate the cake for a least 15 minutes before slicing so the cake can hold its shape when cutting.