Homemade Vegan (and Gluten Free) Coffee and Walnut Cake

NEW tried and tested VEGAN and GLUTEN FREE coffee and walnut cake with coffee buttercream! Who would have thought that you can still have a big old slice of your favourite cake even with your pain in the arse dietary requirements?!?!

This recipe is good for beginners as it is an all in one method and heavy machinery is not needed- just a bit of ‘ard British elbow grease for the mixing of the buttercream- no one likes lumpy cream :|

It tastes bloody good too- you would never guess that is was vegan- me and family LOVED it.

During the dreaded lockdown me and my mum have been cooking and baking a lot! When one lot is eaten the next lot is in the oven and with four of us, with a soft spot for the sweet stuff, a whole cake can be woofed in 2 days- yikes!

So quick and easy is key with my family as well as vegetarian (for my sister) and dairy free (for me).

For full simple and delicious recipe visit:

https://www.rhiansrecipes.com/gluten-free-vegan-coffee-walnut-cake/ made by Rhian

It only takes about 15minutes in the oven and prep time is about 30 minutes.

So without further ado, here are the ingredients and my step by step progression images with any added bops and flops.

Ingredients- Cake

60ml (1/4 cup) coconut oil or sub olive OR vegetable oil (I used vegetable oil)

200ml (4/5 cup) unsweetened almond milk OR any other plant-based milk (I used oat milk)

1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (ensure gluten free if necessary)

8 tablespoons maple syrup (OR sub any sweetener)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 teaspoon of chicory powder OR instant coffee

150g (11/4 cup) ground walnuts (OR sub for ground almonds)

150g (11/4 cup) gluten-free flour blend (OR sub for plain flour if not gluten-free)

2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten free is necessary)

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Ingredients- Buttercream (I used my own buttercream method which differs from original recipe as I didn’t have the ingredients)

220g icing sugar

50g dairy free butter (I used Vitalite)

1 tablespoon of very strong coffee (add a couple of splashes of cold water)

My Step By Step Pictures (As well as some clumsy accidents by mum) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

1. All of the wet ingredients (and ground walnuts) in a bowl

^^^ground walnuts-

TIP- I did use a blitzing machine for convenience BUT you could still ground the walnuts by chopping finally with a sharp kitchen knife

2. All of the wet ingredients (and ground walnuts) combined in a bowl

TIP- despite being an all in one method, I always mix the wet ingredients together frst as it makes the overall combinng/ mixing easier when you add the dry ingredients

3. All of the dry of the ingredients added to the wet ingredients

Complete cake batter (easily mixed by hand)

TIP- Make sure you sieve the flour in so the mixture is smooth as you won’t be able to tell if there are any flour lumps due to to the grounds/small chunks of walnuts.

4. Greased cake pans (vegan butter)

^^^As best as you can, evenly add the batter

TIP- I would highly suggest that you do use two cake pans instead of one as I found that there wasn’t huge amounts of mixture and it didn’t rise massively (probably due to the weight of the nuts) so it might be a bit tricky trying to cut it in half. If you don’t have two cake pans then still use the one and don‘t cut it in half- put the buttercream icing on the top

5. Fresh out of the oven

TIP- I left them to cool for out 10-15 mins in the pans before turning them out and waited for them to fully cool before adding the icing

6. Add all of the ingredients into one bowl

7. Combine all by hand using spatula

TIP- Do this whilst cake is in the oven and leave it in the fridge (given it another good stir before applying it onto cake) as you want it to be firm so it can stay in place

8. Assemble cake!!!

TIP- add a sprinkling of icing sugar so it looks well profesh!!!

(if you followed Rhian’s buttercream recipe then split the buttercream in half adding one half to the inside of the cake and the other half on top)- decorate with walnuts

BEHIND THE SCENES-

^^^You have got to agree that the best part of baking is licking the bowl out ｡◕‿◕｡

^^^Note to self- don’t put mum in charge of the coffee again ☉_☉

What a better time to learn a new skill- cooking and baking has definitely been a lifesaver for me during lockdown.

Honestly, my family LOVED this cake and I will definitely be making it again.

The best thing is when the cake is in the oven- you can sit in front of the telly whilst tucking in to the leftovers in the bowl in your dressing gown- no need to wash up (¬‿¬)

Make sure to check out more of Rhian’s recipes on her site: https://www.rhiansrecipes.com/recipe-index/

Thank you all, stay safe, keep smiling and keep being typically untypical

Leoni Latham Blogs xoxo