This makes an 8 inch round cake with four layers of sponge.
Ingredients
For the sponge:
· 280ml vanilla soy milk
· 10ml apple cider or white wine vinegar
· 160g soy or coconut yogurt
· 300g light brown sugar
· 200ml sunflower oil
· 280g self-raising flour
· 100g cocoa powder
· 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
· ¼ teaspoon salt
For the frosting
· 600 grams icing sugar
· 300 grams soft unsalted plant-based butter (e.g. Naturli block or Flora Plant Butter, NOT margarine)
· 400 grams smooth peanut butter (the cheap kind, not a health-store variety)
· 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
· half teaspoon fine sea salt
· 120ml plant-based double cream e.g. Elmlea Plant, Flora Plant or Coconut Collaborative
To decorate (optional)
· 60g chopped dry roasted or salted peanuts
· 60g dark chocolate chips
Method
Sponge
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line four 8 inch tins, or spray with Release-a-Cake.
Mix the milk and vinegar together in a jug – the milk should curdle slightly. Add the yoghurt and set aside.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a bowl and stir well to combine.
Whisk the sugar and oil together in a separate large bowl, making sure to break down any sugar lumps. Pour in the soured milk and yoghurt and mix well.
Gradually stir the wet ingredients into the dry until you have a smooth batter, but be careful not to over-mix.
Divide the batter evenly between the tins and bake for 20 mins, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out almost clean. A few sticky crumbs are fine, but the mixture should not be wet. The cakes will be fairly flat and shallow.
Leave the cakes to cool in their tins for 5 mins, then carefully turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely, sitting on the base of the cakes i.e. not upside down. They will be delicate so be gentle.
Frosting
Whisk the peanut butter and butter for 5 minutes until it is light and creamy, then beat in the vanilla extract and salt.
Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl and gradually add it to the butter mix a spoonful at a time. Beat for 2 minutes, scrape down the sides to ensure it is evenly mixed, then beat for another minute.
Pour in the cream and beat for another 5 minutes until you have a soft, fluffy frosting.
Assembling the cake
The tops of the cakes should be pretty flat, but if there is any rounding, trim it off with a sharp serrated knife.
Place one layer on a cake board, securing it onto the cake board with a little bit of buttercream. Cover the cake with buttercream and place another sponge directly on top - check the sides are aligned. Cover this with buttercream, repeat again, then place the final sponge face down into the buttercream, so that the top of the cake is the smooth base of the sponge.
Apply a thin layer of buttercream to the sides and top of the cake. This is the crumb coating and it will catch any crumbs, preventing them from showing on the outside of the finished cake.
Fill a large piping bag with the rest of the buttercream – it might help to use a large petal nozzle - and apply a thick layer of frosting to the sides and top. Smooth this with a cranked palette knife and then with a metal or plastic scraper.
With the leftover frosting, add swirls to the top of the cake then cover the centre with the chopped peanuts and chocolate chips.
Comments