We are very lucky at Bore Place to have Joanna Owens, of the Organic Cakery, working on-site baking and designing her wonderful creations as well as delivering a variety of excellent cooking courses. Joanna is a dedicated plant-based vegan. She has recently been developing the offering of the Organic Cakery to make sure that plant-based options are available for customers who are also keen to eat a plant-based diet. Joanna also always cooks with organic ingredients.
Joanna recently featured one of these plant-based cake recipes on her newly launched blog. The blog is a great read if you are looking to develop your plant-based repertoire - Jo is highly-trained as a patisserie chef and this knowledge coupled with her passion for baking and plant-based cooking results in some great original recipes which include genuine tips and direction and helpful insights.
With thanks to Joanna for letting us reproduce her recipe Blackcurrant Bakewell Cake with Cashew, Coconut, Blackcurrant Frosting.
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 45 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins
Ingredients:
Jam:
200g blackcurrants
6 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp agar
Blackcurrant Bakewell Cake:
450g ground almonds
480g wholegrain flour
1/2 tsp salt
720ml plant milk
600g date syrup
6 flat tsp bicarbonate of soda
8 tbsp blackcurrant jam leave aside the rest of the jam for the frosting
3 tsp cinnamon
Cashew, Coconut, Blackcurrant Frosting:
180g cashew nuts
5 medjool dates - pitted
75g maple syrup (or to taste, I have a sweet tooth)
240 mls coconut milk (full fat) (or plant milk if you prefer)
Instructions:
JAM
Heat the Blackcurrants with 200 mls of water, the syrup, the cinnamon and the agar. Simmer for five minutes, the liquid should be looking thicker now... you may need a dash more water but if the jam is too thick you can add the water at the end.
Take the jam off and put the mix into your blender, blend for one minute until smooth and then pass the mix through a fine sieve. At this stage, the jam should be thick and of a nice jammy consistency.
BLACKCURRANT BAKEWELL CAKE
Line three 8" round cake tins with parchment paper. Set the oven to 160c. Weigh out all of the dry ingredients into a bowl. Weigh the milk and the syrup into a saucepan and heat until the liquid is hot to touch (scald), pour the mix over the dry and stir thoroughly. Add the jam and incorporate. Split the mix into the three tins evenly and bake for 45 mins, or until the core temperature of the cake is 100 degrees celsius using a temperature probe. Cool on wire racks.
CASHEW, COCONUT AND BLACKCURRANT FROSTING
Cover the cashew nuts and pitted dates in water and simmer for ten minutes. Strain and then put the strained cashews and dates into the blender with the syrup and coconut milk (or plant milk if you prefer). Once this mixture is smooth, adjust the sweetness to suit your palette. Fold in the remaining jam mixture, chill for about an hour. Once your frosting fridged and cold, and your cakes are cool to the touch, you can start assembling your cakes!
You can read more of Joanna's blog here.
To find out about courses run by Joanna Owens please click here.