The Spicy Spatula

I don’t know about you guys out there in the world, but sometimes I find myself binge-watching food videos on YouTube because, well, what else is a vegan foodie to do for inspiration? Sometimes I see things that are WAY beyond my cooking capabilities and it turns out…not so great.

And other times, well other times we end up with a delicious vegan cake recipe that is time-consuming but overall easy to make. This recipe was adapted from Chef John on Food Wishes because who doesn’t love a good Dad joke? Or apple crumble vegan coffee cake?

I for one, love both and so when I had some free time recently, I got busy in the kitchen.

I found this vegan cake recipe easy to make but like with most complicated vegan dishes, you need to focus on prep work. So we’ll take this in steps.

Gather your ingredients:

Before you get started, pre-heat the oven o 350 (175C). And dice your apples, with or without peels, the choice is yours.

Step One: Toast the chopped pecans, or whatever other nuts you prefer and place in a bowl with brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and melted vegan butter. Set aside.

Step Two: Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Also, set aside.

Step Three: Cream together coconut oil (or vegan butter) and sugar until blended. Use a big-ish mixing bowl because we’ll be adding dry ingredients to this bowl. Add vegan eggs. Then vanilla and yogurt, but if you don’t want to use vegan yogurt, consider full fat coconut milk instead.

Step Four: Add flour mixture to the butter/sugar mix and combine until well blended and then STOP. Resist the temptation to over-mix. Fold in diced apples.

Now it’s time to layer!

You’ll need two layers of batter so when you pour the first layer, keep in mind you’ll need another. My top layer came up a little short so…yeah.

Cake batter layer –> Nut layer –> Cake layer –> Nut layer.

It’s that simple…ish.

Bake for about 40 minutes and let cool, if you have the patience!

I’m thinking of trying cashews and Granny Smith the next time I try…what’s your favorite apple-nut blend?