The Spicy Spatula

Back in the day, even well before I went vegan, I used to eat sweet treats on a fairly regular basis. As a teenager I’d say that Snickers made up a good chunk of my weight gain but later it was two things (other than overeating): brownies and German chocolate cake.

My grandmother used to make German chocolate cake from scratch with those dark bricks of German chocolate and as a girl I thought it was exotic and fancy and I was absolutely fascinated by it. Maybe it was my love pecans or maybe it was the massive amounts of sugar in this particular cake but even now, I have nothing but fond memories of it.

Fast forward to being a vegan and trying to recreate one of my favorite dishes and honestly it was pretty much hit or miss. I used cornstarch with my plant milk to create the thickness of the frosting but it just fell flat. Was it the lack of fat in the plant milk? I don’t know. Trying to recreate that thick frosting was just not coming out right and so, I kind of just gave up after a while.

Big bummer, I know.

But then I was introduced to the wonder of dates. They aren’t just good for adding natural sugar to your favorite dessert or energy balls, turns out they are also a good impersonator of caramel and so with the help of other vegan bloggers and my own tweaks, I got it just about right.

I hope.

What You’ll Need:

*Food processor
*Cake spatula
*Cake pan

Ingredients:

*Dates
*Pecans
*Dried Coconut
*Coconut milk or cream
*Salt
*Vanilla extract

Instructions:

-Prepare the cake: mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and add the wet to the dry. Bake the cake and let it cool while you make the frosting.
-Place the dates in hot water to soften them up a bit. I added a pinch of orange zest and amaretto to the water for extra flavor.

-Chop and then toast the pecans in a skillet just until you start to smell that nutty aroma, about 3 minutes.
-Add the coconut during the last minute and remove from heat.
-Drain the dates but keep the liquid on hand because you might need it.

-Add the ingredients to the food processor and pulse until everything starts to come together, and then run it on medium-high, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides. It was a little too thick so I used the date liquid to thin it out just enough so that I could spread it. If you don’t need to do this, toss the liquid or use it for something else.
-When the cake is cool to the touch, spread the frosting and dig in!

NOTES:

*Place cake in the fridge to keep moisture and shelf life.
*Use 9×13 or 2 cake rounds (8 or 9 inch) for this recipe.
*Pecans are traditional but walnuts or cashews will work in this vegan cake recipe, just give’em a quick toast before you chop.

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