Avo-Cuddle for Valentine’s Day by Vicky Teather
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it impossible to serve approximately 400 families with elaborate dream cakes to celebrate their milestones. They are feeling more isolated than ever with very little to look forward to. We want to help in the best way we know how….baking! To serve them safely, we are engaging a handful of commercial bakeries throughout the US to create custom care packages for our impacted families. We have been blessed with volunteer labor and many donated ingredients but the packaging and shipping alone will cost us approximately $6,000. Please help us fund this effort! Every $15 donated provides one care package for a family impacted by the critical illness of a child.Delicious, so fluffy, covered with a super creamy frosting (the once every now and then kind of deal, hihi), and with a nice crunchy touch thanks to the toasted coconut… yummy! We love this cake by @happyvegannie because the balance of flavors is really pleasant. The freshness of the orange, the nutty flavor of the coconut, the gentle touch of vanilla from the frosting… Woah! Preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare four 7″ cake pans by greasing and flouring them. Reserve. In a medium bowl, add soy milk, apple cider vinegar and whisk until foamy. Let it rest for 8 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl sieve flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Reserve. Bring back the bowl with the milk and apple cider vinegar, and add orange juice, orange zest, vanilla, and give it a mix. Add sugar and stir. Finally, add melted margarine/vegan butter (lukewarm) and mix. Add the previous mix to the dry ingredients and mix until no flour lumps are visible. Don’t overmix, otherwise it could affect the cake texture. Divide the batter evenly between the 4 cake molds and bake for 30-34 minutes or until you insert a toothpick in the center of the cake and it comes out clean. I bake two pans at a time due to my oven model, but if you can pop all of them in at once, go for it. Just double check the baking time. Once they’re cooked, remove from the oven and let them cool down for 15 minutes (still in the cake pans). Afterwards, tap the pans a little bit and flip them over (you can use a cooling rack to help yourself flipping the pans). Frosting While the cake tiers are cooling down, make the frosting by beating the margarine until creamy and fluffy (about 4-5 minutes). Add the vegetable shortening and keep beating until well combined. Add half of the icing sugar, and beat until combined. Add the other half and beat 2 minutes. Finally, add vanilla, salt and beat for another 2 more minutes. Reserve. Cake assembling To assemble the cake, place one layer of cake on a plate or cake base. Spread some frosting on top (about three ice cream scoops of frosting). Add 50 g toasted coconut and continue adding up the rest of the layers: cake, frosting, coconut, cake, frosting, coconut, cake (place the flat part upwards). Cover all the gaps with the rest of the frosting and some more on top of the last tier. Decorate the rest of the cake to your liking.
