Hi, foodies in the Hive, and

happy birthday, Hive account@plantpoweronhive!

Because this community means a lot to me, and on occasion of their birthday, I've made a fruit cake that captures the spirit of what I consider a plant based sweet pleasure: it has natural ingredients, local fruit, lovely colors and textures, pleasant flavors, and a sweet twist.

I'm sure my friends Hive account@zupasteleria, Hive account@aguamiel, and Hive account@carolynstahl can make amazing cakes to celebrate this special anniversary.

You can check the rules for the contest HERE.

Thank you so much to our dear Hive account@sirenahippie for hosting this beautiful contest and taking good care of the community 💚 and to amazing Hive account@sagarkothari88 for sponsoring it and for all the support 💙

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1 cup oat flakes
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup mashed overripe bananas
1 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup peeled and chopped Granny Smiths
75 gr chopped dark chocolate
75 gr choped raisins
75 gr chopped almonds
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

To grease the baking pan:

1 tablespoon coconut oil + 1 tablespoon margarine to grease the baking pan

For the glaze:

1 cup "confectioners' sugar" (1 cup xylitol + 1 tablespoon cornstarch)
5-6 tablespoons freshly squezzed lemon juice

Roasted almond chunks and fruit to decorate (fresh orange slices, apple chunks, cherries)

Now let's make a delicious B-Day cake!

We'll start by hydrating the cane sugar in the coconut oil.

After a couple of minutes, we can add the mashed overripe bananas and mix well with the spoon.

Now we must grind the oat flakes in the blender to make flour...

...and add it into the mixixng bowl.

Now it's time to sift the wheat flour into the mixing bowl.

We have to mix well with the help of a pastry spoon or our hands.

At this point, we got a cookie dough:

Now we'll soften the dough with a little orange juice.

Our local oranges are small but really juicy. I bought 24 oranges for a dollar in our public market.

Three oranges were enough to get a soft batter (1 cup).

Now we can add the cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.

We must let the batter set for 20 minutes so the baking soda and the orange juice act to make the batter softer and with more air. Also, during this time, the oat flour adds elasticity.

Meanwhile, we can chop the fruit, almonds, raisins, and dark chocolate.

Chop enough apple to fill one cup. It will be enough.

Chop and mix the almonds, raisins, and dark chocolate.

Mix the fruit and the batter together in the mixing bowl.

Grease the pan with the coconut oil and margarine. I used my hand for this.

If you wish, pour a little part of the batter into the greased baking pan before adding the fruit. This helps prevent the cake from sticking to the bottom.

Now we can distribute the mix evenly by gently tapping the pan against the counter.

Then we must take the cake to a pre-heated oven and let it bake for 45 minutes at 300 °F.

After 15 minutes or so, we can unmold the cake. It's super easy, as this cake won't ever stick; its texture is similar really soft bread.

There you are.

While the cake finishes cooling, we can prepare the decorations. Let's make the lemon glaze first.

Dry blend the sweetener and add the cornstarch.

After this, we can add the lemon juice little by little until we get the desired consistency.

Once we have the glaze done, we can pour it over the cake.

Decoration is not my specialty, he, he, so I do my best while keeping my standards reasonable 😁

...I chopped and roasted some almonds and place them on top of the cake glaze.

I also added some fresh orange slices, and some apple and cherries in the center of the bundt cake.

The process of making the cake was actually simple, and the result was unbelievable: lots of flavors, colors, and textures. I really liked it. *My husband loved it, too.