Hey foodies in the Hive!

Hope you had a nice weekend.

After, perhaps, the fakest vacation ever, working, studying, and buried up to my neck in domestic chores, I'm happy to be back with a birthday cake for the vegan family.

You know, I'm not vegan, not even vegetarian, but I do love many plant based recipes, and I've always had a lovely time while sharing with my fellows hivers in this community. That being said, you must know cakes are on my top ten list when it comes to plant based foods. I know my friend Hive account@hindavi loves vegan recipes, too, and she makes awesome cakes, so I'd like to invite her to join in! 😁

This time I prepared a fruit cake with chocolate chunks and chocolate glaze. I added the sourdough starter I was about to discard, which I hoped would add some fluffiness and lightness to the cake--and it did.

I hope ypu like it. My neighbors did and were very pleased to taste a vegan birthday cake for the first time.

Finally, and before we cut to the chase, I want to thank Hive account@sirenahippie for her sympathy, honest work and devotion; and I also want to thank the sponsors of this birthday cake challenge: Hive account@ocd, Hive account@sagarkothari88, Hive account@solarisfuture, and Hive account@liotes 😄 Thank you so much! ❤️

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons granulated piloncillo
cinnamon stick
a handful walnuts
50 gr dark chocolate chunks

For the glaze:

50 gr dark chocolate
2 tablespoons granulated piloncillo
pinch of salt
dash of coconut oil

For the sponge cake:

250 gr overripe banana
180 gr sourdough starter (you were going to discard)
150 gr all purpose wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
50 gr melted piloncillo
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 teaspoons vanilla essence
50 ml coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the fun in the sponge cake:

2 medium size apples
a handful dried cranberries
2 tablespoons granulated piloncillo
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 tablespoons water

THE PROCESS

As it is a birthday cake, according to me, it must have some kind of filling and glaze, but the plant based cakes that I like are not easy to cut and fill, so I usually find an alternative.

I started by mashing the bananas and mixed it with the sourdough starter and the flour, all in that order.

I folded it. This way the gluten is less likely to break and you get a more elastic and fluffy cake.

I added the melted piloncillo...

...and the magic potion to make the cake take some extra air, which is really important when you don't use any eggs: baking soda + vinegar.

Then I added the salt, ground cinnamon, vanilla essence, and coconut oil.

I mixed well...

...and let the mix sit for about 2 hours so the sourdough starter could work some of its magic.

While the mixture was resting, I prepared the "filling."

I peeled, chopped, and cooked the apples, along with the dried cranberries, with the sugar, water, lemon juice, salt, and one cinnamon stick.

I let it simmer for about 10 minutes over low fire.

When 2 hours had passed, I poured half of the mix into the cake pan greased with coconut oil. Then I spread the fruit mixture evenly on top, plus the coarsely crushed walnuts and the chocolate chunks, and then poured the second half of the mixture over the filling.

The cake went into my little electric oven and baked for an hour at 300 °F.

THE GLAZE

I was going to make a coconut frosting, but then I decided that chocolate would go better with the flavors.

The coconut cream I used was the part that rose to the top and hardened in some homemade coconut milk I made with coconuts that were too dry. I whipped it with a mixer to soften it and prevent it from curdling when cooked.

I mixed the coconut cream and chocolate constantly while it cooked over low fire.

When it reached the desired consistency, I added the salt and coconut oil...

...and mixed it until it became homogeneus.

The rest is history. I covered the cake and I tried to do my best with my little abilities for decorating and some lovely ingredients that helped me a lot.

Apple, drie cranberries and roasted walnut pieces over the chocolate glaze. What do you think? I think it was decent enough. This is when I should invite my friend Hive account@zupasteleria to join in, because her amazing cakes always come to my mind when I'm trying so hard... Haha.