Vegan Poppyseed Cake with Blackberry-Cashew Buttercream Frosting
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Yayyy, finally I have a real cake here on the blog! I initially made this cute blackberry-poppyseed cake as a little Mother’s Day Special (btw it’s on May 9th this year, don’t forget!) and included all the good stuff: several layers, a super fluffy poppyseed sponge cake base and a soft, purple cashew ‘buttercream’ frosting. The pretty color resulting from our dear, little blackberries and no artificial coloring by the way! Topped with a little ensemble of enthusiastic cake decorations and your special occasion surprise is done!
And because decorating cakes is kind of one of my favorite ways to spend an entire afternoon and I also really wanted to try the minimalistic buttercream decoration aesthetic for months now, I tried to paint some little lavender stems on the cake as well. Well, emphasis is on ‘tried’, (I think I just really need to invest in some decoration tools at this point) but I still think it turned out kinda cute! If you’re not a huge decorating nerd though: a handful of fresh blackberries will also do the trick and either way: this little cake is delicious!
and here’s the recipe for this:
Vegan Poppyseed Cake with Blackberry-Cashew Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients (for a small cake out of 2x7inch cakes with cream layer and toppings):
for the poppyseed cake:
200g ground almonds
200g light spelt or all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
4 tbsp poppyseeds*
240g plant milk
50g unsweetened soy yogurt
vanilla
120g sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
for the blackberry-cashew buttercream:
200g cashews
60g unsweetened soy yogurt
100g maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
a pinch of salt
100-150g blackberries (or blackberry jam)*
50g plant milk
juice of 1/2 lemon (about 20g)
80g coconut oil
for the middle layer & decoration:
a handful of fresh blackberries
150-200g blackberry jam
some more toppings of choice* (optional)
Instructions:
Start the day before you want to make the cake by letting the cashews soak in some water in the fridge overnight.*
The next day, add the soaked cashews together with all the remaining buttercream ingredients to a blender, except for the coconut oil, and blend until you get a smooth and creamy consistency. Depending on how intense you want your purple color to be, add more or less berries or berry jam.
In the meantime melt down your coconut oil and add it to the creamy mixture. Blend once again to evenly incorporate the oil and place the buttercream mix in the fridge or freezer to set.*
Preheat your oven to 180°C and prepare the poppyseed cake base.
For that you’ll want to combine dry and wet ingredients separately first and then combine both until you get a somewhat smooth batter. Don’t overmix the batter, or it might loose some of its fluffiness!
Now grease two 7inch cake pans with some coconut oil or line them with parchment paper and divide the cake batter evenly into the pans.
Bake the cake bases for about 25-30mins and check optionally if they’re done by inserting a toothpick in the centre of the cakes before removing them from the oven. Then let them cool completely.
In the meantime you’ll want to check on your buttercream frosting. If it’s already cold and solid enough, whip it up briefly and place it in the fridge until further usage. (The cream should not be liquid anymore before you start with the whipping process, but rather resemble something like thick buttercream.) At this point you can also add some more jam to adjust the color once more.
Once your cake bases have completely cooled down, you can start to assemble your cake! For that you’ll first want to even out the cake bases by slightly cutting off the top parts horizontally. Then proceed by spreading the blackberry jam evenly on top of one of the cakes.
10. Next, add some of your buttercream in a circular shape around the edges of the jam to prevent it from oozing out later. Then add another layer of buttercream on top of the jam and place the second cake base on top of it. After that, cover the whole cake with a thin layer of your buttercream.
11. To make the outside coating of the cake as smooth as possible and prevent crumbs, place the cake into the fridge for another 30mins before covering it completely with the rest of the buttercream.* (If you want to decorate with a small buttercream note or pattern, save some of the cream here!)
12. Lastly decorate the coated cake with the rest of your buttercream, fresh blackberries, or toppings of your choice like chopped nuts, edible flowers or edible gold glitter and place it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve! Done!
Challenge accepted, I’ll make the perfect aesthetic cake someday.
*Notes:
Because poppyseeds can sometimes be contaminated with opiates including morphine, you can rinse them in some water before adding them to the batter to get rid of possible contaminations. Depending on the source or brand of poppyseeds you’re using, this isn’t necessarily required though, but it you feel better if you do wash them, just do so.
You can also use frozen berries for your buttercream if these are more accessible to you. Or just use a dark berry jam, that’ll also work nicely!
For additional decoration and toppings, I used some chopped up cashews and edible gold glitter, but I can also imagine that some edible fresh flowers like chamomile flowers would look stunning as well!
If you don’t have time or forgot to soak your cashews the day before, you can also boil them in some water for about 20mins before using. That way they’ll also soften up a bit.
Depending on the time your having to make the frosting, you can let it set in the fridge or freezer. If you’re going for the freezer though, remember to check on the frosting more regularly in between to prevent it from getting too cold or even freeze. Because the buttercream frosting is a mix of fats and fluids, it might also separate and get grainy if the cream gets too cold before whipping. If that happens and you notice little white spots in your cream after whipping, heat up your frosting over some hot water and mix once more, so all the ingredients can come together again. Then let it cool down and try whipping it again.
Placing the cake into the fridge or freezer before completely coating it is a popular method called ‘crumb coating’ the cake. That way the crumbs of the cake base get sealed in by the thin first layer of buttercream and you’ll get an even more smooth outer coating. If you don’t feel the need to be perfectionistic though, you can skip this step and add all of the buttercream frosting directly.
Did you make this recipe?
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