In my family there is always and I mean always a fight when it comes to Sunday tea time cake.

I myself am not fussy as long as there is cake to go with my coffee, I am happy but that is me, the rest of my family. Well they are a complete different story.

My mother loves anything chocolate cake related and my dad well he is the complete opposite, he will eat anything non chocolate cake related. You can bet your last penny that if there is cocoa in the recipe he is not going anywhere near it.

I try to alternate between their two likes and dislikes, not always as easy as it seems especially when everyone wants their favourite on the table.

I came across this recipe in Cara Reed’s gluten- free vegan baking cook book and I just couldn’t wait to try it out.

Thank goodness we sell shortening at our local Spar, otherwise I would have cried crocodile tears. I mean there is just so many times I can import stuff before I run out of things to add to my cart and get free delivery. I am running out of storage space as it is and my mother is threatening that if I buy another whisk she will spring clean my cutlery draw and throw out anything that looks like it hasn’t been used in a while.

I loved making this cake, it was super easy no complicated method. The recipe split the ingredients into wet and dry and then poured them together and hey presto you had your batter. Of course I was rushing to make this cake and I forgot to dust greased cake with some flour. It took everything I had not to pour out the cake batter and start all over again.

I sent out so many silently prayers to Julia Child that the cake would not stick when I took it out the cake tin. I even greased the offset spatula and ran it along the edge of the cake, to ensure it was loose and then I flipped it over and was to scared to remove the tin, but I had to and I could let out the breath that I was holding when the cake came loose without sticking.

The icing was delicious, not too sweet and not too stiff.

Verdict, believe it or not both parents and my brother both loved this cake, surprisingly enough or maybe they were all delusional, the side effects of load shedding????

Ingredients:

Dry

• 2 ½ x cups cake flour, sifted.
• 1 x cup castor sugar.
• 2 x tsp baking powder.
• 1 x tsp bicarbonate of soda.
• ½ x tsp salt.
• 1 x cup shredded coconut.

Wet

• 1 ½ x cups coconut milk.
• ¼ x cup hot water.
• 6 x tbsp. apple sauce/
• 1 x tbsp. apple cider vinegar.
• ½ x tsp vanilla essence.

Ingredients for the icing:

• 168g x room temperature butter.
• 112g x room temperature shortening.
• 2 x cups icing sugar, sifted.
• 6 x tsp coconut milk.
• 1 x tsp vanilla essence.

Method for the icing:

• Cream butter and shortening together till light and fluffy.
• Add in the remaining ingredients and whisk till well combined.

Method:

• In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.
• Combined the wet and dry ingredients together and mix till well combined.
• Divided the batter evenly between 2 x 20cm greased round cake tins.
• Pop into a preheated oven and bake at 180 degrees for 20 – 30 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean.
• Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes in the tin, before turning out onto a cooling rack and allowing to cool completely.
• To assemble this cake, sandwich both layers between a generous layer of icing. Dollop icing on top of the cake and spread it out.
• Allow to chill for 10 minutes in the fridge for the icing to set before serving.