Dust off your cake tins ladies and gentlemen, it's time to make an epic cake.
A cake with 6 layers, three different flavour cakes, two different frostings, chocolate ganache and edible glitter!
It took me 4 hours to make altogether so you need to set aside an entire afternoon, but it'd make the best birthday cake or celebration cake ever.
The three flavours are chocolate brownie, peanut butter cake and banana cake. Buttercream glitter frosting inbetween each layer, then peanut butter frosting on the top, covered in chocolate ganache. So impressive that you'll have to move a shelf in the fridge up just to fit it in.
The equipment you're going to need for this is: 2 x 9"cake tins, at least two mixing bowls, greaseproof paper, a palette knife and a LOT of space.
I find it's easiest to make one kind of cake at a time, put it in the oven, then mix up the next cake while the first one's cooking so here's the recipe for the first one, chocolate brownie.
you'll need:
1 1/3 cups plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups caster sugar
1 tsp salt
5 tbsp sunflower oil (this is what makes them slightly gooey)
1 cup soya milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Grab your cake tins and line the bottom with some greaseproof paper. Lightly grease the edge of the tin.
Sift together the flour, cocoa, sugar and salt.
Then add the oil, soya milk and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
Pour the mix into your two tins, and bake at 350F/180C for about 20-25 minutes. They're done when they're slightly springy on top and the top is matt not shiny.
While they're cooking, wash your measuring cups and mixing bowl ready for the next cake, hello peanut butter!
For this one you need:
1 cup soya milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup canola/sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain/all purpose flour
1/3 cup peanut butter (your choice of smooth or crunchy)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
Pour the soya milk and vinegar into your mixing bowl and whisk for a few seconds, then leave it for 2 minutes or so to curdle.
Add the sugar, oil and vanilla and beat until it's all foamy.
Now sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, and mix again.
Grab your peanut butter and add this last.
Stir the peanut butter in thoroughly, and your mixture will look like this:
mmm! ok, so now the brownies should be cooked, so take them out of the oven and flip them out of the pans onto a wire rack, chopping board, plate, any available surface so they can cool. Re-line your pans, re-grease, then add the peanut butter mixture and cook at the same temperature as the brownies for 20-25 minutes.
Washing up time again! clean your bowls and cups ready for the banana cake!
For this one you need:
3 ripe bananas
1/3 cup sunflower/canola oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup plain/all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Get your potato masher (or a fork) and mash the bananas to a pulp (feel like a tough guy when you're doing this too). Add the oil and sugar and mix when they're suitably destroyed.
Now sift in the salt, flour, baking powder and soda. Mix again and that is done, isn't banana cake easy? Hopefully your peanut butter layer is cooked by now so take them out, make some space in the bathtub/hallway/bedroom and leave them to cool while you re-line, re-grease, re-gret making this cake...
Pour in the banana mix and bake at the same temperature again, maybe for a little longer this time, 25-30 minutes-ish.
Now it's frosting time! So the stuff that holds all the layers together is going to be a plain frosting because you don't want to overpower the flavours of the cake you've spent all day making.
All you need is:
1/2 cup vegan margarine
3 1/2 cups confectioners/icing sugar
1/4 cup soya milk
Sift the sugar, beat in the margarine, then add the soya milk and mix until smooth. DONE. Except...if you can get your hands on edible glitter then add some to this frosting. That means that when you cut the cake, each layer has glitter in!
Hopefully by now, your brownie and peanut butter layer have cooled and your banana is cooked. Take the banana cake out the oven, leave it somewhere to cool and give yourself a good half-hour break, go and watch some tv or check your email or something. Everything needs to be completely cool and it takes longer if you sit there watching it so get out of the kitchen.
So now you're back and ready to start assembling. This is where you need your palette knife, a very flat plate and some skillz. The order goes-chocolate, peanut butter, banana, chocolate, peanut butter, banana.
Carefully put your first chocolate layer on the plate, and spread the frosting quite thinly with the palette knife to cover the entire top of the cake. Then repeat with each flavour until you get to the top (don't frost this).
Once you've put the final banana layer on top it's time to make the peanut butter frosting!
you'll need:
1/4 cup vegan margarine
1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 1/4 cups confectioners/icing sugar
1-2 tbsp soya milk
Beat together the marg, peanut butter and icing sugar, then just add the right amount of milk to get the desired consistency. You want it quite thick, thick enough to stand in peaks. Then get a spoon and spoon it on top of the banana cake.
Next, ganache! You're almost done I promise.
Just melt 1/2 a cup of good dark chocolate with a couple of tbsp of soy milk until it's runny and glossy. Then pour over the peanut butter frosting!
Put the whole thing into the fridge (you might need to clear some room) and once the chocolate has set, cover it in glitter, and I mean COVER it.
Can you see the glitter in-between the layers here?! amaaaazing.
<3
If you made it, I'm proud of you and I hope it turned out just as delicious as mine did.
