While growing up, each member of my family picked their own birthday cake favorite for my mom to make. This probably isn’t an unusual tradition, but it is a great one. While young, I always liked the fluffy angel food cake with mounds of whipped cream and strawberries. Perfect for inexperienced taste buds.
My dad always picked rum cake. Something about a cake soaked in liquid always made sense. It adds another dimension and intensity. Yet, its not soggy, just super moist and delicious. Now imagine a cake with whipped cream and tea-soaked cake and you get this amazing vegan/alcohol-free cake. Though, I’m sure it would taste equally amazing if you booze it up! This layered tea cake is definitely for grown-up taste buds since green tea is an acquired taste, unless you grew up eating and drinking green tea, but either way this is definitely a cake worth talking about. There is a crunch layer that gives it even more texture and the passion fruit seeds are beyond perfect! If you don’t have access to passion fruit where you are, it will probably taste just as good without it, or add a tart fruit instead.
Passion fruit are everywhere where I live in LA. If you haven’t had one, they are at their best after they become wrinkly and dark pink. My favorite way to eat them is plain or over vanilla ice cream. There is so much flavor! However, I had some sitting on the counter, friends coming over, and wanted to prepare something different for dessert. So, when I saw “The Mind of A Chef” feature Christina Tosi’s Arnold Palmer cake, I knew exactly what to do. A tea-soaked cake with a crunchy layer of passion fruit. Thanks Christina Tosi for inspiring this passion fruit coconut tea cake!
Ingredients
- 1 cup hemp myllk (or any nut myllk)
- 1.5 tsp cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 2 tsp ground flax seed
- 3/4 cup almond meal
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (feel free to substitute with coconut flour or more almond meal)
- 2 tbsp oat flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 7 tea bags of coconut chai green tea
- 1/2 medium pureed sweet potato (cook ahead or substitute for another 1/4 cup of sugar)
- 1/4 cup maple or coconut sugar (for sprinkling)
- 1 cup water
- 4 tea bags coconut chai green tea
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp matcha
- 1/2 tsp pectin (yes, pectin is vegan, just check the ingredients in case there are additives)
- 2 passion fruit
- a squeeze of fresh lemon (to taste)
- 1 tsp matcha
- 2 tbsp raw almonds
- 1/4 cup maple sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup dang coconut chips (These are really good and very dry which make a perfect crunch)
- 2 passion fruit (keep separate)
- 2 cans of whole coconut milk--refrigerate overnight and scoop out the separated cream
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 tsp maple syrup (to taste)
- Juice from half lemon (about a tbsp)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
- Mix together the myllk, vinegar, 1 tbsp coconut sugar, and flax seed.
- Let it sit for 10 minutes.
- In a food processor or high-speed blender, mix the rest of the dry ingredients (aside from the 1/4 cup of maple or coconut sugar) together. For the tea bags, remove from the bag and pour in the batter.
- Then, add the avocado oil, sweet potato, and myllk mixture.
- Blend until smooth. It should be like pancake batter. If it is too runny, add flour (a tbsp at a time), if it is too stiff, add more myllk.
- On a cookie sheet, lay a piece of parchment paper down and pour/spread the mixture.
- Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup maple or coconut sugar on the cake
- Cook for 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Run a knife down the sides of the cookie sheet, then, flip the cookie sheet over onto a cutting board.
- Cut 2 circles with a medium-sized bowl
- Save the scraps for the 3rd circle cake
- Set aside.
- In a saucepan, add the water and tea bags (leave in the bags)
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove the tea bags from the water.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.
- Set aside.
- In a food processor or high speed blender, add all the ingredients and process until roughly chopped.
- Set Aside.
- Blend all of the ingredients together with an emersion blender, food processor, or electric whisk.
- Set aside.
- The easiest way to assemble is if you have a plastic mold you can set it in, and remove later. I did not, so I set each layer in the freezer to firm up for about 15 minutes in between so I could ensure the cake had definition for each layer.
- For the bottom layer, form a circle out of the leftover scraps and smash together with your hands.
- Drizzle the tea soak on the tea cake.
- Spread a layer of passion fruit on top.
- http://foodscape.vanillaplummedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/crunch-topping.jpg
- Sprinkle and/or spread a layer of the crunch topping.
- Spread a generous amount of coconut whipped cream.
- Flip the other cakes over again onto parchment paper since they will most likely be too thin to handle.
- Cut the parchment paper in between each cakes.
- Flip a cake circle onto the cake and repeat the layer steps above.
- For the final cake, put the tea soak, the whipped cream, and then the leftover crunch on top for decoration.
- Put in freezer to set for 3-4 hours. For my final decoration, I chose unsweetened coconut and a passion fruit spread, but goji berries or matcha would also be really pretty! You could also double the crunch recipe and use that.
- Enjoy!
Oh my goodness! This looks so yummy!