PINKY PURPLE BEANIE BIRTHDAY CAKE
I made this cake the morning of Mahi’s impromptu first birthday party - I say impromptu as I was a bit non-committal to do anything big or adventurous even though I’d had loads of ideas in the lead up… baby fatigue is real!! So I asked my local friends and their kids to mosey on over for cake and with the pressure off I managed to rustle up Jammy Thumb Print Cookies, Pancit Filipino vegetable noodles), Puto (Filipino rice cakes) and a single layer bean cake based on this Toffee Bean and Walnut Cake to blow candles out on. Considering it’s a ‘healthy’ cake it was a hit so I made it again for Mahi’s second birthday (which looked surprisingly similar to her first birthday with reused helium animal balloons, dancing games and pretty much the same people and menu (she didn’t judge me) with the addition of ‘pass-the-parcel’ and animal headbands and tails for a bit of a dress up. This time I split the cake so that I could add a filling - a creamy pinky-purple coconut yoghurt frosting thanks to Sweet Potato powder (this makes the most incredible colour - add quite a bit more and you get an intense purple!) and a layer of blackcurrant jam for a nod to a Victoria Sponge cake. Again it was a hit with almost all of the kids. For Nick’s birthday next month, I will try a bigger version as the adults were queuing up for more than the sliver they got (despite all the other lovely sweet treats available!). If you’re making this frosting remember to strain the yoghurt overnight to make it lovely and thick, and you can also use beetroot powder which might be easier to find for a truer pink colour.
METHOD
In a small bowl, mix the ground flax and water together to make a (very runny!) ‘flax egg’, and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.
Line the base of an 8-inch cake tin with parchment paper and grease the base and sides.
In a food processor, add the beans, butter/oil, vanilla extract and flax egg (from the cake ingredient list) and blend until smooth.
Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and sea salt, and blend again until smooth - the batter should resemble normal cake batter in consistency (see tips below)***.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the tin and then allow to completely cool before decorating.
To make the icing, line a fine mesh sieve with a piece of kitchen towel and rest the sieve above a bowl to catch the liquid. Add the yoghurt, cover and leave in the fridge for at least 8 hours to strain excess liquid for a thicker product.
Mix the frosting ingredients together. Taste and adjust sweetness and colour if necessary.
Carefully slice the cooled cake in half lengthways. Spread the bottom layer with a coating of jam and then half of the coconut frosting. Carefully position the top layer and then smooth the remainder of the frosting over the top of that one. Add any favourite sprinkles or design and enjoy.
Store the final cake or any leftover pieces in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days and serve at room temperature.
East by West tips:
**You can use coconut sugar instead of demerara/muscovado sugar for the cake sponge but the flavour is less intense and less sweet so you will need to use more.
***Some tinned beans are ‘wetter’ than others so just make sure your batter resembles the consistency of a normal cake batter with the addition of a touch more water if necessary.
INGREDIENTS
Serves 8-12 small people slices
For the cake:
2 tbsp ground flax
6 tbsp water
1 tin of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained well
1/4 cup melted butter, coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil
100g dark demerara/muscovado sugar**
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g gluten-free self-raising flour (I used Doves Farm)
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
Optional: Plus your choice of jam, I used blackcurrant
For the pinky-purple frosting:
350g of plain coconut/almond yoghurt, strained overnight*
2 tbs of light honey or maple syrup (or to taste)
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
1 tsp of beetroot or purple yam powder to colour
