Are you ready for the easiest ackee cake recipe ever?! All you’ll need is a whisk, a bowl and a blender. It produces a beautiful cake that is ackee forward in flavour and has a tender golden crumb. On top of all of that, it’s vegan!
I’ve gotten many requests for a vegan ackee cake ever since posting the Golden Ackee Cake. This recipe is a modification of that one; it’s actually a third of that recipe and makes a 6-inch round cake which serves 4 to 8 persons. If you like, you can triple the recipe and bake it into two 8-inch rounds to make a 4 layer cake like the Golden Ackee Cake.
In the interest of keeping this one simple I had intended to leave it as a single layer cake but I just couldn’t help myself and made two layers 😆. Feel free to do what works best for you should you give it a try.
The hardest part of the entire process is the patience required for the ganache to set up. You could put it the fridge to firm up and then use it when it gets to the right texture. However, if you forget the ganache in the fridge (like I have many times in the past) it may become too firm to use, in which case you would then have to leave it at room temperature again to soften up. So to avoid all the drama, I generally just let it do what it does at room temperature. Alternately, if it’s fairly cool (like in the fall and winter) I’ll make it the night before and simply leave it covered out on the counter and use it the next morning.
What do you think? As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. If you try this or any of the recipes from the site be sure to #amazingackee and @amazingackee so I can see your posts across social media.
Thanks for stopping by, until next time 😊
Easiest Ackee Cake Ever! (Vegan)
Ingredients
For the blender:
- 3 tbsps Vegetable oil*
- 1 tbsp Vinegar**
- 1 tsp Good quality vanilla***
- 2/3 cup Parboiled ackee
- 1/3 cup Soymilk or Almond Milk
For the bowl:
- 2/3 cup Granulated sugar (cane sugar or brown sugar)
- 1 cup Cake flour****
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt I’ve been using kosher, if you use sea salt measure it scantly
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a 6-inch round cake pan
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Sift bowl ingredients into a medium bowl.
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Combine blender ingredients in blender and puree till smooth
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Pour wet ingredients into dry and whisk till well combined but do not overmix
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Pour into prepared pan and bake in the centre of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes or till done.
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Check it at the 15 minute mark.
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When done, remove from oven and let cool in pan for a few minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely
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Frost if desired, enjoy!
Recipe Notes
To make enough batter to fill two 8 inch round pans - triple this recipe
*I’ve tested it using both canola and coconut oil. If you use unrefined coconut oil, the oil will impart some flavour in the cake which isn’t necessarily a bad thing depending on what you’re going for
**I've used both plain and apple cider vinegar. I slightly prefer the acv but it doesn't make a huge difference in taste or texture in the final product
***I love the Nielsen-Massey vanilla bean paste! I’ve been using their extract instead of the bean paste and I’m not through the bottle as yet. They were always a bit pricey (so worth it though!) but more so now because of the vanilla bean shortage in Madagascar that has been driving up prices.
****I use Bob's Red Mill Super-fine Unbleached Cake Flour. Recently I went to Jamaica and made this recipe using J.F Mills Cake and Pastry flour which is bleached and not as "strong" as the Bob's Red Mill. The result is still good, but a tweak to the liquid may be necessary, outside of that it may be better to use the J.F. Mills All Purpose flour instead but that variation I didn't have a chance to test.
Tips:
- I’ve tested this recipe using both cake and all-purpose flour, both work but I prefer the texture using the cake flour more.
- If your milk and ackees are cold, warm them up a bit as the fats in the ackee will solidify and it will not blend smoothly
Easy Chocolate Ganache (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 160 g Coconut cream*
- 160 g Dark chocolate* (I used 69% dark)
Optional ingredients:
- 3 to 4 tbsps Agave**
- 1 to 2 tsps Vanilla/Almond/Your favorite Extract (I used 1 tsp Vanilla and 1/4 tsp Almond extract)
- 1 tbsp Rum or flavored liquor (I used Pimento (Jamaican Allspice) liqueur)
Instructions
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Combine chocolate and any optional ingredients in a small bowl
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Heat the coconut cream just till it begins to boil.
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Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for a minute or two
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Whisk till smooth and well combined.
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Let sit at room temperature till at working consistency.
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Once the ganache has thickened up, use it to frost the cake. If you want to use it as a poured glaze, wait until your cake has cooled completely and then make the ganache (you can even pop it in the fridge to get cold). Pour the warm ganache over the cold cake.
Recipe Notes
*Ganache is simply a ratio, for one that will set up thick enough to create a frosting using dark chocolate, you use equal parts of chocolate and cream by weight. To make it vegan we use coconut cream instead of heavy cream as it contains sufficient fat to mimic heavy cream.
**If you taste your chocolate and find that it’s not sweet enough for your liking, add a couple tablespoons of agave to increase the sweetness. Alternately you could add a few tablespoons of sugar in which case add it to the cream while simmering so that it dissolves.
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