Chocolate, Biscoff, coffee cake recipe

Vegan, quick & easy.

As we are officially in Autumn, I decided to make the most autumnal cake I could think of…..a sparkly fawn/deer, with edible glittery details.

This cake is a chocolate/coffee & vanilla marble cake, filled with a coffee/Biscoff buttercream, coated in Biscoff buttercream, topped with a dark chocolate ganache wreath and decorated with edible fondant details.

I went for a chocolate Biscoff coffee cake as the combination of these flavours is truly delicious.

You usually dunk Biscoff cookies into a coffee…so combining them both along with a chocolate cake just fit’s beautifully. 

I was invited by Love Productions to go to the recording of ‘The Great British Bake Off- An Extra Slice’ for #veganweek, which was an amazing experience!

I was asked to take a cake which represented veganism, so I chose to make a deer which is one of my favourite animals.

It went down a storm with the cast and celebrity panel (who all said the cake was delicious and couldn’t tell it was vegan!!!!). I’m over the moon with their comments.

This cake is rich, moist, light, fluffy and delicious! This is my go-to cake recipe and I love it so much. 

It’s super quick & easy to make and creates the most scrumptious cakes each time.

You could even turn the deer into a reindeer for Christmas and add on a sparkly red nose..just a little idea-haha!

Preparation- 10 minutes

Baking time- 28-30 minutes

Serves- Approximately 10-12

Level- Medium

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Ingredients for the cake

-480ml of dairy-free milk (I use unsweetened almond milk)

-2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar

-420g of self-raising flour 

-480g of golden caster sugar

-1 teaspoon of baking powder

-1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

-120g of coconut oil (melted)

+

-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

-1 teaspoon of ground coffee

Ingredients for the buttercream

-210g of dairy-free butter

-600g of icing sugar

-1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

-1 teaspoon of coffee powder

-3 tablespoons of Biscoff spread

-1/2 teaspoon of dairy-free milk (I use unsweetened almond)

+

-Biscoff spread

Decorations

-Coloured roll-out fondant

-Chocolate ganache (Get my recipe here)

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To make the cakes

Step 1- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c and line three 6 inch cake tins with greaseproof paper.

Step 2- In a bowl, combine the dairy-free milk with the apple cider vinegar and whisk until fully combined.

Set aside for 10 minutes to curdle. This creates a vegan ‘buttermilk’.

Step 3- In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

Mix well to combine.

Step 4- Add the melted coconut oil into the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.

Step 5- Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix.

Step 6- Divide the cake batter into 2 separate bowls.

Step 7- Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder & 1 teaspoon of ground coffee powder into one of the bowls, leaving the other bowl plain vanilla.

Step 8- Pour equal amounts of batter into the lined cake tins, marbling the chocolate & vanilla cake batters.

Make sure to tap the tins on the worktop to remove any air bubbles.

Step 9- Pop the cakes into the centre of the preheated oven and bake for around 28-30 minutes.

You will know they are done when you put a knife or skewer in and it comes out clean and they are springy to the touch.

Step 10- Place the cakes on a cooling rack and allow to cool fully. 

Once cool, pop them into a sealed container to keep them fresh before frosting.

To make the buttercream

Step 1- In a bowl/stand mixer, cream the butter on high, then add in the icing sugar, cocoa powder, ground coffee and Biscoff spread.

Add a splash of milk if needed.

Step 2- Stack and fill the cakes.

I spread some Biscoff spread onto each cake then filled the cakes with buttercream.

Step 3- Crumb coat the whole cake with buttercream and then pop into the fridge to set.

This will take around an hour.

Step 4- Once the crumb coat is set, add another coat of buttercream and level until smooth. I use a cake scraper and a large pallet knife.

Watch this amazing video on how to perfectly crumb coat a cake.

To decorate.

Step 1- Using a piping bag fitted with a star tip nozzle, pipe swirls of chocolate ganache buttercream around the top edge of the cake.

Step 2- Using a mini flower & leaf press, I cut out mini flowers & leaves using green & ivory fondant, painting the ivory flowers with edible gold.

Add the flowers & leaves onto the chocolate wreath.

Step 3- I made some chocolate twigs using tempered dark chocolate and stuck those into the wreath also (making it look like the deer has been in the forest- haha)

Step 4- I cut out the eyes, eyelashes and nose using black roll out fondant and stuck them onto the front of the cake using more buttercream.

Step 5- Cut out 2 circles of pink fondant for the cheeks and apply them with a bit of buttercream.

You could make the antlers out of fondant and paint the gold, but as I didn’t have much time, I cut mine out of gold card.

To add more magic, I sprinkled the chocolate wreath with edible gold & silver glitter.

Serve fresh or store in a sealed container in the fridge, the buttercream will firm up at room temperature. 

Best eaten within a few days!

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Holly Jade