Method (cakes)

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c fan and line two, 6 inch cake tins with grease-proof paper. If you only have one tin, you’ll have to bake one cake at a time. Cover the batter with a tea towel until ready to use.
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’.
3. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, spices and zest of one large orange. Mix well to combine.
4. Add the oil into the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.
5. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix.
6. Add in the grated carrot and fold into the batter until just combined. Don’t over mix the batter.
7. Pour equal amounts of batter into the lined cake tins. Make sure to tap the tins on the worktop to remove any air bubbles.
8. Pop the cakes into the centre of the preheated oven and bake for around 25-30 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.
9. 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.

Method (caramel)

1. Place the sugar into a large saucepan over low/medium heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon until it begins to dissolve and turn an amber colour, then turn off the heat. This will take around 10-15 minutes.
2. When it’s golden and liquid, add in the coconut cream and dairy-free butter, stir vigorously. It will steam and bubble but keep stirring.
3. Once fully combined, pour the caramel into a heatproof bowl, allow to come to room temperature before placing into the fridge to cool down fully. It turns into a thick and glossy, sweet toffee-like sauce.

Method (buttercream)

1. In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter and orange zest, whip until creamy. I use a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment, a hand mixer will work great too.
2. Sift in the icing sugar. Whip on high speed for a couple of minutes to incorporate it.
3. Pour in the aquafaba and whip for 5 minutes until it turns light and creamy. Don’t over whip it or it can become too soft.
4. Place one of the cakes on a serving plate or cake stand. Dollop some of the buttercream on top and spread out until even using an off set spatula or pallet knife. Make a well in the middle of the buttercream and fill with a heaped tablespoon of the caramel sauce.
5. Place the second cake layer on top. Press it down gently so it sticks.
6. Coat the whole cake with the buttercream. Use an off set spatula or cake scraper to get the sides of the cake smooth.
7. Add caramel sauce into a piping bag, snip off the tip and drip it down the top edge of the cake.
8. Add any left over buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star tip nozzle and pipe some stars on the top edge of the cake.  Decorate with fresh orange segments, glitter stars and roughly chopped walnuts (optional).