METHOD (CAKE)

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c fan and line three, 8 inch cake tins with grease-proof paper.
2. If you only have 1 or 2 tins, you’ll have to bake the cakes separately. Cover the batter with a tea towel until ready to use. Give it a gentle stir before pouring into the tins.
3. 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’.
4. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, finely chopped almonds, sugars, baking powder and  bicarbonate of soda. Mix well to combine.
5. Add the oil and almond extract into the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.
6. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix.
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 the centre 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 (BROWN BUTTER)

1. Place the butter into a medium sized saucepan. Place on the hob over low / medium heat.
2. Whisk the mixture frequently. Once the butter has melted, and after around 5 minutes, it will begin to foam up. Keep stirring, it will subside. Watch carefully as browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the saucepan. The butter should have a nutty smell to it too! You don’t want it to fully burn, so keep an eye on it and remove from the heat when its just toasted.
3. Once the butter smells nutty and is golden in colour, remove from the heat and pour immediately into a heat proof sealed jar or container. Place into the fridge overnight to set, ready for making the buttercream.

METHOD (BUTTERCREAM)

1. In a large mixing bowl, add in the browned butter, 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 and add in the vanilla extract. Whip on high speed for a couple of minutes to incorporate it.
3. Pour in the aquafaba (chickpea brine) and whip for 5 minutes until it turns thick and creamy. Don’t over whip it or it can become too soft. If it goes too soft add more icing sugar, or too thick, add chunks more butter to get it to a smooth and creamy consistency.The buttercream should be sufficient enough for the filling and decoration.
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.
5. Optional: Sprinkle over some flaked almonds between each layer.
6. Place the second cake layer on top. Press it down gently so it sticks. Do the same with the 3rd cake layer.
7. Coat the whole cake with a thin layer of buttercream using an off set spatula. This creates a crumb coat. Place the cake into the fridge to set. This will take around 10-15 minutes. Chilling the cake makes it easier when adding the final coat of buttercream.
8. Transfer the rest of the buttercream into a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip nozzle. To create the ‘knitted’ wavy effect, pipe lines of buttercream, starting at the base of the cake all the way up to the top and repeat. When piping the lines, give them a little wiggle to create the wavy effect. Repeat all the way around the cake.
9. Roll two small balls of black fondant for the eyes and place on the front of the cake (as seen in the photos and video). You could use chocolate drops if you don’t have black fondant.
10. For the ‘nose’ you can either roll out a larger ball of some red fondant or use a small red bauble (Make sure to remove any non edible decorations before serving the cake!).
11. Press two twigs into the top of the cake, and decorate the top of the cake with any decorations you fancy!

I used a mixture of some twigs, sugar coated cranberries, dairy-free chocolate gingerbread men, whole almonds and some vegan snowflake sprinkles. And voila, a a magical woodland cake!