Method (chocolate cakes)

1. Preheat oven 180°C fan and line two 8-inch loose base / spring-form cake tins with grease-proof paper.

2. Sift the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and sugar into a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
3. Add the dairy-free milk and lemon juice/vinegar into a jug or bowl, whisk to combine. Set aside for 5-10 minutes to curdle. This makes a vegan buttermilk.

4. Add the ground flaxseed and cold water into a bowl, stir to combine and set aside for 10 minutes to thicken.


5. Add the vegan buttermilk to the dry ingredients, along with the flax eggs, oil and hot water. Stir into a batter. It will be quite thin.

6. Evenly divide the batter into the cake tins (approximately 700g of cake batter in each tin). Tap on the worktop to remove any air bubbles.
7. Place the cakes into the middle of the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the middle of the cakes come out clean and they are springy to the touch.
8. Once baked, allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then remove from the tins and place on a cooling rack to cool fully. I like to place the cakes in a sealed container overnight. This makes them even more moist.

Method (strawberry compote)

1. Place the strawberries into a medium-sized saucepan and sprinkle over the sugar, cornflour / cornstarch and lemon juice / water.
2. Place on top onto the hob over a medium to high heat and bring to the boil. This will take around 5-8 minutes. Keep stirring with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon to prevent the mixture from sticking and burning. It will start to turn thick. Once thick, remove from the heat and allow to cool before using. As it cools, it will thicken up even more and turn into a jellified sauce/jam.
3. Store in a sealed container in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. As the compote cools, it might go too thick. If this happens, give it a vigorous whisk before use.

Method (buttercream)

1. In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter, whip until pale and 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 3 tablespoons of strawberry compote, 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. If it does, just add in more icing sugar until it’s thick and creamy. The buttercream should be airy and light. You might need to add in some more butter to get it to the right consistency.  Tip- If the buttercream ever looks like its splitting, add chunks more butter at a time while its still whipping on medium / high speed. It should come back together within a minute or two.

Assemble

1. Stack and fill the cakes with some buttercream and compote (watch how I decorate this cake here). Optional: Place slices of fresh strawberries into the buttercream / compote before placing the other cake on top.
2. Place the second cake layer on top. Pressing it down gently so it sticks.
3. Crumb coat the whole cake with a little buttercream, then place into the freezer to firm up. This will take 5 minutes. You don’t want to actually freeze the cake, just set the buttercream firm. This helps with ease at applying the final coat. If you’d like to learn ‘how to ice cakes’ and applying buttercream, make sure to pick up a copy of my book. It will really help you!!
4. Apply a thick coat of strawberry buttercream all around the top and sides of the cake. Use a cake scraper or pallet knife to make it smooth.
5. Make decorative lines in the buttercream using a small off-set spatula, drag it from the bottom to the top of the cake, wiping off any excess buttercream in-between each swipe.
6. Transfer any left over buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star tip nozzle (I use a Wilton 2D tip), and pipe a decorative swirl along the top edge of the cake.
7. To decorate the cake, press whole, fresh strawberries to the side of the cake.
8. Decorate the top of the swirls with some flowers, the flowers I have used here are gypsophilia and I think make the cake look beautiful, but they are NOT edible! If you do use these flowers remember to remove them before eating. Check out the photos on this post for reference.