Method (cake)

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC fan and line an 8 x 8 inch square cake tin with greaseproof paper. Allow the paper to hang over the tin slightly, this makes it easier to remove the cake when baked.
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 and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well to combine. Add the vanilla, condensed milk and oil into the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.
4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just to combine. Fold in the coconut.
5. Spoon the batter into the lined tin. Level it out with the back of a spoon or offset spatula.
6. Place the cake into the middle of the preheated oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes. You will know it is done when you put a knife or skewer down the middle of the cake and it comes out clean and it’s springy to the touch. If batter comes off on the skewer, it needs more time to bake. To prevent burning, top the cake with some greaseproof paper then return back into the oven.
7. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then carefully transfer onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool fully before frosting. You can even place the cake in a sealed container once cool then frost the day after. It’s a very light sponge so be careful with it when removing from the tin.

Method (ganache)

1. Place the chocolate into a heat-proof bowl. Fill a small saucepan 1/4 with water and place over the hob on a low / medium heat. Place the bowl on-top to create a bain-marie. Melt the chocolate. Pour in the evaporated milk and whip until smooth.
2. Transfer the ganache into a piping bag, snip off the tip and set aside while you make the buttercream. 

Method (buttercream)

1. In a large mixing bowl, add in the oat whipping cream and 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 vanilla. Whip on high speed for a couple of minutes to incorporate it. Add a splash more whipping cream or butter to get it to a smooth consistency. You want it to be thick and creamy.
3. Remove 3 heaped tablespoons of the buttercream and separate into three bowls. Leave the majority of the buttercream white, colour a small amount of buttercream with orange food colour, the 2nd with pink and the third with brown. You don’t need much coloured frosting for this, only for the eyes, nose and scarf details so only use what you need. 
4. Transfer 1/3 of the white buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip nozzle.
5. Using a pallet knife, spread the 2/3 remaining buttercream over the entire cake. Sprinkle over some desiccated coconut. 
6. Using the white buttercream, pipe snowman shapes over the top of the cake (watch the video tutorial here).
7. Use the brown buttercream to pipe on eyes, mouth and buttons, then pipe on the orange nose. Pipe a scarf onto the snowman using the pink buttercream.
8. Cut the peanut butter cup in half and stick onto the cake for the snowman’s hat. 
9. Slice and serve.