Happy 4th of July week! This veganized version of a classic flag cake is a delicious way to celebrate this red, white and blue holiday! Fresh berries, buttery pound cake and plenty of swirled cool coconut whip on top!..
Tomorrow, tomorrow! I am so thrilled that you can head to your local bookstore tomorrow and buy 365 Vegan Smoothies! About 1,000 of you have already pre-ordered it on Amazon – which makes me so excited to hear. I hope you all love this book as much as I do and use it to infuse some wellness into your summer and all year long via fresh, fabulous, vegan smoothies!
Classic Cake. When I was a teenager just starting to fall in love with the kitchen, recipes and edible art, this classic 4th of July cake was always one of my favorites. I loved it because it was so easy. I clipped the recipe from the newspaper, bought some very basic ingredients: whipped topping, pound butter cake and plenty of fresh strawberries and blueberries. Simply assemble the cake and it was done. My favorite part was arranging the colorful berries in the red, white and blue flag design.
Well this fun dessert can easily be made from scratch and veganized into a dairy-free, egg-free version. This cool whipped coconut cream frosting is so light and dreamy – it meshes with the fresh berries perfectly.
You can even make this cake a day ahead of time and simply pull from the fridge to serve on the 4th of July – pre-made so you can enjoy and relax on your holiday!
Coconut whip is a favorite sweet treat. It is so easy and so luscious. My coconut whip recipe is here. Perfect for strawberries and cream. Or dolloping on top of ice cream, hot cocoa and more. But for this frosting I thickened up the whip a bit using three things: more powdered sugar, melted coconut oil and arrowroot powder. Arrowroot powder is a natural thickener similar to corn starch. You can buy it at most natural food stores – find it in the baking section.
Frosting, just smooth it on, easy as can be..
Beautiful summer berries. So delicious and filled with healthy antioxidants, vitamins and minerals! Wellness on top..
4th of July Flag Cake
Components: Fresh strawberries and blueberries, coconut whip frosting (below), vegan rectangle pound cake (below)
Vanilla-Lemon Vegan Pound Cake
13″ x 9″ cake pan
3 cups flour
1 3/4 cups organic sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup freshly ground flax seeds
1 3/4 cups soy or almond milk
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup softened vegan butter (Earth Balance)
zest from 1 lemon
2 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Grease your cake sheet pan with coconut oil.
3. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, flour, baking powder, salt, flax seeds.
4. Combine the non-dairy milk, oil, butter and sugar in a medium bowl. Warm in the microwave until the oil and vegan butter melts and the non-dairy milk warms.
5. Stir the sugar into the oil and non-dairy milk mixture.
6. Fold the oil/sugar mixture into the dry mixing bowl. Stir well.
7. Stir in the lemon juice and zest, vanilla extract.
8. Pour the batter into your pan and place in oven. Bake at 400 degrees for ten minutes. Then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another ten to fifteen minutes. You will need to watch this cake carefully and when the edges begin to brown and center becomes nice and sturdy remove the cake. As it cools, it will continue to firm up nicely.
9. Allow cake to completely cool before you add the frosting and berries. (See below for details)
10. Optional: After removing cake from pan I like to slice off the edges to make a perfectly rectangle shape as opposed to the somewhat rounded edges of the cake pan. Use a bread knife to slice off 1/4″ of the cake on all sides. (Use this cake for leftover berry cake crumble desserts.)
Coconut Whip Frosting
makes about 4 cups coconut whip frosting
2 cans coconut milk*
*Trader Joes has these great ‘coconut cream’ cans that only has the harder cream part – very helpful if you can find them!
1 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup arrowroot powder (optional, helps to thicken)
pinch of salt
Directions:
1. Place coconut milk cans in fridge overnight to completely chill.
2. Open cans and remove the thick white coconut cream – scoop it out into a large stainless steel mixing bowl. Discard the leftover thin translucent coconut oil in the can. (Or save to use in other recipes.)
3. Melt your coconut oil in the microwave.
4. Using a hand mixer, beat the coconut oil very slowly into the coconut cream. This is a tricky step because if you do not pour slowly enough, the oil will bead up into firm chunks as soon as it hits the hard coconut oil. (If this happens you can troubleshoot by re-warming the milk and oil and beating together until smooth – you will them need to re-chill the oil/milk.)
5. You should now have a chilled, thick oil/coconut cream mixture. Using hand beater, beat in the powdered sugar and arrowroot powder and continue beating for 1-2 minutes whipping air into the mixture until it becomes thick. When it thickens a bit, you can place the bowl in the freezer and chill for about 20 minutes then beat again. The frosting will beat thicker as the mixture is nice and cold. Warm liquid will not firm up properly. Add more powdered sugar if needed to thicken the mixture even more.
6. When your whip is nice and fluffy, place in the freezer until it is perfectly thick and spreadable in texture.
Frosting the Cake + Berries.
1. Prep your berries. You will need about 1 1/2 cups of strawberries, sliced into quarters and 3/4 cup blueberries. I like to toss my berries in a spoonful of sugar. Place your sliced berries in the fridge to fully cool before adding to cake. You can even place in freezer to quick chill them if needed.
2. Make sure your cake is fully chilled from fridge or quick chill in freezer.
3. With all three components chilled (berries, cake, frosting) begin adding the frosting to the cake. Allow it to flow over the side. Add berries in a flag design. Place cake back in the fridge. Allow to chill at least 1 hour before serving.
To serve: allow cake to warm just enough so the frosting is soft and creamy – this will also help the coconut oil cake to soften a bit too.
