Vegan Coconut Lemon Layer Cake

Cake makes me very happy! Cake for any occasion--I just love cake! This vegan coconut lemon cake has everything a non-vegan cake could offer: buttery cream frosting, lemon curd layer (yes, you can make lemon curd without eggs) and a super moist white crumb cake base--all without egg or real butter. I had this cake on my top ten favorites list and was skeptical about its reappearance in my vegan world. This past weekend was cause for celebration, so I just had to give it a try, but oh-so-carefully recreating this classic favorite. It turned out beautifully, exactly as I had remembered it and lacking none of the exquisite taste of its non-vegan counterpart--this gives me hope and encouragement in the face of my brownie dilemma--that, yes, I can bake vegan and make a spectacular dessert even better! I used the Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts cookbook for inspiration. (I highly recommend this jewel--I love it!) I know many might wonder why not chocolate cake, well. . . sometimes a girl has to satisfy her good old white cake desire. This is a very moist cake, keeps well in the fridge for a week or so. It uses coconut milk in its base and I believe this lends itself nicely to the wonderful density and moistness of it. My lemon curd came together perfectly--I simply omitted the egg yolk--ewww, and used cornstarch and some soy margarine instead--YUM!

Vegan Coconut Lemon Layer Cake

1 cup vegan butter (2 sticks)--at room temp.

2 cups sugar

1 cup coconut milk (I used low fat)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 egg whites (used Ener-G Egg Replacer)

1/2 cup shredded coconut for topping

6 lemons (for making lemon curd and for frosting)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 2 9-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper--it is important to use parchment paper on the bottom! Cream the butter and sugar together. In a separate bowl, add the coconut milk and vanilla extract. Now, add 1/2 of the milk mixture to the sugar/butter mixture. Now, prep your dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add this sifted

mixture to the butter/sugar--using the hand mixer, mix well until fully blended. Then add the remaining milk mixture, blend well. Now, for the egg whites. You need to have Ener-G Egg Replacer on hand to make this work. According to package directions, measure out the equivalent of the amount for 6 eggs. Using the hand blender, beat the egg mixture until it begins to form peaks. This took me about 10 minutes of blending. It will come together, just give it time. You then carefully, and with a spatula, fold the egg white mixture into the batter until you can no longer see the egg white mixture. Don't over blend--just "fold" in! Now, pour the batter evenly into your two pans and bake for approximately 35 minutes. Check for doneness with a knife inserted in the middle, if it comes out clean, it will be done. I found that my cake was perfect and that the edges began to pull a bit away from the sides. Just don't over bake it or under bake it. Remove from oven and let cool for about an hour or more before frosting.

Lemon Curd

In a small sauce pan over medium heat add 3/4 cup of sugar plus 1/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice (juice of about 4 lemons) and about 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon zest to the pan. Stirring constantly, add 3 tablespoons of corn starch. Keep stirring and add 1 tablespoon of soy margarine. Bring to a boil and whisk the whole time. Keep watching it--it will begin to thicken.

Remove from heat. Pour into a non-reactive bowl as this mixture will be hot! Set aside to cool. Then, after about ten minutes, place in fridge to complete the cooling process--about 1 hour.

Lemon Cream Frosting

1/2 cup soy butter sticks--1 stick

1/2 cup soy vegetable sticks--1 stick

5 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients well--just look for it to be smooth--keep tasting until you get there!

Place the bottom level of the cake on your cake plate. Frost the sides, and then place a thin layer of frosting across the top of the bottom tier of the cake--this keeps the lemon curd from soaking into the bottom of the cake. Next, take the completely cooled lemon curd and frost over the thin layer of buttercream frosting. You should be able to use all of the lemon curd between layers. Now, place the top layer over this. Finish frosting the cake--tops and sides. Sprinkle the top with coconut. Place in fridge! Enjoy!