You might have already noticed, but chocolate flavoured anything is a fairly firm favourite in our house, for all 6 of us! Just occasionally, it’s nice to change it up a bit though 🙂

In the coming week, my 2 youngest boys and my husband have birthdays. We are having a joint birthday party (along with my Nanna!) and each has requested a cake. I couldn’t imagine taking along 3 chocolate cakes, so decided to have a go at a vanilla flavoured base for George’s “Daddy Raa” (Lion King) cake. It is based on my regular Chocolate Cake (which you should try too!). This is was the result – and it is yummy … thumbs up from everyone!!

See below the recipe for a coeliac friendly version.

• 1 1/4 cup spelt (I do half wholemeal)
• 1/2 cup almond meal (use extra flour or seed meal for a nut free option, see note below)
• 2 tsp GF baking powder
• 1/2  cup coconut sugar (use white sugar if you want a lighter coloured batter)
• 100g Nuttelex/vegan butter/tasteless coconut oil
• 1 cup milk of choice (I use oat/rice/vanilla almond)
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 3 tbsp aquafaba (liquid drained from a can of chic peas) 1 egg of egg replacement powder OR 1 egg

Mix together the oil, milk and vanilla and heat until melted and well combined.

In the large bowl of your mixer sift together the flour, sugar and baking powder.

Mix the wet mix into the flour mix and beat well so the mixture is light. While the mix is beating, add in the aquafaba.

Pour into a lined cake tin or about 14 regular muffin holes.

Bake in a preheated moderate oven for approx 50 minutes (for the cake) or 25 minutes for the muffins, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin before transferring to a wire rack. Ice as desired.

(I make a simple icing from 1 tbsp melted Nuttelex, 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, a splash of milk and pure icing sugar).

To adapt for a Thermal cooker:

Place the oil, vanilla and milk in the jug and cook on speed 2 at 100C for 2 1/2 mins, or until the oil is melted.

Add in the sugar, baking powder and mix on speed 4 for 15 seconds.

Add the flours and mix on speed 4 for 30 seconds. Whilst mixing, add the aquafaba through the opening in the top if the lid.

Enjoy 🙂

To make this into a coeliac friendly version make sure you use rice or almond milk and replace the spelt flour with 1 cup of a plain GF flour mix and increase the almond or seed meal to 1 cup.

I make the seed meal by milling 3 tbsp each of flax, sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

This makes a great double batch cake to take to church for supper, or to slice and freeze for lunchboxes too.