My Birthday Cake! Vegan Berry Chantilly Cake

Possibly the most exciting post this year, or at least it will be my personal favorite. I love cake, so much. All I wanted for my birthday was a nutrient rich, classical birthday cake that my body wouldn't feel so gross about afterwords. My favorite standard cake on the market today is cult classic, Whole Foods Market, Berry Chantilly Cake. Fun fact: I actually art directed that photo and ended up eating much of that cake during the shoot. It's heavenly. 

I wanted something that esthetically looks like that WFM berry masterpiece, holds the same textures, sensations and flavors–but made dairy-free with clean and single-ingredient (not processed). So, I spent the day with my best friend Hailey to create this dreamy birthday cake. It's vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, sugar-free, plant-based blissful magic. We used Medical Medium's Birthday Cake for inspiration on where to start with the base, and adapted where we finished here. We drank red hibiscus tea in glasses, cranberry orange water in tea cups, and got lost baking in Hailey's kitchen that's up in the clouds. Happy birthday to me! Hope that you enjoy and may you find everyday to celebrate! 

Birthday Cake: Classic Vegan Berry Chantilly Cake Remix 

by Sarah Farsh and Hailey Donnell, adapted from Medical Medium Funfetti Cake

• 2 cups oat flour
• 1 cup coconut or almond flour
• or 2 large cooked and peeled Japanese sweet potatoes
• 1 cup monk fruit sugar
• or 1 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 tbsp baking powder 
• 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 2/3 cup homemade unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk
• 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla bean powder
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseeds
• 1 tsp pure almond extract
• juice of 1/2 an orange (optional)

Frosting/Topping: 

• Cream of the top from 3 (14 oz) cans of chilled for two days in the refrigerator, coconut cream (not milk) 
• 3-4 tbsp maple syrup
• fresh or thawed out abundance of organic mixed berries
• unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F and line a 7 or 8-inch springform cake pan with parchment paper, and another even smaller pan for the top layer. We used one spring pan and one mini ceramic tart pan. In a large bowl, whisk together oat flour, coconut flour, monk fruit sugar, baking powder and vanilla powder until there are no clumps. Set aside. If you're using cooked sweet potatoes to sub flour, keep those in the wet ingredients bowl. 

In another bowl, add apple sauce, almond milk, coconut oil, almond extract, optional orange juice, and flaxseeds (and potatoes if you're subbing) Whisk until smooth and poor wet ingredients into the dry bowl, and stir until you get a very thick but pourable batter. Add very small splash of almond milk or water if the batter seems too thick to poor. Think pancake batter. Poor into cake pans and bake for 23-26 minutes, until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

To make frosting, whisk the cold coconut cream with maple syrup until fluffy using an electric mixer. I've done this in a VitaMix before and it works, but it's far more fluffy using a hand mixer. Please note since there's no preservatives in this frosting, it melts very quickly. This is not a cake you can ice and serve later. You must ice it before you're ready to serve for the best presentation. Left overs will still taste amazing but won't have that fluffy icing you started with. So it's best to whip your coconut cream right before you're ready to serve. Whip, ice the largest 1st layer of cake on the top, add the smaller layer in the center and ice that. Spread an abundant amount of berries around the 2nd layer of cake (so the 1st layer is holding the berries like a tray) and add even more berries to the top of the 2nd layer. Slice and enjoy right away! I like to keep any left over cream on the side to serve with cake. Haili also discovered if you put a drop of berry juice into the cream, it turns violet or pink :) 

Enjoy!