Mini vegan cakes are something I absolutely love, and given enough space, I truly believe I could make a whole series of them, in all possible flavour combinations. They are such a delight to create, from start to finish, and they always steal everyone's hearts by simply being tiny and adorable.
Four gorgeous layers of rich chocolate cake and plenty of blackberry truffle cheesecake filling make this adorable mini cake a real treat. Especially if you serve it well-chilled, as it will resemble ice cream. You can also top it with extra dark chocolate shards, that tiniest bit of crunch will be the perfect texture pairing.
As for the whipped cream stabiliser, like I always say, it is called differently in different countries, but it always serves the same purpose - to give the whipped cream some additional stability. Feel free to use any commercially available stabiliser, such as Kremfix, Sahnesteif, pannafix, Whip It, etc; as long as it is made for 200-250 millilitres of cream.
And if you are a fan of my mini vegan cakes, I am happy to tell you that you can find many more of them in my cookbook.
Ingredients
For the chocolate cake layers
120 grams plain flour25 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
130 grams granulated sugar
135 grams plain soy yoghurt
100 millilitres water
40 millilitres sunflower oil
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
3/4 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
For the blackberry cheesecake truffle filling
350 grams blackberries, fresh or defrosted100 grams granulated
30 grams vegan block butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
100 grams vegan cheese
200 grams vegan double cream
2 teaspoons whipped cream stabliser
Preparation
Start by making the blackberry jam. Place the berries into a heavy saucepan, add in the sugar, and place everything over medium-high heat. Let the mixture slowly heat up, and cook, stirring quite often, and breaking the berries as you stir, for about 20 minutes or so, or until it cooks down to less than half of the original weight, or around 200 grams of jam. Remove from the heat and let it cool down completely.
To make the chocolate cake layers, sift the flour into a large bowl, sift in the dark cocoa powder, and add in the baking powder, baking soda, and espresso powder. Whisk briefly, then incorporate the sugar, whisking well. Make a well in the centre, pour in the water, yoghurt, oil, and the vanilla, and whisk until just blended.
Line a medium rectangle cake pan (18x18 cm) with baking parchment, pour in the batter and bake immediately, in a nicely preheated oven, at 180°C, for about 15-18 minutes. Check the cake early, to make sure it stays soft and moist. Take the baked cake out of the oven and let it cool down completely in the pan.
Once everything is cool to the touch, proceed to assemble the cake.
Weigh out 200 grams of the prepared jam and add the melted vegan butter to it. Mix it through very well, and add in the cold vegan cream cheese. Mix and fold with a spatula until mostly incorporated. In a separate large bowl, whip the vegan double cream with the vanilla until very, very soft peaks form. You just want it to start gaining volume. Add in the cream cheese mixture and the sifted whipped cream stabiliser, and continue to whip on the highest speed until firm peaks form. Once the filling is firm, divide it into four parts by weight.
Level the cooled cake if needed, slice it in half lengthwise, to create two thin and long strips of cake, and then cut each of them in half to create four very thin layers. Place the first cake layer on the serving platter, and add a portion of the prepared filling. Continue stacking the cake layers until all of them are used up.
As the cake is firm, use the reserved filling to frost and decorate to your liking. Place it into the refrigerator for 8 hours, and serve with strong coffee and any leftover blackberry jam you have. Yields 8 rich servings or 12 modest ones.
