Long-awaited, soft lemon cake with coconut cream and fresh strawberries is finally here! Other than being extremely soft and refreshing, this cake is dairy and egg-free and ready for the oven in less than 15 minutes. Perfect for a last-minute Easter dessert, right? 🙂 

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. To be honest, there are days that I have no idea which date or day is. It seems like March 57th. We have been social distancing for six weeks now and despite the quarantine, days have been flying extremely fast by. From working, to cooking and experimenting with new recipes, gardening and sowing first tomato seeds, we have been enjoying the spring in the countryside, fresh air in the woods and sunshine. 

In the kitchen, I've experimented with lots of pantry friendly recipes as I know that nowadays not all the ingredients are actually always available. This cake is one of those recipes that requires simple ingredients and can be easily adjusted to what we actually have at home.

The strawberry season has begun in Italy, and I had to stock my fridge with these red beauties before they were all out. Their sweet taste goes so well with refreshing notes of lemon and coconut cream gives that extra creamy texture to the whole cake. The cake itself is very soft and moist and has a zesty lemon taste. 

Even though this recipe is very simple, here are some pantry friendly options if you don't have all the ingredients at home:

• If you don't have strawberries, top the cake with fresh or frozen berries. In case you use them frozen, cook 200g of mixed frozen berries with 4 tbsp sugar. Leave to cool and then drizzle over the coconut cream.

• If you don't have coconut cream, you can top it with some regular whipped cream or heavy cream. If neither of these is currently in your fridge, sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar and slice fresh fruit on top. If you don't have powdered sugar, it can be obtained by grinding some regular granulated sugar in a food processor or blender.

• If you don't have either fresh/frozen fruit or cream, cut the cake horizontally and add some strawberry marmalade in between the layers. Sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar and serve.

As you can see, this recipe is very versatile and you can enjoy several varieties of this cake during the spring. I know that this Easter will not be the usual extended-family gathering as we all are staying home, but there is always room for celebration and a good refreshing cake for dessert.
 
If you decide to bake it, tag me on Instagram @thehungryapron and use #makingordinarymagical so I can repost your creations! Stay home and take care.

Vegan Lemon Cake with Coconut Cream
and Strawberries
Marija Gvozdenovic

INGREDIENTS

Serves 8  

For the  cake 

140g fine brown sugar

260ml sparkling water

120ml sunflower oil

zest of 1 lemon

200g all-purpose flour

1tsp vanilla sugar

1tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

FOR THE coconut cream 

1 can (400g) full-fat coconut milk, chilled overnight

2 tbsp sweetener (maple syrup or powdered brown sugar)

TO GARNISH 

fresh strawberries 

METHOD

Preheat your oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350 °F).

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, water, sunflower oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla sugar. Mix well until incorporated. The cake batter will be liquid, but that is fine.

Grease and flour a 20cm round pan or line your pan with a parchment paper. Pour the mixture and bake for 40 minutes, or until the top is set and the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Place it on a cooling rack and let it cool completely before serving.

Prepare coconut whipped cream by taking out the can of coconut milk (that you had in the fridge overnight). You need to chill the coconut milk until it’s very firm. Open the can and scoop the solid white coconut cream in your mixing bowl. Pour the remaining liquid part in a separate bowl and reserve it for making smoothies or other desserts. With the help of an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the cream until smooth and fluffy. Add in the sweetener of your choice to taste. Place whipped cream back to the fridge until ready to use. It will firm when chilled and soften at room temperature.

Once the cake has cooled down and is ready to serve, top it with some whipped coconut cream and fresh strawberries. Enjoy!