There’s something about a cake soaked in liquid that’s always made sense. It adds another dimension and intensity. Yet, it’s not soggy, just super moist and delicious. Now, imagine a cake with whipped cream and tea-soaked cake and you get this amazing vegan/alcohol-free cake. Though I’m sure it would taste equally amazing if you boozed it up! This layered tea cake is definitely for grown-up taste buds since green tea is an acquired taste, unless you grew up eating and drinking green tea, but either way this is definitely a cake worth talking about.
Passion Fruit, Matcha, and Coconut Layer Cake [Vegan]
Ingredients You Need for Passion Fruit, Matcha, and Coconut Layer Cake [Vegan]
Spice Cake:
- 1 cup hemp myllk (or any nut myllk)
- 1.5 tsp cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 2 tsp ground flax seed
- 3/4 cup almond meal
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (feel free to substitute with coconut flour or more almond meal)
- 2 tbsp oat flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 7 tea bags of coconut chai green tea
- 1/2 medium pureed sweet potato (cook ahead or substitute for another 1/4 cup of sugar)
- 1/4 cup maple or coconut sugar (for sprinkling)
Tea Soak:
- 1 cup water
- 4 tea bags coconut chai green tea
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp matcha
- 1/2 tsp pectin (yes, pectin is vegan, just check the ingredients in case there are additives)
- 2 passion fruit
- a squeeze of fresh lemon (to taste)
Crunch Layer:
- 1 tsp matcha
- 2 tbsp raw almonds
- 1/4 cup maple sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup coconut chips
- 2 passion fruit (keep separate)
Coconut Whipped Cream:
- 2 cans of whole coconut milk–refrigerate overnight and scoop out the separated cream
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 tsp maple syrup (to taste)
- Juice from half lemon (about a tbsp)
How to Prepare Passion Fruit, Matcha, and Coconut Layer Cake [Vegan]
Spice Cake:
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
- Mix together the myllk, vinegar, 1 tbsp coconut sugar, and flax seed.
- Let it sit for 10 minutes.
- In a food processor or high-speed blender, mix the rest of the dry ingredients (aside from the 1/4 cup of maple or coconut sugar) together. For the tea bags, remove from the bag and pour in the batter.
- Then, add the avocado oil, sweet potato, and myllk mixture.
- Blend until smooth. It should be like pancake batter. If it is too runny, add flour (a tbsp at a time), if it is too stiff, add more myllk.
- On a cookie sheet, lay a piece of parchment paper down and pour/spread the mixture.
- Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup maple or coconut sugar on the cake
- Cook for 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Run a knife down the sides of the cookie sheet, then, flip the cookie sheet over onto a cutting board.
- Cut 2 circles with a medium-sized bowl
- Save the scraps for the 3rd circle cake
- Set aside.
Tea Soak:
- In a saucepan, add the water and tea bags (leave in the bags)
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove the tea bags from the water.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.
- Set aside.
Crunch Layer:
- In a food processor or high speed blender, add all the ingredients and process until roughly chopped.
- Set Aside.
Coconut Whipped Cream:
- Blend all of the ingredients together with an emersion blender, food processor, or electric whisk.
- Set aside.
Assemble:
- The easiest way to assemble is if you have a plastic mold (or small springform) you can set it in, and remove later. I did not, so I set each layer in the freezer to firm up for about 15 minutes in between so I could ensure the cake had definition for each layer.
- For the bottom layer, form a circle out of the leftover scraps and smash together with your hands.
- Drizzle the tea soak on the tea cake.
- Spread a layer of passion fruit on top.
- Sprinkle and/or spread a layer of the crunch topping.
- Spread a generous amount of coconut whipped cream.
- Flip the other cakes over again onto parchment paper since they will most likely be too thin to handle.
- Cut the parchment paper in between each cakes.
- Flip a cake circle onto the cake and repeat the layer steps above.
- For the final cake, put the tea soak, the whipped cream, and then the leftover crunch on top for decoration.
- Put in freezer to set for 3-4 hours. For my final decoration, I chose unsweetened coconut and a passion fruit spread, but goji berries or matcha would also be really pretty! You could also double the crunch recipe and use that.
- Enjoy!