Vanilla surprise cake

Vanilla surprise cake

Ingredients

serves 16
  • 585g self-raising flour
  • 400g granulated sugar
  • 40g cornflour
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • ¾ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 750ml soya milk
  • 310ml vegetable oil
  • 5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 80g vegan chocolate drops
  • 4 tbsp chocolate hazelnut spread
  • 150g vegan butter
  • 50g coconut oil
  • 400g icing sugar, sifted
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Prepare three 20cm round cake pans.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cornflour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  3. In a measuring jug, whisk together the milk, oil, vinegar and vanilla extract.
  4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans and bake for 35 minutes,until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
  5. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then gently remove from the pans and leave to cool completely.
  6. Place one cake on the serving plate. Use a large round cookie cutter to cut out the centre of two of the cakes. Save the centre for later, or use them to layer on top if desired.
  7. For the frosting, add the vegan butter and coconut oil to a medium bowl. Beat together until smooth, using mixer with balloon whisk. Add in the icing sugar a bit at a time and beat for 3-4 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and beat for another minute. The frosting should be smooth and pipeable but not so soft that it slumps.
  8. To assemble the cake, spread about 1/6 of the frosting evenly over the first cake layer, then pipe a frosting dam along the edge to hold the chocolate hazelnut filling. Gently spread half the chocolate hazelnut filling over the top of the frosting, taking care not to press in and lift any of the buttercream into the chocolate layer. Add the next cake layer and repeat until you have your 2 cake layers assembled with the chocolate hazelnut and frosting.
  9. Fill the middle of the cake with chocolate drops. Place the third cake on top.
  10. Smooth a thin layer of frosting on the top and around the sides of the cake.
  11. Top with any leftover chocolate drops. The cake stores best in the fridge. Remove it from the fridge about 30 minutes before serving.