Ingredients

The following ingredients have 12 Servings
  • 60 ml / ¼ cup maple syrup or other liquid sweetener
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
  • 60 ml / ¼ cup very strong coffee*
  • 195 g / 1½ cups raw cashews, soaked in boiling water for 20 min
  • 180 g / 1½ cups all purpose white flour or all purpose GF flour mix
  • 100 g / 1 cup finely ground walnuts
  • ½ heaped tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 150 g / ¾ cup caster sugar
  • chopped walnuts, to decorate (optional)
  • 195 ml / ¾ cup + 1 tbsp plant milk (I used almond milk)
  • 60 ml / ¼ cup very strong coffee*
  • 60 ml / ¼ cup melted refined coconut oil (or other mild tasting oil)

Instruction

  • Put maple syrup, vanilla extract and coffee at the bottom of a blender. Add approximately one quarter of the drained cashews (discard the water) and blend until super smooth.
  • Proceed to blend the cashews until super smooth, quarter by quarter. If your blender is getting stuck, try breaking an air pocket that tends to form under the mixture of the surface with a spatula while the blender is operating (but please be extra careful not to go anywhere near the blades). If that does not help add a touch of plant milk, but no more than 1-2 tbsp of thin milk. This should help your blender churn the thick mixture.
  • Refrigerate for a few hours, ideally overnight, for the mixture to thicken and for the flavours to develop.
  • Set the oven to 180° C / 355° F (160° C / 320° F fan forced). Grease a 900 g / 2 lb cake tin (please see notes) with a little bit of oil.
  • Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the remaining dry ingredients (ground walnuts, baking soda and baking powder) and fine caster sugar. Mix everything well.
  • Add all the wet ingredients (if using coconut oil, warm up plant milk a little as refrigerated milk will make coconut oil solidify) and fold them gently into the dry ingredients until no flour pockets remain.
  • Fill the tin with the batter - it should be thick but still very pourable - and place in the preheated oven for approx. 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Let the cake cool down completely before removing it from the tin, icing it, decorating with chopped walnuts and cutting into slices.