Maple Nut Cake (Gluten Free Vegan)

By seamline

Ingredients

• Salted Maple Nuts:
• 2 6 inch cake pans
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup sliced walnuts
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp maple sugar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• Cake:
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup ground hazelnut meal
• 1/4 cup ground walnut meal*
• 3/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup maple sugar or granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 1/2 cups lite organic coconut milk or almond milk
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp maple extract
• 2 Tbsp cider vinegar
• Frosting:
• 2 8 oz pkgs tofutti vegan cream cheese
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp maple extract
• a pinch of sea salt

Details

Adapted from fragrantvanillacake.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

*To make nuts:
preheat the oven to 375 degrees and position rack in center of oven.

*Line a baking sheet with foil.

*Toss nuts together with maple syrup, sugar and sea salt and spread out on pan. Bake for about 10 minutes until toasted.

*Remove from oven and let cool but leave oven on for cake.


For the cake:

*Line two six-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides with parchment paper.

*Coat parchment paper and pan sides with nonstick spray.

*Whisk almond flour, walnut meal, hazelnut meal, baking soda, sea salt, and sugar in a large bowl to blend well.

*Whisk oil, milk, vanilla extract, and maple extract, together in small bowl to blend well, then whisk into the flour mixture until well blended.

*Whisk in cider vinegar and stir quickly.

*Transfer cake batter to prepared pans and bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.

*Cool cakes completely in pan on rack, about 1 hour.

*Cut around sides of pan to loosen.

*Turn cake out onto platter; peel off parchment paper.

*Let cool completely, then place in the fridge to chill until very cold to make slicing easier (so they don't crumble).

*When chilled, slice cakes horizontally in half so that you have 4 layers.

*To make frosting:

*Whip cream cheese until smooth.

*Then add almond butter, syrup, vanilla, maple extract and sea salt and beat until smooth.

To assemble cake:
*Place one layer on a plate, and top with about 2 Tbsp frosting.

*Spread out over cake layer to the edge.

*Top with another cake layer and repeat, then the next 2 layers ending with a top layer of cake.

To frost cake:
*Spread frosting over top and sides, smoothing out as you go. Decorate cake with maple nuts and enjoy!

**To make walnut meal, grind walnuts until very fine and put through a fine meshed strainer to remove any large chunks.

**if you would like a 4 layer 9 inch cake, double this entire recipe and bake in two 9 inch cake pans.