Anyone brought up in Scotland will remember coconut snowball cakes, which seem to have been around forever. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the ones in the shops aren’t vegan, but these home-made vegan Scottish snowballs are every bit as good and the recipe is super easy.
Coconut milk and desiccated coconut give the cakes a creamy coconut flavour and a particular texture that is firmer than a sponge cake, but still has a lightness about it.
The half-moon cakes are sandwiched together with raspberry (or strawberry) jam and a special coconut-ice filling which is also used to ice the cakes before they are rolled in desiccated coconut for the finished snowy effect.
The cakes themselves couldn’t be any simpler to make. The picture below is included to show roughly how the unbaked cakes should look to ensure they will turn into hemispheres in the oven.
The icing holds nearly all of the coconut in place, so they are not as messy as you might think, and they should store well in an airtight tin for a few days. (I haven’t tested this last point – things like this tend to vanish within twenty-four hours.)
This recipe will make ten complete snowballs just sightly smaller than the ones you can buy in the shops.
vegan scottish snowballs…
ingredients
- 140 g coconut milk
- 100 g caster sugar
- 100 g desiccated coconut
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 120 g self-raising flour
- 20 g cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 25 ml oat (or other non-dairy) milk
for the coconut icing
- 30 g coconut oil
- 35 ml oat (or other non-dairy) milk
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 45 g desiccated coconut
- 150 g icing (confectioner’s) sugar
- plus one small spoonful of raspberry/strawberry jam for each snowball and extra desiccated coconut for rolling (perhaps 40 g)
method
- Set the oven to 180°C/360°F and line the base of a large baking sheet (enough for twenty x 5-6 cm cakes).
- To make the cakes, first grind 100 g of desiccated coconut in a processor or grinder for half a minute or so to form a very rough flour. Set aside. (You will need to grind coconut for the icing, too, but it is probably easier to do this separately for each.)
- Measure the coconut milk into a large bowl (note the measurement is in grams because I find this is more accurate), then add the caster sugar and vanilla and whisk to combine.
- Sift in the flour, cornflour and baking powder, then add the ground coconut and stir. As it is coming together, add the milk and continue stirring until you have a sticky dough.
- If you have time, chill the dough in the fridge for half an hour to make it easier to roll, but it’s not essential.
- Roll spoonfuls of the dough, using your hands, into ten balls/blobs and place these on the baking tray (see picture above). If you find the dough is very sticky, you can flour your hands a little.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, until they are starting to turn golden. The cakes will expand and form domes in the oven. Set aside to cool.
- To make the icing, grind 30 g of desiccated coconut in a small processor/grinder and set aside.
- Melt the coconut oil and then add the ground coconut and other ingredients, in order, and stir to create a sticky, thick icing mixture. This icing will set quite firm, so you should use it soon after it is made.
- Place the extra (40 g) desiccated coconut, for rolling, in a small bowl.
- Using a pastry brush, or another suitable brush, paint each of the half-moon cakes with icing on the outside (leave the flat side un-iced), then roll in the coconut and place, flat-side down, on a rack to set.
- Once the icing on the outside has set, spread a spoonful of icing on the flat side of a half-moon, and add a small spoonful of jam in the centre before sandwiching together with another half-moon. (If the remaining icing has set too firm to do this, give it a few seconds in the microwave to soften it again.)
- The icing – and jam, depending on how much you use – will ooze out of the sides a little, so roll the join in the remaining desiccated coconut to finish them off.
- Repeat this process until you have ten snowballs. Place them on the rack for an hour or two to allow the filling to set.
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