It may not be the most elegant of cakes, but this vegan version of an old American classic has got to be one of the easiest.
The main ingredient is most of a can of coconut milk, which is a bit of a departure from early versions of lazy daisy cake, but creates a distinctly moist, light base and a rich gooey layer of coconut fudge with very little effort on the part of the baker.
The whole thing is toasted in the oven to bring it all together and give it a crispy golden top.
The name seems to have originated with the idea that even a really lazy baker would be able to stretch to this one. You do need to remember not to shake the can of coconut milk before you open it, so that the solids and liquid remain more or less separate – but that means even less effort (who wants to have to shake a can?).
vegan lazy daisy cake…
ingredients
- 100 ml of the watery liquid plus 1 tbsp of the cream from a can of coconut milk
- 100 g caster sugar (or light brown sugar)
- 50 g ground almonds
- 100 g self-raising flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
for the topping
- 40 g cream from a can of coconut milk
- 80 g light brown sugar (or caster sugar)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 50 g desiccated coconut
method
- Set the oven to 180°C/360°F and lightly oil/line the base of a 7″ square tin (an 8″ tin will work but you may need to reduce the baking time slightly).
- Place one tablespoon of the coconut cream (which should have a consistency a bit like butter) into a bowl together with 100 ml of the watery milky liquid.
- Add the caster sugar and beat with an electric whisk until it is smooth and creamy (it doesn’t matter if there are flecks of white cream that haven’t mixed in yet).
- Stir in the ground almonds, followed by the flour sifted together with the baking powder. Mix with a spoon until it has formed a smooth batter.
- Transfer the mixture to the tin, level the top, and bake for 20-25 minutes until it is well risen and lightly golden on top.
- While the cake is baking make the topping by melting together 40 g of coconut cream with the brown sugar. Bring to the boil and boil, stirring occasionally, for three or four minutes. Remove from the heat. It should have the consistency of a fairly thick toffee sauce.
- Stir in the coconut, vanilla and a pinch of salt, then transfer this mixture to the top of the cake and gently spread so that the whole surface is covered.
- Return the cake to the oven for ten to twelve minutes until the top looks well toasted all over.
- Allow the cake to cool before cutting. It will be soft and gooey but quite easy to remove from the tin.
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