For my younger daughter’s 5th birthday, I made a Miffy birthday cake which was her request. Miffy is a popular Dutch bunny loved by Japanese people of all ages. I’ve never been successful at pronouncing the Dutch name, Nijntje.
For her 1st birthday, I made something similar with a Miffy face on the cake. It was easier because I used some vegan sprinkles which I wanted to avoid if I could simply because 1. I like to keep things simple, 2. I had been cleansing my body in the last week so it was important that I could enjoy it without compromising. I had a couple of dreams where I wasn’t successful at making the face and I was under lots of pressure due to running out of time so I knew I needed to give myself enough time.
I drew Miffy’s face on a baking sheet and applied the white frosting in the middle where the face will be, placed the sheet over and applied the pink frosting all around it. After removing the baking sheet cut out, I filled the missing space and fix shape with white frosting. For the eyes and mouth, I melted a piece of vegan chocolate bar (love the brand Hu) and used a chopstick to draw.
I could have done a better job smoothing the frosting on top but sometimes, it gets worse when you try to make it perfect so I stopped myself from trying.
I made the frostings 2 days prior so that there was enough time for them to harden. I usually bake the cake the day before, chill in the fridge overnight and start decorating with frosting in the morning waiting about an hour in between each application.
My daughter doesn’t want to ruin Miffy’s face so this is where we are…my older one told her that we need to eat the cake at one point. I am sure she will be ready soo
Strawberry Birthday Cake
Cashew Frosting
Ingredients:
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 cups coconut cream (from two 13.5 fl oz/398 ml cans of full fat coconut milk)
4-6 cups cashews, soaked and rinsed
2 tsp vanilla flavoring
(for the pink color)
2-3 slices of beet (raw)
Direction:
Blend everything and adjust the taste by adding more maple syrup or lemon juice.
To make the pink frosting, I poured out about half of the frosting into a glass container and blended the remaining with 3 small slices of beet.
Pour it into a container and store both in the fridge until ready to use.
*6 cups of cashews are a lot. It made plenty of frosting. I always worry not having enough so I made more than what I needed. 4 cups would probably be plenty in my opinion. Of course, use 6 cups if you have the same fear like me, love to use more on the cake or prefer to have leftovers to use for other purpose. It’s delicious to eat on its own as a treat.
Cake
Ingredients:
1.5 cups gluten free oat flour
1 cup almond flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Himalayan salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1.5 cup plant milk
1 cup frozen strawberries
1/3 cup apple sauce
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups fresh strawberries, sliced into small pieces
Direction:
Set the oven temperature at 375F.
Blend the plant milk and frozen strawberries until smooth.
Mix with everything except for the last 2 ingredients (apple cider vinegar and fresh strawberries). I always wait to add the apple cider vinegar until the end and once mixed, let the batter sit for 5 minutes. Fold in the fresh strawberries into the batter.
Pour the batter into two lined 9′ round cake pans and bake for 25 minutes.
Once baked, let them cool down in the pan on a counter for about 30 minutes then remove and further cool them down on a rack.
