plant based – Andro & Eve

To continue our Birthday celebrations, vegan blogger and baker, Kat of Kelham Island Kitchen has created this special celebration cake recipe exclusively for us.

Its just the sort of treat you’d expect to find at one of our events. For now, while we’re all staying home to keep ourselves and our community safe, we thought we’d share this gorgeous recipe with you in the hope you might want to get baking and create something truly scrumptious!

Kat says,.. ‘Enjoy a slice of this wonderfully summery Vegan Elderflower and Berry Cake. Making the most of seasonal ingredients,this cake is perfect for enjoying outside with a cup of tea (or a glass of wine). The elderflower gives a subtle floral flavour while the berries add freshness and cut through the sweetness of the cake’

If you do bake your own, tag us in any pics, we’d love to see! Enjoy! (If this recipe is a bit ambititous for you, check out Kat’s Vegan Banana Bread recipe instead; its pretty simple and also totally delicious!)

Ingredients

400g Self raising flour
200g Caster sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
400ml Plant Milk
160ml Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
5 tbsp Elderflower Cordial, plus extra for brushing the cake
100g Vegan Butter softened
200g Icing Sugar
150g berries, I used frozen raspberries

Method

Pre-heat oven to 160’C (fan)
Grease and line two cake tins
Combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder in a mixing bowl
Add the milk, oil, vanilla and elderflower cordial to the dry ingredients and mix until you have a smooth batter
Fold in half the berries then split the batter evenly between the two tins
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cakes are golden and a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the centre
Allow the cakes to cool in the tins before moving to a cooling rack
Brush the top of the cakes with some elderflower syrup
To make the icing. Put the rest of the berries in a small saucepan with a splash of water
Cook on a low heat until the berries are really soft and you have a compote consistency
Strain the berries through a sieve. Keeping the liquid to add to the buttercream
For the buttercream beat together the butter and icing sugar until you have a smooth, fluffy icing
Once the berry sauce has cooled, add to the buttercream
To assemble the cake put half the icing in the middle of the sponges, then the rest on top.
Smooth the buttercream on top of the cake then use a pallet knife to create a simple flower pattern on top of the cake.

We know life is incredibly tough for so many people right now. Not least LGBT+ people isolated from supportive friends and networks that can be a lifeline. We know we’ve been missing our queer community and queer life in Sheffield during lockdown. We’ve been working hard to bring you some content that might prove useful, or bring joy. Our Instagram Stories and Twitter feed are full of news, resources and online events that can help members of the LGBT+ community during this pandemic.

Today we’re sharing something tasty. If you’ve been to one of our events you’ll know how important a feature our cakes are, and we’re missing them. Over the coming week we’re celebrating 4 years since our first event in Sheffield (a cosy screening of Jamie Babbit’s But I’m a Cheerleader, at which a giant cheerleader skirt cake made a splash!)

So what better way to mark 4 years of Andro & Eve than by sharing a recipe from our very own baker, Kat, otherwise know as Kelham Island Kitchen. Her blog is full of delicious vegan cooking, and her cakes are a staple of Andro & Eve events. Fun fact – Kat was the very first volunteer for Andro & Eve, back in 2016!

This cake was featured at our January screening of SILVANA at Yellow Arch Studios. Its proper comfort food, ideal for coping with lockdown life, and not too expensive to make either. We know how hard it is to make ends meet for a lot of folx right now. It may be a quarantine cliche, but an easy banana bread, may be just the tonic. (I certainly enjoyed baking and eating this last week as a test – Katherine). Enjoy!

(And if you do bake this, please tag us @androandeve in any pics. We’d love to see!

Why not chuck in some dark chocolate chips, peanut butter or toast a slice with some coconut yoghurt for breakfast?

Kelham Island Kitchen’s Vegan Banana Bread

Ingredients

3 large, overripe bananas
2 tsp cinnamon
1tsp mix spice
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
150g brown sugar
75ml vegetable or sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
100ml oat milk – if it needs it

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180 (160 fan) mark 4
Grease and line a loaf tin
In a large bowl mix the flour, spices, sugar and baking powder
In a separate bowl mash the bananas then add the oil and vanilla
Mix the dry and wet mixtures together, if needed add the oat milk
After a thorough mix pour into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle some brown sugar on the top
Bake in the oven for 45min – 1hr until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing to cool
Enjoy!

Vegan Elderflower and Berry Cake

Vegan Banana Bread

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