Vegan Lemon Drop Cake: Dropping the carbs and dairy.

 Have you ever had a lemon drop cookie?  The perfect trifecta of sweet, salty, and sour confectionary flavours converging in one perfect bite. I like snacking on this cookie so much that I attempted to make a vegan cake version of it. 

Here is a recipe that I was playing around with that turned into a successful first attempt at vegan desserts. In this version, I am using coconut milk as my dairy substitute and chia seed as my egg substitute. I also wanted to cut down on the carbs and increase the moisture of the cake by incorporating almond flour. 

An almond flour based cake topped with a lemony "custard" filling that is easier to make than your typical egg based French custard.  

*Note: All these recipes are originally measured in grams.

Cake Ingredients:

1 cup (128 g) of flour
1/2 cup (60 g) of almond flour
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
2 tbsp of chia seed
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup (96 g) of brown sugar
1/2 cup oil

Custard Ingredients: 

1 cup (240g) of coconut milk
3 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
Pinch of turmeric
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

Cake Instructions:

1. Set oven to 175 C (350 F). Mix both flours, lemon zest, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in one bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, combine coconut milk, chia seed, lemon juice, and vinegar and set aside for 5 minutes.
3. After chia mix becomes gelatinous, add sugar to chia seed mix and stir, then add oil.
4. Next add the chia seed mix with your dry ingredients and using a handheld mixer, mix on the lowest setting.  (If you are mixing with a handheld whisk, whisk in small circles until the batter is combined evenly. DO NOT over whisk.)  
5. Once everything is mixed, pour the batter in a container and leave leave in the fridge for the next 10-15 minutes. I like to use this time to prepare my cake pan.
6. Once you have buttered your cake pan, pour the batter in and then place in the oven for the next hour.

Tip: I like to check after the first 45 minutes with a toothpick, poking the middle of the cake until the toothpick comes out is dry. With almond flour, it sometimes takes a little longer to cook.

7. Once toothpick is dry, take the cake out of the oven and set aside to cool. At this point, I like to start making the custard.

Custard Instructions:

1. In saucepan, mix all the ingredients before turning on the stove. This is to ensure no lumps during the process of whisking.
2. Then heat the stove to a medium setting (between 5 and 6) and whisk until the cream mixture starts to thicken.

*To go faster you can set your stove to six or seven but you must continue to whisk until cream starts to thicken then turn the stove off completely.

3. Lower the heat once the cream starts to form. If you have an electric stove, you can turn off the heat since the heat will the remain for another five minutes while whisking.
4. Take the pan off the stove and pour the contents into a bowl whipping for another two minutes to add an extra smooth texture. Then add on top of your cake and store the cake in the fridge for up to an hour or two.

You can also leave this cake outside if you don’t want to lose the moisture, although the purpose of the almond flour is to retain the moisture for at least a couple of days so that you can enjoy this cake for a little longer. 

 Leave comments if you have any suggestions or feedback about this recipe!