EARTH DAY || This Plant-Based Tsunami Cake Recipe is Environmentally Friendly and Tasty
Baking with this plant-based product means you can have your cake and eat it too.
An “Earth Day Tsunami Cake”, made with new Flora™ Plant-Based Bricks, delivers an edible and eye-catching environmental message with Canadians this Earth Day, April 22, 2021, with its “plant-based, sustainable and good for the environment” recipe. Drawing attention with its custom vegan cake, which includes a dramatic cascading wave—a “tsunami” of white chocolate ganache, coloured to match the ocean—Flora™ is taking a tasty and fun approach to share meaningful communication about climate change and being planet-conscious.
While Flora™ Plant-Based Bricks make for an easy substitute as a 1-for-1 replacement for dairy butter in any recipe, there is no replacement for our planet. The production of plant-based spreads has a lighter impact on the environment. Studies show that from plant to oil, to package, and to spread, the production of plant-based spreads on average has a 70 per cent lower carbon footprint, use less than half the water and occupy two-thirds less land than the production of dairy butter.
Earth Day Tsunami Cake with beautiful cascading effect
An irresistibly delicious, dairy-free chocolatey cake that engages with visual impact, including the blue-green “tsunami”, and the additional details of multi-coloured paper butterflies—a subtle nod to the product’s paper packaging, as well as to “The Butterfly Effect”—Flora's vegan Earth Day Tsunami Cake translates the idea that eating plant-based food is the more environmentally-responsible choice for consumers looking to reduce their imprint on the planet.
As a non-GMO alternative to dairy butter, the unsalted Flora™ Plant-Based Brick used to make this captivating cake comes wrapped in plastic-free paper packaging. Flora™ Plant-Based Bricks are vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, kosher, and halal-certified. All other ingredients in the Earth Day Tsunami Cake recipe are also vegan, including the Original Creamy by Violife, a sister brand to Flora.
The Flora™ Earth Day Tsunami Cake recipe was created by Upfield’s in-house Chef Lydia Yeakel, whose track record includes working with Christina Tosi, Chef, and Founder of Milk Bar. As Lydia suggests, “the recipe is a little challenging, but the pay-off is worth it!”
Canadians can contribute to mitigating climate change via their grocery baskets, by making more environmentally-friendly plant-based choices, such as using Flora™ Plant-Based Bricks.
See below for the Earth Day Tsunami Cake recipe to make this irresistibly delicious and environmentally-friendly cake at home!
EARTH DAY TSUNAMI CAKE RECIPE
created by Chef Lydia Yeakel, Upfield
Prep time 60 mins | Cook time 45 mins | Serves 12
Ingredients
Vegan Devil's Food Cake
1/2 cup (125mL) Flora™ Plant- Based Unsalted Bricks, softened
1 1/2 cups (375mL) sugar
1 cup (250mL) oat milk, room temperature
1/2 cup (125mL) brewed coffee, room temperature
1 tablespoon (15mL) vanilla extract
2 teaspoons (10mL) apple cider vinegar
2 cups (500mL) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (155mL) cocoa powder
2 teaspoons (10mL) baking powder
2 teaspoons (10mL) baking soda
1 teaspoon (5mL) kosher salt
Vegan Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
24 ounce (750g) Violife Original Creamy
4 cups (1000mL) confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup (125mL) cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (2mL) kosher salt
Earth Green Ganache
1 cup (250mL) vegan white chocolate baking chips
1/4 cup (50mL) non-dairy milk
leaf green gel food colouring
Assembly and Decorating
4 - 6 vegan chocolate wafers
cookies, roughly crushed
green decorative sprinkles
large cake toppers, such as paper butterflies, trees, animals etc.
Method
Vegan Devil's Food Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare two 9'' cake pans by lightly greasing with Flora™.
2. In a large bowl whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine oat milk, coffee, vanilla, and vinegar.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat Flora™ and sugar together on high speed until fluffy.
4. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the other ingredients, alternating liquid and dry ingredients. Mix until batter is smooth and completely combined, but avoid over-mixing.
5. Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly between the two. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before decorating.
Vegan Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
1. Using an electric mixer beat vegan cream cheese on high speed until smooth and no lumps remain.
2. Add confectioner's sugar, cocoa powder, and salt to the bowl and continue to mix on high speed until frosting is thick and creamy. Refrigerate if not using immediately.
Earth Green Ganache
1. In a microwave-safe bowl, add baking chips and non-dairy milk. Microwave for 1 minute, or until baking chips are melted. Whisk well. You want the ganache to be thick, but pourable. Add a small amount of non-dairy milk if ganache is too thick. Stir in a few drops of gel food colouring.
Green Ganache
1. Add a generous scoop of chocolate cream cheese frosting on top of one cake round. Spread frosting into a thick and even layer, making sure the frosting reaches the edges of the cake. Put the other cake round on top and frost to cover sides and top completely.
2. Tape the piece of acetate along the seam creating a collar. Place on top of the cake and pour in the ganache. Top with sprinkles and other decorations. When you are ready to reveal the tsunami effect, pull up the acetate in a swift motion.
