Celebrate Summer with a Lemon Poppyseed Loaf with Strawberry Glaze & Lemon Poppyseed Layer Cake with Strawberry Frosting

Excuses, excuses: Aright, so I haven't posted in over two weeks.......for no reason at all other than that I've just been busy doing lots of little things. I love sharing recipes and adventures on here, but sometimes I get so caught up in what's going on in life at the time that I dont really remember to share it on the blog. I'll try to be better about that, I promise. I thought I'd ease myself back into blogging with a short and sweet recipe post.

The Inspiration: We've had lots of lemons growing on our tree, and I wanted to bake a dessert that was on the lighter side. I've had lemon poppyseed pound cake before, and wanted to see if I could replicate it but with vegan ingredients, and also in a way that it can be baked as a loaf or as two layer cake. Alas, it can be done!
Nutrition Note: Although this dessert may not be the healthiest thing on this planet, it is far healthier than many other similar dishes. The only fat source used in the recipe is coconut butter, which is a whole food (as opposed to oil, which are processed).

I do use granulated sugar, and I am sure that some version of the recipe can be made using only maple syrup (which would involved decreasing the amount of other liquids in the recipe) but I just like the results of this recipe so much that I don't want to mess with it.
Recipe Note: This recipe is more like two recipes in one. The batter can be used to make either a loaf or a layer cake; you just need to adjust the baking container and the duration for wich you bake it. The recipe includes a strawberry glaze which is used if you choose to bake a loaf, and it also contains a strawberry frosting which is used if you choose to bake a two-layer cake. Both are delicious, it just depends on what mood your in!

Recipe: Lemon Poppyseed Loaf with Strawberry Glaze & Lemon Poppyseed Cake with Strawberry Frosting

Lemon Poppyseed Loaf/Cake

Ingredients:

This is the coconut mixture after being beaten for a few
minutes. A couple more minutes to go.....

- 1 1/3 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp poppyseeds
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 "Ener-G" eggs (other egg equivalent for baking will work as well)
- 1/2 cup coconut butter
- 2/3 cup soymilk
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; also mix in the poppy seeds and lemon zest (without sifting these two)and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl beat together the 2 "eggs," coconut butter, and both types of sugar until creamed and almost fluffy. This may take up to 5 minutes of hard beating if you're doing it by hand. You'll know when it's done because you will see tiny little air bubbles in the mixtures.

4. Add the lemon juice and soymilk to the flour and mix them in for a minutes.
5. Add the coconut butter mixture into the large bowl and continue to mix until everything is even and smooth.
6. Line a Loaf pan or two nine-inch cake pans (depending on if you want to make a layer cake or a loaf) with parchment paper and pour the cake batter in.
7. For the loaf, bake in the oven on the center rack for around 50 minutes (until golden at edges) and for the cakes bake for 30 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool.

Strawberry Glaze (For Loaf)

Ingredients:

Finished Loaf.....ready to eat!

- 1/4 cup strawberry juice (can be obtained by using a juicer, or by chopping up strawberries and cooking over the stovetop for 10 minutes and then pressing them through a sieve)
- 2 or 2.5cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
Directions:
1. In a add the strawberry juice and salt.
2. Sift in the powdered sugar while beating with a whisk or fork.
3. Continue to add powdered sugar until the glaze reaches your desired thickness/sweetness.
4. Pour over cool loaf and chill in fridge before slicing.

Light Strawberry Frosting (For 2-layer cake)

Ingredients:

- 2 cans of coconut milk, chilled
- 1/2 cup coconut butter
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup strawberry preserves
- 1/2 tsp salt
Directions:
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer add in ONLY the heavy, thick, white portion from the tops of each can of coconut milk (none of the thin, somewhat clear liquid).
2. Add in all the other ingredients except for the powdered sugar and mix for 2 minutes on medium-high speed. Feel free to use the "whip" setting if your mixer has one.
3. Sift in the powdered sugar, a cup at a time, and continue to beat until even and very whipped. Adjust how much powdered sugar you use depending on how sweet and thick you want the frosting (the more sugar the thicker the frosting gets).
4. Chill in the fridge for half an hour before using to frost the cakes.

A slice of the finished cake!

Cake Assembly Directions:
1. Place the cakes with the domed/curved side face up.
2. Using a long, serrated knife cut horizontally across the domed portion of the cake so that it is completely flat. Do this to both cakes (this is in order to make sure that the cakes stack in a balanced way).
3. Place one cake, with the cut side facing up, on a cake tray.
4. Frost the top of that cake with a thin layer of frosting, just so that you cannot see any of the cake through the frosting. Always place your frosting in the middle in a larger pile and frost towards the edges.
5. Place the second cake with the cut side facing down onto the frosted cake. Frost the top of this cake, as well as the sides of the cake so that all of the cake is completely covered with a thing layer of frosting.