I love that this recipe has no butter, oil, or other fat in the cake itself, yet it's still so moist! The frosting of course does have some soy butter for creaminess and flavor, but it's overall a really healthy, delicious cake!
Strawberry-Lemon Cake with Butter-Lemon Frosting
Ingredients:
-2 tbsp. ground flax seed
-2/3 cup warm water
-1 1/2 cups flour (I used wheat flour)
-1 tbsp. baking powder
-1/2 tsp. salt
-3/4 tsp. cinnamon
-1/2 cup sugar
-4 tbsp. rolled oats
-1/3 cup almond (or soy, or oat, or rice) milk
-1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
-3 1/2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
-2 tsp. lemon zest
-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
-1 cup strawberries (diced small, about 1 cm cubes)
Frosting:
-1/3 cup soy butter (or other vegan butter spread) (softened)
-2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
-2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
-1-2 tbsp. almond (or alternative) milk
-1 tsp. lemon zest
-extra strawberries for decorating the top
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare a springform pan (or other metal pan; I used a 9" springform) by smearing with soy butter and dusting with flour.
Mix flax and water and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, sugar and oats. In another bowl, mix together the almond milk, applesauce, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla and flax water. Slowly pour the wet mix into the dry mix and combine but don't overstir. Then fold in the diced strawberries.
Pour batter into the pan and bake for about 30 minutes, until the cake starts pulling away from the sides and the top feels springy and a toothpick comes out clean.
For the frosting, use an electric mixer to combine the sugar and butter. Then add in the lemon juice and zest, and very slowly, 1/2 tbsp. at a time, pour in the milk to get the right frosting texture.
Let the cake cool completely before frosting, then decorate!
