Rainbow Easter Cake. What’s a celebration without cake? The flavours, the colours, the textures – there isn’t just one reason but a whole bunch of reasons why this vibrant Easter themed should be on your Easter hit list.
20 serves, R, VGN, DF, RSF, GF, 45 mins
I normally use fruit when I make fruity cheesecakes, but for this special one, I use fruit powder. I came across blue spirulina and strawberry powder at my local health food store and have been in love ever since. Made from pure organic ingredients, they give a punchy vibrant taste to the cashew cream and create a knockout colour that can only be seen to be believed.
TIP: This is a large size cake intended for a celebration. You can use a smaller tin and reduce the quantity of the ingredients if you wish.
Base:
1 cup (120g) walnuts
1 1/2 cups (40g) coconut, shredded
1 cup (150g) cashews
¼ cup (60ml) rice malt syrup
½ tsp matcha powder
1/8 tsp salt
Vanilla Layer:
4 cups (600g) cashews (soaked for 4 hours)
1 cup (240ml) coconut oil
1 ¼ cup (300ml) rice malt syrup
1 ½ cup (360ml) coconut milk / non dairy milk
1 cup (240ml) filtered water (or non dairy milk)
1 tsp vanilla powder
1/8 tsp salt
Blue Layer:
4 cups (600g) cashews (soaked for 4 hours)
1 cup (240ml) coconut oil
1 ¼ cup (300ml) rice malt syrup
1 ½ cup (360ml) coconut milk / non dairy milk
1 cup + 1 tbsp (240ml) filtered water (or non-dairy milk)
½ – 1 tsp blue spirulina powder*
1/8 tsp salt
Pink Layer:
4 cups (600g) cashews (soaked for 4 hours)
1 cup (240ml) coconut oil
1 ¼ cup (300ml) rice malt syrup
1 ½ cup (360ml) coconut milk / non dairy milk
1 cup + 2tbsp (240ml) filtered water (or non dairy milk)
2 tbsp strawberry powder*
1/8 tsp salt
Dreamy Coconut Balls
1/2 cup (75g) cashews
1 1/2 (120g) cups desiccated coconut
3 tbsp coconut cream
1 cup (80g) desiccated coconut
1 cup (60g) shredded coconut
3 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp rice malt syrup
¼ – ½ tsp blue spirulina
¼ – ½ tsp matcha powder
1/2 – 1 tsp strawberry powder
Decoration
½ cup vanilla / blue and and pink layer mixture
2-3 tbsp coconut, desicatted
4 chocolate stars (optional):
Dark Chocolate Stars
½ cup coconut oil, melted
½ cup cacao powder
2 tbsp maple syrup
Creamy Tahini Stars
1 cup tahini
¼ cup coconut oil, melted
¼ cup (60ml) rice malt syrup
Method
Base:
To make cake base, reduce walnuts and coconut to small pieces in the food processor.
Add the rest of the ingredients and process until well combined and sticky.
Press into a 24cm rectangle tin lined with baking paper and freeze.
Layers:
To make vanilla layer, drain and rinse cashews and blitz in processor with coconut oil, rice malt, coconut milk, water, salt and vanilla. Mixture should be smooth and creamy.
Pour into a bowl and place in the freezer while you make the other layers.
Rinse the processor and make the blue layer in the same way that you made the vanilla layer.
Pour mixture into a bowl and place in the freezer while you make the final layer.
Repeat the process with the pink layer. Set in the freezer.
Spread vanilla layer (reserving 1-2 tablespoons of mixture for decoration) evenly over the base and freeze for at least 1 hour.
Spread blue layer over the vanilla (reserving 1-2 tablespoons of mixture for decoration) and freeze.
Repeat with the pink layer and set in the freezer overnight.
Dreamy Bliss Balls:
Process cashews with coconut, coconut cream, coconut oil and rice malt in a food processor.
Roll mixture through extra shredded and desiccated coconut till well combined.
Randomly add sprinkles of blue spirulina, matcha and strawberry powder to the mix to create a rainbow effect.
Roll balls of varying size with the coconut mixture and set in fridge till balls are firm.
Chocolate and Tahini Stars:
Combine dark chocolate ingredients in a bowl and whisk with a fork.
Combine tahini ingredients in a bowl and whisk well.
Pour chocolate evenly into Star moulds and set in freezer until firm.
Repeat with the creamy tahini mixture and set in freezer until set.
Once both the chocolate and tahini stars are set, pop stars out of moulds.
Decorating:
When you are ready to serve the cake, remove from cake tin and place on a serving plate / platter.
Combine vanilla and blue mixture and spread around the centre of the cake. wherever you see fit.
Place coconut balls over the cake.
Sprinkle with flaked coconut.
Complete with chocolate stars (optional).
Best eaten within 30-45 minutes of removing from freezer.
NB.
* Blue Spirulina and strawberry powder is readily available online. I highly recommend sourcing it to get the best results for this recipe. If you can’t find blue spirulina powder, you can use 1-2 cups of fresh blueberries for the (the amount needed depends on the intensity of the flavour and colour that you desire).
**If you can’t access strawberry powder, you can use 4-5 dried or freeze dried strawberries.