Vegan pistachio and rose cake

I was invited to a friend’s birthday celebration recently and at the last minute I was told one of the guest (and an old friend) was vegan. As you might be aware, the vegan diet excludes any animal products so eggs and dairy (including butter) were banned. I often replace butter by coconut oil so omiting the fat in the recipe was fine by me but the eggs were going to be a bit tricky as I had, on a few occasions, used egg substitutes in cakes and bakes (psyllium husk, chia seeds or flax seeds mixed with water) and had not been completely happy with the texture.

I found a long forgotten recipe in a scrapbook and changed it to accommodate my friend and to my surprise the result was better than expected. I had also made a Genoese sponge cake with a berry and cream filling for the occasion (definitely not vegan) and the vegan option was preferred by quite a few guests. Still not sure how I feel about that...

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened almond or oat milk (or better still, make you own almond milk)
• ¾ cup oat cream (I used Oatly) or you could use coconut yoghurt
• ½ cup organic coconut oil (melted)
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 2 tablespoon rosewater
• 2 cups plain flour
• 3 tablespoon cornflour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ¾ cup pistachio nuts + ¼ cup for decorating (finely chopped)
• A sprinkling of dried rose petal for cooking (Neil's Yard)

Rosewater Syrup (this helps the rose petal and pistachio stick to the cake)

• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup coconut sugar
• Generous squeeze of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon rose water

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 and line the bottom of a 20-21cm cake tin with baking parchment and flour the side of the tin to prevent the cake for sticking
2. In a large bowl, mix together almond/oat milk, oat cream, coconut oil, coconut sugar, and rosewater
3. Sift the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cardamom) and mix with the wet mixture until smooth
4. Fold the pistachio nuts and pour in the baking tin
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Wait 10 minutes and gently take the cake out of the tin and let it completely cool on a baking rack 
6. To make the syrup, mix the water and sugar in a pan on medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Let it reduce by half and take off the heat, add the rosewater and lemon and, using a fork, drizzle over the cake
7. Sprinkle your pistachio and rosewater onto the cake whilst the syrup is still warm and sticky and drizzle some more over your decorations
8. This cake freezes incredibly well too!