This cake was a special treat on the weekend. It is basically an adaptation of a traditional German tart that we have made vegan. There are 3 parts: the vegan white cake, the poppy seed filling and the red fruit topping. The poppy seed filling is a thick pudding that is soft, yet firm enough to stay solid when cut and not run over. For the fruit topping we used raspberries, but it can also be cherries, redcurrants or strawberries.

White Cake with Poppyseed Filling and Raspberry Topping

Serving Size: 6

Ingredients:

for the white cake:

  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • 3 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 5 tablespoons sunflower oil
  • 1 teaspoon vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3/4 cup water

for the poppy seed filling:

  • 2 cups vanilla soy milk
  • ½ cup semolina flour
  • small pinch salt
  • ½ cup poppy seeds
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1-2 tablespoons sweetener, optional

for the raspberry topping:

  • 1 box frozen raspberries (about 10 ounces)
  • 3/4 – 1 cup raspberry jam
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 teaspoons agar agar powder

White Cake with Poppyseed Filling and Raspberry Topping
Directions:

to make the cake:

  1. You will want to make a thin sheet cake. Once it is done, cut it evenly in half to be the top and bottom layers of the cake.
  2. Prepare a sheet cake tray with a layer of baking parchment, then spray the baking parchment with oil.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.
  4. Put flour, sugar, and baking soda into a mixing bowl and mix well.
  5. Grate the lemon until you have at least 2 tbsp of peel.
  6. Juice the lemon to get 3 tablespoons of juice. Mix that with water in a separate bowl from the flour mix.
  7. Add the oil, vanilla and vinegar and mix very well.
  8. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour and mix well. It will foam a little but keep mixing, however be careful not to over mix the batter.
  9. Pour the batter onto your baking tray and bake for 25 minutes at 350 F / 177 C.
  10. Allow the cake to completely cool before cutting.

to make the poppy seed filling:

  1. Depending on the flavor of the soy milk, you may want to add a bit more sweetener and more vanilla.
  2. Add the semolina flour and a small pinch of salt to the cold soy milk in a saucepan and stir well to mix.
  3. Add any sweetener and vanilla per taste.
  4. Heat the soy milk mixture.
  5. Add the poppy seeds.
  6. Heat to boil, stirring continuously.
  7. Once it thickens it is done. Remove from the heat and cool in the refrigerator until ready to use.

to make the raspberry topping:

  1. Thaw the raspberries in a bowl.
  2. Place the raspberry jam in a saucepan and turn the heat to low.
  3. Mix the water with the agar agar and add to the melted raspberry jam.
  4. Add the thawed raspberries and bring the heat up to a boil.
  5. Gently stirring the mixture as it heats.
  6. When the mixture comes to a boil, allow to boil for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and allow to cool until it begins to jell.

to assemble the cake:

  1. Slice the sheet cake evenly into two halves.
  2. Place the one half as the bottom onto a serving plate.
  3. Evenly spread the cooled, jelled, poppy seed mixture over the cake. If the poppy seed mixture has not jelled, wait a bit longer until you can easily spread the poppy seed mixture and it stays in place.
  4. Spread the mixture evenly to the edges.
  5. Place the second half of the cake on top of the poppy seed mixture.
  6. When the raspberry mixture has jelled enough to spread and stay in place, spoon the mixture onto the top of the cake and evenly smooth to the edges.
  7. Carefully slice the cake into squares or rectangles about 3″ x 4″ in size. This is a very filing treat so you don’t need to serve large portions. It keeps well for about 3 days if it doesn’t get eaten up before then.