Vegan Black Forest Fruit Crumble Cake

This black forest crumble cake combines my two favourite comforting desserts - cake and crumble! What's not to love?

It's delicious on its own or even topped with vanilla ice cream or custard.

CAKE BATTER

The recipe for the cake layer of this crumble cake was inspired by 'Loving It Vegan' with a few little changes.

Begin by preheating the oven to 200°c / 180°c (fan).

Then in a large bowl combine 220 g self-raising flour, 200 g caster sugar, a pinch of salt, 240 ml plant milk (I used oat), 80 ml neutral oil (I used sunflower) and 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar.

Whisk until a smooth batter is formed with no lumps. Leave to one side while you make the berry compote.

BERRY COMPOTE

To make the berry compote measure 300 g of berries - I used a frozen black forest fruits mix, but you could use any berries you want.

Place the berries in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-low heat.

Cook until the berries have softened and released their juices (this will take between 5 - 10 mins).

At this point add 1 tbsp of cornflour to the berries. The cornflour will thicken the juices from the berries and stop the cake and crumble layer from being too moist.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

CRUMBLE TOPPING

The crumble topping is made up of both plain flour and oats.

If you have a food processor put 110 g of plain flour in the processor along with 40 g oats, 50 g golden caster sugar and 50 g coconut oil (solid). If your coconut oil is melted just pop it in the fridge for 5 mins to solidify.

Pulse until a breadcrumb-like consistency is formed.

If you don't have a food processor, put the ingredients in a large bowl and use your fingertips to rub the coconut oil into the dry ingredients until it looks similar to breadcrumbs. If you do not have a food processor you will have chunks of oats in the crumb mixture but it will still work!

LAYERING THE CRUMBLE CAKE

Start the layering process by lining the bottom of a square cake tin with greaseproof baking paper - the tin I used was 8" x 8" so try and use something that is a similar size. You may need to adjust the baking time if your tin is bigger/smaller than the one I used. The smaller the tin the longer it will need in the oven.

Next, scatter the berry compote over the cake batter - try and evenly distribute it.

Finally, sprinkle the crumble mixture over the berry compote and bake in the oven for 30 - 35 mins. To check if it's cooked use a skewer or knife to poke the cake if the skewer comes out clean it is cooked.

Cut into squares and serve!

INGREDIENTS:

CAKE LAYER:

• 220 g self-raising flour

• 200 g caster sugar

• A pinch of salt

• 240 ml plant milk (I used oat)

• 80 ml neutral oil (I used sunflower)

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar.
  

BERRY COMPOTE:

• 300g black forest berry mix

• 1 tbsp cornflour

CRUMBLE TOPPING:

• 110 plain flour

• 40g oats

• 50g golden caster sugar

• 50g coconut oil (solid)

METHOD:

1) Preheat the oven to 200°c / 180°c (fan).

2) In a large bowl add all of the ingredients for the cake layer and mix until a smooth batter is formed. Make sure there are no lumps in the cake batter. Leave to one side.

3) Now make the berry compote. Put the berries in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-low heat for 5 - 10 mins until the berries soften and release their juices.

4) Add the cornflour to the berries to thicken the juices. Leave compote to cool.

5) While the berries are cooling use a food processor to make the crumble topping (if you don't have a food processor see above). Add all of the crumble ingredients to the food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

6) Line the bottom of a square cake tin with greaseproof baking paper (I used an 8" x 8" tin). The smaller the tin the longer the crumble cake will need in the oven.

7) Pour the cake batter into the tin. Spread the batter until it evenly covers the surface of the cake tin.

8) Next, use a spoon to scatter the berry compote over the cake layer. Try to evenly distribute it.

9) Now finish the cake off by sprinkling the crumble mixture over the entire cake/berry mixture. Bake for 30 - 35 mins.

10) Allow the crumble cake to cool and then use a knife to cut it into squares. Done!