We enjoyed this cake with a store-bought vegan whipped topping, but I am sure that vanilla ice cream would be just as good. I tend to choose full-fat whipped toppings on the rare occasion when I buy commercial ones – they’re not quite as artificial-tasting as the lighter versions. My favorite right now is GoGreen Vispi, an oat-based product that is available at least in Finland and Sweden.

The Wet:

• 2 dl plain soy yoghurt
• 1 large lime, juiced and zested (1/2 dl juice, 1 tablespoon zest)
• 1/2 dl canola oil

The Dry:

• 2 dl almonds, ground into 3 dl almond meal
• 1 dl white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 dl gram (chick pea flour)
• 2 dl sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• pinch of salt

The Topping:

• 1 dl slivered almonds
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon soy milk
• pinch of salt

To Serve:

• vegan whipped topping (we had GoGreen Vispi)
• 1/2 vanilla bean

The batter was as straightforwards as can be – I mixed the wet and the dry separately and then combined, stirring with a fork. I also stirred the topping ingredients gently together (I didn’t want to mash the slivers), then poured the batter in the baking pan and sprinkled with the topping. For an even coating, you might want to double the amount of topping.

Then I baked the cake for 25 minutes in 200 degrees Celsius, until the edges were nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake came out with just a few crumbs. I let the cake cool to room temperature, and served with vanilla whipped cream. For the cream, I just scraped the seeds from half a vanilla bean with the tip of a sharp knife, and added that to the commercial vegan whipping cream as I was whipping it.

This recipe makes 12 muffins. We also halved the recipe a few weeks back, and the results were just as delicious.

The dry mix:

• 4 dl wheat flour
• 1 dl dark cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

The wet mix:

• 1 dl liquid margarine
• 1 and 1/2 dl sugar
• 2 dl (sweetened) soy milk
• 2 dl plain soy yogurt
• 100 g chocolate, melted
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons Grand Marnier (or another orange liqueur)
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

Additions:

• 1 and 1/2 dl chocolate chips

First, I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, greased our 12-cup muffin tin, and dusted it with cocoa powder.

We mixed all the ingredients of the dry and the wet mixes in separate bowls, and then mixed the two together, stirring with a fork until relatively smooth. Now it was time to add the chocolate chips, and stir a bit more to combine. Then we spooned the batter into the cups of the muffin tin, and placed the muffins on the middle rack of the preheated oven.

In our oven it took about 25 minutes for a toothpick inserted in a muffin to come out clean, indicating that they were ready. I placed the muffins upside down on a wooden rack to cool down for half an hour or so, and then packed them for the picnic.