Orange Layered Cake

Vegan Orange cake with Cashew Honey Frosting

Did you know there are over 600 types of oranges around the world?! and only about a dozen of them are commercialized and taken care of; have you ever stopped and think of the enormous variety of fruit the world has to offer us? I wish I knew how to use half of the world’s vegetables and fruits because they are the ones that leads us to other cultures.

Last year mom and I visited Jeju Island, located in South Korea and fact aside they are surrounded by over 300 inactive volcanos and if you’ve never visited this small but rich island you should, they produce about 90% of their domestic citrus, how and why I know this aside from google of course it’s because they also have a museum of citrus and to learn about all these varieties and health and medicinal properties is astonishing. Jeju Island is also known for women divers for centuries women have been diving to collect seaweed and do all the process afterwards to sell and take bread over their tables, it’s a generation lead activity and they also have a museum in ode to these heroes ladies, yes only women dive no men are allowed because they keep that pride up high! Speaking of these divers, after Jeju Island we went to Seoul and ended up visiting the local craft fair and came across this stand that made gorgeous dive dolls and she told me it was her way of speaking for them and let others know they are the icon of Jeju.

So in short I would say after last year’s visit to Jeju Island, citrus brings lovely memories and makes me realize how lucky we all are to be able to taste the few varieties we have in each country, some have more some have less like Ecuador I would say but the lack of orange variety is reflected in the variety of other fruits that you can’t get anywhere else in the world. i hope you and your loved ones enjoy a slice of this cake.

Layered Orange Cake

Vegan

Makes: 12 servings

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

• 2 ¼ cup flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 ½ cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp orange zest
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 tsp vinegar
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
FROSTING
• 1cup cashews, soaked overnight
• 3 Tbsp coconut milk
• 3 Tbsp honey
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• 3 Tbsp citrus fruit preserve
• 2 tsp bee pollen (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven at 350F and prepare two 8” molds with parchment paper and some coconut oil
2. Combine milk, vinegar and orange juice for a few minutes and set aside; in a bowl mix all dry ingredients, add the rest of wet ingredients into the milk mixture; with an electric mixer, slowly pour wet ingredients over dry and mix well until completely combined. Finally, add the orange zest and mix by hand only for a minute or so to mix it in
3. Pour equal amount of batter in each mold and bake immediately for 35 minutes.
4. For the frosting, simply blend all the ingredients on a high speed blender until very smooth and creamy. I often do any frosting overnight because it has a better and thicker consistency the next day.
5. Once the cakes are fully cooled, place one cake over a cake decorator or a plate and spread your jam first, then top it with the second cake and finally spread some the frosting, decorate with some oranges and sprinkle some pollen and it is ready to share!