Vegan.It’s almost New Year’s, so to celebrate, I have made this adorable yet delicious celebratory New years cake.A party fox which is a chocolate cake with an orange flavoured buttercream, a cookie clock and a confetti covered party hat- so cute!It’s easy to make and would be a centerpiece at any New Year party!Preparation- 30 minutesBaking time- 28-30 minutesServes- Approximately 10-12Level- Medium…Ingredients for the cake-480ml of dairy-free milk -2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar-420g of self-raising flour-3 tablespoons of cocoa powder-470g of golden caster sugar-1 teaspoon of baking powder-1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda-120g of coconut oil (melted)Ingredients for the buttercream -210g of dairy-free butter-500g of icing sugar-2 teaspoons of orange extract/flavouring-Orange food colouring/gel-Dairy-free milk (if needed)Extras-1 chocolate cupcake-1 sugar cookie-Royal icing-1 icecream cone-Black & white fondant-Gold sprinkles-Edible gold paint…To make the cakesStep 1- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c and line three 6 inch cake tins with grease-proof paper.Step 2- In a bowl, combine the dairy-free milk with the apple cider vinegar and whisk until fully combined.Set aside for 10 minutes to curdle. This creates a vegan ‘buttermilk’.Step 3- In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well to combine.Step 4- Add the melted coconut oil into the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine. Step 5- Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix.Step 6- Pour equal amounts of batter into the lined cake tins.Make sure to tap the tins on the worktop to remove any air bubbles.Step 7- Pop the cakes into the center of the preheated oven and bake for around 28-30 minutes. You will know they are baked when you put a knife or skewer in and it comes out clean and they are springy to the touch.Step 8- Place the cakes on a cooling rack and allow to cool fully.Once cool, pop them into a sealed container to keep them fresh before frosting.Step 9- Make some chocolate cupcakes, and set one aside for decorating. To make the buttercreamStep 1- In a bowl/stand mixer, cream the butter on high then add in the icing sugar and orange extract.Whip together until combined, light and fluffy.Add a splash of dairy-free milk if too thick.Step 2- Divide the buttercream into 2 bowls.-In the first bowl, leave it plain white-In the second bowl, add in orange food colouring.Step 3- Stack and fill the cakes with the white buttercream.Step 4- I added a chocolate cupcake to the top of the cake and covered it in buttercream. This creates the 3d head for the fox.If you don’t want to make chocolate cupcakes, you can make an extra batch of buttercream and pile it on top of the cake to resemble the fox head.Step 5- Crumb coat the whole cake with the white buttercream and pop into the fridge to set. This will take around 1 hour.Step 6- Add a thick layer of buttercream all over the cake and using a smooth or textured cake scraper or large spatula, smooth out the buttercream.Step 7- Place the orange buttercream and white buttercream into separate piping bags fitted with a star tip nozzles and pipe the details on the fox head and tail.To make the tail, I rolled out a log of fondant and wrapped it around one side of the cake, decorated with white and orange buttercream to replicate a foxtail.Step 8- Roll out one large and two small balls of black fondant and attached to the cake for the eyes and nose.To decorate, I added gold sprinkles over the cake and attached an iced clock cookie.Get my sugar cookie recipe here.I added on a party hat which is an ice cream cone, covered in royal icing and sprinkles.Get my royal icing recipe here.The stars and ‘2020’ logo are made out of royal icing decorated with edible glitter.Serve fresh or store in a sealed container in the fridge, the buttercream will firm up at room temperature. Best eaten within a few days!PIN MEMake sure you follow me on my social mediaMy Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/thelittleblogofvegan/Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/littleblogofvegan/Twitter- https://twitter.com/BlogofVeganI would love to see your take on my recipes. Tag me on social media using the hashtag #Blogofvegan #thelittleblogofvegan All of my social media links are in the side bar…come and say hi!Share and follow me for more yummy posts to come!
