Is it that time of the month again already?!
Time for the
Daring Bakers Challenge reveal… this month Armenian Nutmeg Cake! There was
also an option of creating Armenian Nazook, which looked deliciously intriguing
but sadly I did not find the time to attempt a vegan version of this recipe
also.
You can find the original recipe outline and instructions
here.
The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by
Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake.
Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake
is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.
There were a few things I changed in order to veganize
and healthanize this recipe: I used soy milk to replace regular milk, I reduced
the quantity of sugar and added some polenta so that the base layer maintained
some crunch, I use coconut butter and reduce the quantity by adding soy yoghurt
to substitute in part. Lastly I used wholemeal spelt flour as my usual flour of
choice when baking.
The cake turned out quite well, it was light and airy although
not very deep, I think if I made this again I would use a 7” or 8” pan. It ws delicately spiced and not over sweet which I really liked. However, I
made a bit of a silly mistake by not fitting the base of the pan tin correctly
so that some of the mixture leaked through. Silly me! This meant my crust was a
little messy and it was also a bit crumbly.
I was keen to have another go at getting the crust sussed! In my second attempt
I added a little ground chia to help the mixture stick together. This time I also
decided to go down the route of mini muffins with a little base mixture pressed
into each muffin mould with the end of a rolling pin. This time the mixture was not crumbly at all
but it was not very crisp either- I wasn’t sure if it should be? I have therefore come to the conclusion that
in order to get a crisper denser crust you would need to include nearer the
full quantities or sugar and butter. I’d be interested to get thoughts on how
the base turned out for you?
Either way I really enjoyed the taste of this cake, a lovely
change from the norm as I usually opt for fruity flavours. Even though the name of
the cake is ‘nutmeg’ you can use any warming spices you wish such as cinnamon
and cardammon depending on you preferences. I used a combo of cinnamon and
nutmeg (I just had to get cinnamon on there somewhere!) Similarly you could
decorate the top with any nuts you wish (or go crazy with some chocolate shavings!...shhhh
you didn’t hear that from me!)
Recipe: Armenian nutmeg cake
Makes a 9” cake
Ingredients
1 cup soy milk
Just under 1 tsp baking soda
2 cups spelt flour- mix of
whole and white
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup rapadura plus a pinch
of stevia
¼ cup polenta (to add
crispness)
1/3 cup coconut butter/oil
1/3 cup soy yoghurt (or apple
puree)
1 tbs ground chia or flax and 2
tbs hot water
½ cup flakes almonds and
desiccated coconut
Method
Mix the soy milk and baking soda and set aside.
Mix the flour, baking powder, spices, rapadura and polenta in a
food processor. Add the coconut butter and yoghurt/apple and mix to form
crumbs.
Press half the mixture into a cake pan (or in the bottom of
cupcake moulds) to form a base.
Add the chia egg and milk mix to the remaining dough in the food
processor and mix to form a lumpy batter. Pour the batter over the base mixture
in the pan. Sprinkle nuts over the top.
Bake at 180C for approx. 30-40 mins until lightly golden and a
skewer comes away clean.
For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.
