Whenever I make something with pecans, I remember how expensive they are – at least in Finland that is. I mean, I find nuts generally quite expensive here, but pecans really exceed in that. But well, they are delicious and they are used in a moderate amount in this recipe so it’ll be fine.

 

 

This is one of those very easy cakes, really. Put the dry ingredients on one side, the wet ingredients on another side and then combine them. Finally add the pecans and you’re good to go. A solid 40 minutes baking (at least in my oven) for each layer and you get a perfect cake each time.

 

 

 

The measurements I give here is for 1 cake. So in order to make 2 layers, you just need to bake 2 cakes. You can also just make 1 cake of course, or you can make more than 2 layers using the same measurements for each cake layer. Of course, you need to adjust the buttercream accordingly. The measurements for buttercream is for 2 layers, so with a bit of math, you can perfectly adjust that to any amount of layers you like.

 

 

My cakes came out of the oven with just a little bump. When I put the layers on with buttercream, I just had to trim a bit from the top. The trimmed cake was a nice piece to eat while preparing the rest of the cake.

 

 

There are different kinds of methods to make flat surface cake, you can find videos for these on youtube. I find the best method to be wrapping a moist towel around the edges of the cake pan. Usually when I am making multiple layered cakes, I use this method to avoid discarding too many bumped surfaces. However, for this cake I felt lazy to do that. And I just ate the discarded parts! It was delicious! Well, enjoy your cake!
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Ingredients:

 

Difficulty: Easy
(the measurements below for the cake is for 1 layer of cake in 20cm cake pan, the measurements for buttercream is for 2 layered cake – multiply and/or divide the amounts according to the amount of layers you want to make)

 

Printable PDF-recipe (no photos)

 

For the cake:
3 dl + 3 tbsp (or 1 1/2 cups or 200 gr) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 dl + 4 tsp (or 1/2 cup) cane syrup (or any other vegan syrup you like)
6 tbsp rapeseed oil (or any other vegetable oil, or melted coconut oil)
1 dl + 4 tsp (or 1/2 cup) oat milk (or any other non-dairy milk you like)
1 dl + 4 tsp (or 1/2 cup) applesauce (unsweetened)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 dl (or 60 gr.) lightly toasted and chopped pecans*

 

For buttercream:
200 gr vegan butter, softened in room temperature
6 dl (or 2.5 or 360 gr.) powdered sugar
6 tbsp cacao
3 tbsp oat milk (or more, if needed, see instructions below)

 

To put on top (optional):
1/2 dl (or 30 gr.) lightly toasted and chopped pecans

 

*I put my pecans in food processor and just processed a little, to have smaller but not fully ground pecan pieces.

 

 

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1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm pan and cover the base with a baking paper.

 

 

2. In a medium bowl, put all the dry ingredients (starting with flour and ending with nutmeg in the list) and whisk.

 

 

 

3. In a large bowl, put all the remaining ingredients except for pecans and whisk well.

 

 

 

4. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk well.

 

 

 

5. Add pecans and whisk until pecans are evenly spread.

 

 

 

6. Transfer the cake batter to the pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. When ready, take out of the oven and let it cool completely in the pan. Repeat the same steps for all the other layers you want to make.

 

 

7. When all your cakes are cooled down to room temperature, prepare the buttercream. Put butter in a mixer together with about half of powdered sugar and whisk well in slow to medium speed. Scrape the sides if needed.

 

 

 

 

 

8. Add remaining powdered sugar and whisk well again, from slow to medium speed. Scrape the sides again if needed.

 

 

 

 

9. Add cacao powder and whisk well from slow to medium speed until well mixed. Scrape the sides if needed.

 

 

 

 

10. Finally, gradually add the oat milk while mixing. For me, in order to get the best consistency, 3 tbsp oat milk was enough when I first made it. However, when I made it second time, I didn’t need to use oat milk at all because my butter was soft enough and resulting buttercream was soft enough as well. Depending on your ingredients, your butter’s softness etc. you might need more or less oat milk, or maybe not at all. That’s why I recommend to be slow with adding oat milk. The final consistency should be an easily spreadable buttercream, but not too soft, maybe kind of hard-ish nutella consistency. IMPORTANT REMINDER: Do not forget to change the measurements of buttercream if you are making one layer cake or more than 2 layers. This buttercream amount is suitable for 2 layers. I used buttercream generously for both layers, so if you want a thinner layer of buttercream, you can reduce the amount (like, having butter 150 gr and then changing the rest of the measurements for the cream accordingly using math, however this is just a recommendation, you need to find the right amount yourself in the end, if you want thinner cream).

 

 

 

 

11. Assembly: Take your cake layers out of the pans. If they have bumpy surfaces, trim a little.

 

 

 

 

12. Put the cream on one layer first. Put the second cake layer on top and finalise with surface creaming (or continue with more layers..).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13. Finalise the cake by spreading remaining chopped pecans. This is optional and you can perfectly leave the cake with just buttercream. Enjoy your cake with fresh tea / coffee and lovely friends, family and loved ones!