Strawberries and Cream Cake

First off I want to say Happy Father's Day to my wonderful Dad!  He was always the fun parent, the one that would let me eat ice cream before bed, make up funny songs and go on road trips across the country with me. 

But he was also there to support me, cheering for me at my races, helping me with building projects for school or lending me camera equipment.

He may not have been the best cook or baker when I was a kid, but I still enjoyed his PB&J sandwiches and blueberry muffins even if they did come from a box...hey, at least he tried to bake.  Now, I guess it is just better if I bake and share with him.  Monster Cookies are his favorite!  Even if he can't bake, I love him very much!

This weekend I decided to make a strawberries and cream cake.  I don't know why, but strawberries always remind me of my Dad.  Probably because he always bought fresh strawberry pie during the summer, and always had strawberry jam (where as my Mom always bought raspberry).  

It was sort of like strawberry shortcake in cake form with more cream.  I wanted it to be a simple two layer cake.  The cake was to be vanilla scented and fragrant from the almond and coconut flours I had used in the batter. 

It also needed to have plenty of billowy, fluffy cloud like coconut cream and sweet fresh strawberries to tuck inside and cover the top.  It turned out exactly like I pictured, and it was lovely!  Happy Father's Day to all of you dads, I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Vegan Strawberries and Cream Cake

Makes 1 6 inch 2 layer cake

6 inch cake pan

Cake:

1/2 cup almond flour

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp coconut flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 cup maple sugar or granulated sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil

3/4 cup lite organic coconut milk or almond milk

1/2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

1 Tbsp cider vinegar

Coconut Cream Frosting:

2 cans coconut milk, well chilled (just the top part of the can, the thick part.  Reserve the water for another use)

2 Tbsp agave nectar

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup sliced fresh organic strawberries

For the cake, a six-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides with parchment paper. Coat parchment paper and pan sides with nonstick spray. Whisk almond flour, baking soda, sea salt, and sugar in a large bowl to blend well. Whisk oil, milk, and vanilla extract, together in small bowl to blend well, then whisk into the flour mixture until well blended. Whisk in cider vinegar and stir quickly. Transfer cake batter to prepared pan and bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Cool cake completely in pan on rack, about 1 hour. Cut around sides of pan to loosen. Turn cake out onto platter; peel off parchment paper. Let cool completely, then place in the fridge to chill until very cold to make slicing easier (so it doesn't crumble). When chilled, slice cake horizontally in half so that you have 2 layers.

To make frosting, chill a bowl and beaters and place coconut milk in chilled bowl.  Whip until fluffy and the consistency of whipped cream and beat in agave nectar and vanilla.
To assemble cake, place one layer on a plate, and top with about 1/4 cup coconut cream frosting. Spread out over cake layer to the edge. Top with strawberry slices to cover, then another cake layer.  Then place top layer over the berries and spread remaining frosting over top and sides, smoothing out as you go. Top the cake with the rest of the berries.