Veganised Black Star Pastry Strawberry and Watermelon Cake

Not too long a go, before I turned vegan, I had a few slices of the Black Star Pastry ever so popular 'Strawberry and Watermelon cake'. The first time, I was actually a little disappointed (maybe I expected too much haha) but the second & third times I ate the cake... woah mama.
This cake was made famous through the complex yet elegant beauty of the dacquoise, rose cream, & watermelon layers, topped with the harmony of colours, and flavours, of pistachio, strawberry, ruby red grapes and dried rose petals. It's really quite a piece of food art.


Today... let me show you how you can veganise/"healthify" this cake... and still have it looking and tasting amazing in a completely mind-blowing way! You'll see what I mean ;)

I made this cake for my partners birthday one time, after coming across the recipe online and decided to substitute some of the ingredients that weren't vegan friendly, or too chemically processed. However, it was a delicious mess. I forgot to absorb excess water from the watermelon so it was sliding/dripping on the bottom layer, & I didn't cut it well. 
But the flavours were great (and this is not just my opinion)! I remade the cake, making sure I did everything properly & voila! It does look very homely because it isn't as clean cut, but I like the look!

If you want a cake full of fruit goodness, vitamins, omega 3, good protein, good fats, then here it is! The only thing I'm not entirely happy about in the ingredients, is the pure icing sugar, but if that's one ingredient out of 10+, I can deal (and I hope you can too!). The recipe is fairly easy for such a complex looking cake, you just need to manage and plan your time well so that you're not faffing about wondering what to do next. My methods list may look terrifyingly long, but I just listed everything step by step instead of related steps together.

Veganised Strawberry and Watermelon Cake

Ingredients

Dacquoise:

• 1 cup almonds
• 1 cup pure icing sugar
• 5 chia eggs (1:3 tbs chia seeds to water ratio, source)
• 2/3 cup of coconut sugar
  
  

Rose-cream:

• 300 ml of silken tofu (preferably organic, non-GMO)
• 1/4 cup of coconut sugar
• 2 tbsp rosewater

Assembling:

• seedless watermelon (thinly sliced, left overs for snacking on!)
• 1 tbsp of coconut sugar
• 1-2 tbsp tbsp of rosewater 
• 1/3 cup of almond meal 

Toppings:

• 1-2 punnets of strawberries (snack on the left overs!)
• 1-2 tbsp of coconut sugar
• 1 tbsp of rosewater
• 10 seedless ruby red grapes
• 1 tbsp slivered pistachios
• dried rose petals (optional)

Method

1. Prepare the almond dacquoise. 
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. 
2. Process your chia eggs- I use a blender and mix the seeds and water together into a sort of gel, which you can leave on the side for a bit while you work on the rest. It will look greyish- don't worry, that's normal. 
3. Process your almonds until they are finely ground (make sure not to process to far across this point, as it may begin to release it's oils and become an almond butter!). 
4. Add your chia egg gel and ground almonds into a whisking/mixing bowl along with your pure icing and coconut sugar. Mix together well.
5. Spread the dacquoise mix evenly onto an oven tray lined with baking paper. 
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden.
7. Once done, set aside to cool, then cut in half lengthways.
2. Prepare the watermelon layer.
1. Cut up watermelon slices and place them on a wire rack.
2. Sprinkle with 1-2 tbsp rosewater and coconut sugar.
3. Let stand for 15-30 minutes.
4. Pat dry with absorbent paper. 
3. Prepare the rose-cream.
1. Whisk the silken tofu, coconut sugar & rosewater together. 
4. Prepare the layers!
1. Evenly spread 1/3 of the rose-cream onto the first dacquoise layer.
2. Scatter almond meal on top of the rose-cream.
3. Layer on the watermelon (slice off any edges).
4. Scatter almond meal on top of the watermelon.
5. Evenly spread 1/2 of the remaining rose-cream.
6. Layer on the other dacquoise.
7. Spread the rest of the remaining rose-cream.
8. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
5. Prepare the toppings!!
1. Combine sliced strawberries, left over rosewater and sugar in a bowl, mix together, and leave for 10-20 minutes.
2. Arrange them on top of the cake, pushing into the rose-cream.
3. Scatter the grapes and pistachios.
4. NOMANOMANOM

Would love to know if you tried it out! 

Michelle