I have made this cake twice, and I am not an expert. I will let you know the things I would do differently next time. The decoration is up to you, the variations are endless.
First I wanted to make vegan merengues, but I failed big time. I have seen recipes with aquafaba working well, but not for me. On other hand what seemed to be a misfortune, became a blessing, as the creme I finally made is just perfect.
I made this cake for my mum “working aniversary”, and she was very happy with the result. A cousin of mine helped me, but this was the first time for her also. (If I ever bake it again, I will make nicer photos, but as I a don’t have a sweet tooth, I don’t see it coming).
If you have a good non vegan linzer cookie / shortcake recipe you loved making and was working well for you, it is perfect for this as well, just replace the eggs with apple puree. I did the same.
50 dkg white flour
10 dkg sugar
pinch of salt
2 spoon of apple puree (it used be 1 egg)
lemonpeel for your taste
25 dkg margarin (better melted)
half spoon of baking powder
few spoons of apple puree (it used to be creme)
Put and whisk together the dry ingredients into one bowl and the wet ones into an other one till they are combined. Then mix them together, and divide the dough in half, and pat each half into a bowl. Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
Take one roll out and cut it to 1/3 and 2/3rd, as you use the 2/3rd first, what left out you add to the second round. You do the same with the second roll, this way you will have 4 numbers, 2 on top (like on my photos).
On a lightly floured surface, roll one disc of dough out about the size of an iPhoneS thick 😀 If it is too think, it will brake, if it is too thick than it won’t look too good, and maybe get brownish outside before it is ready in the inside.
I have made the numbers out of a cartoon paper, actually from a paper shopping bag.
When you put them on the dough make sure you put them with the same side up as if they are different you can not put them on top of each other, they won’t fit! Cut out with a knife, or if you have any fancier equipment use it 🙂 When you are done, make sure you tap the edges! They can dry out and turn brown on the edge, so make it smooth.
I baked them for 15 minutes in an old fashioned oven. Make sure you don’t brake it, but if you do, don’t panic, you will put many stuff on top, noone will notice!
So back the merengues. They are dry. If you put dry merenges on a dry linzer dough, they will be unpleasant to eat. I would say. So you have to make a tough creme on top.
As I am not an expert with baking I used a premade creme decor, it is the only one I found without animal products in it. It has many variety ,but only one is vegan.
I made a strawberry puding, and let it cool down. You can use vanilia as well, I love the soft pink colour it made with the strawberry. When its cold enough and the creme decor was in the freezer for an hour also, you mix them together and start to whisk the liquid. It won’t turn out a huge fluff, but be a perfect for this type of cake. It is hard enough to keep the second level of the cake, but still soft and silky to eat.
It is up to you how much sugar you use, I hardly used any, and I liked it this way. I wanted to make sure the cake will survive, so I added some help for creme. I cut a Manner (the original should be vegan) into cubs and I used them between the linzer doughs as a structure to hold the second layer, I just wanted to make sure. You can not see it as there are plenty of creme around them.
It is up to you how you decorate the ckae. I used strawberries, but make sure any fruit you use is dry enough, not tp make the cake wet.
A decoration tip: I used a bar of white chocolate, melted it, added some food paint then pour any form on a baking paper and let it cool down.
AlmaCseresznye 