It was my son’s 6th birthday yesterday (how time flies – I can’t believe he is 6 already!) and he specifically requested a Star Wars cake. Each year I have made him a special birthday cake as per his request (a dirtbike cake, a train cake, a volcano cake, an Angry Birds cake, and an Octonauts cake) – I guess this is our family tradition – we always have cake on our birthdays :D
Then I asked him what flavour would he like his cake. Of course, he requested a flavour I had never made before – caramel. How the heck was I going to make a caramel cake?
So I turned to Google and found a variety of caramel mud cake recipes that were virtually all the same. I chose this caramel mud cake recipe to veganise. But then how to make a Star Wars themed cake? Thank you Pinterest, you are a lifesaver – I came across this easy Star Wars birthday cake, just perfect!
Now, if you are a Star Wars fan, you might realise that this cake is somewhat incorrect…but the shops didn’t have Obi-wan and Anakin! So I settled for Luke and Darth Vader…but oh well. My 6 year old (despite watching the Star Wars movies more times than I have) didn’t realise until I pointed this out.
Now back to the vegan caramel mud cake. Oh my. I was never a fan of mudcakes in my pre-vegan days…they were always too rich. But this mud cake is not like that. It is the perfect balance between moist and dry, not too rich, not too sweet. And the cacao butter gives a truly decadent flavour.
To create the Star Wars scene, after the cake was cool I topped it with lava (strawberry jam) and pieces of land (raw chocolate). Then I balanced Luke and Darth on a bit of land each…that was probably the hardest part of the whole cake! But, the look on my son’s face when he saw the cake was worth it :) happy birthday Amir!
- 150g coconut oil
- 60g cacao butter
- ¾ cup water
- ½ cup applesauce
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 cups plain flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup brown sugar
- OPTIONAL TOPPINGS
- ½ cup cacao powder
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- ¼ cup rice malt syrup
- 100g strawberry jam
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius / 320 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Put the coconut oil and cacao butter in a small saucepan and heat gently over a low heat until melted.
- When melted, take off heat and mix together the wet ingredients (coconut oil to vanilla essence).
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and sugar.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and combined well.
- Pour the mix into a prepared cake tin.
- Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.
- Let cool before removing from cake tin, and then cool completely before decorating (if doing so).
- OPTIONAL STEPS FOR STAR WARS CAKE
- Mix the cacao, coconut oil and rice malt syrup together (melt the oil over some hot water if it is solid).
- Spread on a sheet of baking paper and refrigerate or freeze until solid (about 1 hour).
- Spread the jam on top of the cake.
- Break the chocolate into pieces and place strategically on the jam.
- Refrigerate the cake until serving.
I’m sharing this cake with Virtual Vegan Linky Potluck, What’s Cookin’ Wednesday, Tasty Tuesday, What’d You Do This Weekend.
Comment below and tell me:
- Do you make elaborate (or not so elaborate…) birthday cakes?
- What is your favourite cake? (Each year I request a banana cake).
- What is your birthday tradition?
You totally delivered! He gave you quite a project. I’ve never heard a kid request caramel before! Haha. Great job!
I was surprised when he requested caramel cake too, I don’t think he’s ever had caramel cake before in his life! But it’s nice to be challenged in the kitchen once in a while :) thanks Julie!
Super cute!!
Thanks Diana :)
love this so much sis! Well done :) very creAtiVe.
Thanks so much sis :)
Oh, this is too cute! My son would love one of these! :)
Thanks so much Dee :)
Sounds Like a wonderful cake! I bet your son was thrilled!
Thanks Joy! He absolutely loved it :)