RECIPE: Katie White’s Turkish delight cake

Ingredients Sponge 4 cups water 4 tsp balsamic vinegar 21/2 cups veggie oil 4 tsp rose essence 3 cups caster sugar 4 cups plain flour 11/2 cups cocoa 5 tsp baking powder 2 tsp salt Strawberry and Rose Frosting 500g vegan butter 500g icing sugar 1/2 tbsp rose essence (available at Coles and Woolies) 5 tbsp strawberry topping sauce (or pureed strawberry jam) Ganache 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/2 cup coconut cream Method Sponge 1.Combine wet mix. 2. Combine dry mix. 3. Combine wet and dry mix swiftly, without over-mixing, and promptly pour the mix evenly into 2 15cm pre-lined springform pans. 4. Bake at 180C for 1 hour. 5. Let sponge completely cool before cutting the tops off evenly to create flat tops. Use a bread knife for this. Frosting 6. Beat all ingredients together with a hand beater until fluffy and well combined. 7. Carefully spread the frosting over the top of the bottom layer and repeat on the top layer of the cake. 8. Now use remainder of frosting to spread all around the cake. 9. When the frosting is covering the cake, use a flat metal scraper to create the marble effect by holding it flat against the cake and slowly turning the cake, removing some of the frosting and revealing some of the sponge. Ganache 10. Over a double boiler melt the chocolate into coconut cream. 11. Let cool a little so it doesn’t melt the frosting but is still warm enough that it pours well. 12. Pour it into the middle of the cake and slowly push it around to the edge of, then carefully at intervals of your choice, push it over the edge to form the drips. Decorations 13. For the chocolate spirals, melt some dark vegan chocolate over a double boiler. 14. Thinly spread it over an upside-down baking tray. 15. Place in fridge until the chocolate has completely set. 16. Take a paint scraper and scrape it off the baking tray, forming chocolate spirals as it comes off. Put them back in the fridge or freezer to set them in this shape. 17. Carefully place them on and around the cake. Rose Petals 18. Try to find rose petals from your or a friend’s garden and either use them fresh or dry them on a windowsill over a week or so. 19. Alternatively, you can find them at gourmet food shops. 20. When you have placed your decorations gently into the ganache, put the cake in the fridge to allow the ganache to set. 21. Remove from the fridge to bring to room temperature a few hours before serving. This will help the rose flavours come out.