NOTE: It’s essential to make this cream the day before and refrigerate overnight in order for it to stiffen.

1. Place chilled coconut cream in a bowl and give it a brisk whisk with a wire whisk so that it’s smooth and lump free.
2. Whip aquafaba (I suggest not using one that has been sitting around in the fridge for a couple of days so that the cream has a longer shelf life) until you get stiff peaks – to check, invert the bowl and watch if the whipped aquafaba starts sliding down, if it does continue whipping until it no longer does. With my handheld whisk, it takes approximately 10 minutes.
3. Once at stiff peaks, start adding sugar very gradually while whipping. If using sweet cherries, I recommend 4 tbsp of sugar. If using sour cherries, I recommend 6 tbsp instead.
4. Whisk in xanthan gum.
5. Very, very slowly and gently whisk the coconut cream into the aquafaba with a wire whisk. The mixture will deflate a bit but don’t worry, it’s normal – once chilled the fat in the coconut cream will provide structure and a nice mouth feel. Refrigerate for a few hours for the ‘cream’ to get stiffer. I refrigerated it for about 4 hours and then decorated the (cooled down) cake, but refrigerated two cake layers separately and only stacked them together on the following day to ensure the ‘cream’ has stiffened enough to be able to take the weight of the top layer.

CAKE

1. Heat up the oven to 175° C / 350° F and grease a 15 cm / 6″ round baking tin with a small amount of oil.
2. Mix and sift all your dry ingredients.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream olive oil and sugar with an electric whisk.
4. Add beetroot puree, plant milk and espresso. Mix well.
5. Add dry ingredients to the wet in three batches. Fold them in GENTLY until there are no flour pockets but be careful not to overmix!
6. Spoon the batter into a greased baking tin, gently tap against the work bench to ensure there are no large air pockets trapped in the batter and bake for about 65-75 min, until a toothpick comes out fairly (it’s a moist cake) clean.
7. Allow to cool completely before cutting in half.

CHERRIES

1. Place pitted cherries in a small pot with Kirsch and 3 tbsp of water.
2. Bring to a simmer and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes, just until the cherries soften a little and release some beautiful juices but not long enough to let them turn brown.
3. Transfer cherries out of the pot and set aside to cool.
4. Take 2 tbsp of the liquid that is left in the pot and place in a small bowl. Mix in cornflour to create a cornflour slurry.
5. Pour cornflour / cornstarch slurry back into the pot and allow it to simmer gently for the sauce to thicken. Set aside to cool.

ASSEMBLY

1. Cut cooled-down cake in half horizontally with a serrated knife.
2. Ice the bottom and top layer with stiffened cream. If you make the cake on the same day as your cream, I recommend refrigerating the two iced layers separately (i.e. not stacked on top of each other) overnight.
3. Top bottom layer with cooled down cherries (reserve thickened juices for the top tier).
4. Place top layer on top. Decorate with cherries, thickened cherry juice, edible flowers and chocolate shavings.
5. Store in the fridge and do not expose to direct heat / sunshine. I found that the cake keeps for about 3-4 days.