Thank goodness rum is vegan! LOL!

It's birthday month again! And though it took me about a whole month to come to a mutually satisfying decision on what to bake, it was so worth it. With every passing year it gets a bit more tricky. Because I don't want to make the same cake again ... if I can help it, because it has to please the birthday boy/girl, and because all four cakes need to be not only different, but complement each other in flavour.


This one screams Monique all over ... it's vegan, it's got cookie butter, and did I mention rum? Yes, that's where all the rum's gone. In the interest of full disclosure, all our cakes are boozed up. Some more than others, but all really 'spirited'. We came back from CDMX with a nice bottle of Bacardi Ocho and probably 'spilled' a little more than needed of the recipe :D and it was so so good!

The cinnamon and ginger notes made this a warming and hearty cake, ideal for fall. It went perfectly alongside our other cakes that evening. Because we're so extra, we made our own cookie butter, something whipped up at a moment's notice in absence of speculaas spread.



The decor was kept very simple with kruidnoten, ginger spiced 'buttons' on the side and speculaas crumbs on top.

Ingredients:

A) Bacardi Cake Syrup
240 ml (1 cup) water
100 g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
30 ml (1/8 cup) Bacardi Ocho rum

B) Vegan Cookie Butter Cake
540 ml (2-1/4 cups) almond milk, at room temperature
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
330 g (2-3/4 cups) all purpose flour
30 g (1/4 cup) cornstarch
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
300 g (1-1/2 cups) granulated sugar
160 ml (2/3 cup) grapeseed oil (or any other vegetable oil)
80 ml (1/3 cup) Speculoos cookie butter
2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp Bacardi Ocho rum

C) Bacardi Buttercream
450 g (1 lb) icing sugar, sifted
50 g (3 tbsp) vegan butter (Becel or Alpro)
3 tbsp almond milk
2 tbsp Bacardi Ocho

Directions:

A) Bacardi Cake Syrup
1. In a small saucepan, place the water and sugar.
2. Bring to a boil, then set aside to cool.
3. When cooled, stir in the Bacardi Ocho rum.

B) Vegan Cookie Butter Cake
1. Butter and flour the sides of 3 20-cm (8-inch) round cake tins, and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
2. Preheat the oven to 175C or 350F.
3. In a medium non-reactive bowl, combine the almond milk and the apple cider vinegar. Set aside to curdle.
4. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
5. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, cookie butter, vanilla extract, and rum until homogenous and resembles a paste.
6. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, folding until just combined.
7. Divide the batter into the 3 prepared tins and bake for 22 - 25 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
8. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before inverting it onto a cooling rack.
9. When cooled, level the tops with a serrated knife or a cake leveler.
10. Brush with Bacardi cake syrup.

C) Bacardi Buttercream