Vegan Cherry and Poppy Seed Cake from the Tray
There are occasions for which you need a lot of cake: Barbecues, birthdays, picnics, weddings, cake buffets aaaaaand so on. Sheet cakes are perfect for just such occasions. You don't need three cake tins; you can easily transport everything directly on the tray and eat it straight from your hand without any cutlery. Practical! So, if you're looking for a recipe to feed three soccer teams at the same time, you've come to the right place.
You work your way through four layers: You start with a layer of shortcrust pastry, which is the base of the cake. We spread a layer of poppy seeds on top, which we mixed in a pan with semolina and plant-based milk. The poppy seed layer is then topped with a layer of quark, which makes the cake a little lighter and adds a certain acidity. Fresh cherries and crumble go on top. Depending on the season, you can replace them with berries, rhubarb, apples, plums or cherry juice from a jar or freezer. If you use the latter, make sure you drain the liquid well. The ingredients are all super simple; just make sure you use vegan butter that is really firm (and packaged like butter). We don't mean spreadable margarine here, as this would be far too soft for our crumble and shortcrust pastry.
Incidentally, you can prepare all the ingredients, except for the poppy seed layer, a day in advance and keep them in the fridge overnight. The semolina will cause the poppy seed layer to thicken overnight, making it more difficult to spread it evenly over the cake. We would, therefore, prepare it fresh. However, the cake keeps well for 3–4 days, preferably in an airtight container.
Vegan Cherry and Poppy Seed Cake from the Tray
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 750 g (6 cups) wheat flour (type 405)
- 250 g (1.25 cups) sugar
- 375 g (3.33 stick) cold vegan butter
For the vegan quark layer:
- 100 g (3.5 oz) plant-based margarine
- 74 g (2.66 oz) vegan vanilla pudding powder
- 150 ml (0.66 cup) plant-based milk
- 1.2 kg (42.33 oz) vegan skyr (quark)
- 75 g (0.33 cup) brown sugar
For the poppy seed layer:
- 750 ml (3.25 cup) plant-based milk
- 150 g (5.33 oz) soft wheat semolina
- 37 g (1.33 oz) vegan vanilla pudding powder
- 150 g (0.75 cup) sugar
- 300 g (10.5 oz) ground poppy seeds
- 50 g (0.5 stick) vegan butter
For the crumble layer:
- 300 g (2.5 cups) wheat flour (type 405)
- 100 g (0.5 cup) sugar
- 200 g (1.75 stick) cold vegan butter
Also:
- 700 g (24.66 oz) fresh cherries
Instructions
For the dough, knead the wheat flour, sugar and cold vegan butter in a bowl to form a smooth dough and chill in the fridge until ready to use.
Melt the vegetable margarine for the quark layer. In a separate bowl, mix the vegan vanilla pudding powder with the plant-based milk until smooth. Pour the vegan quark into a large bowl and stir in the pudding powder mix, melted margarine and brown sugar.
Heat the plant-based milk for the poppy seed layer until it is warm. Stir in the soft wheat semolina and heat for 2–3 minutes until the mixture thickens. Add the vanilla pudding powder, sugar and ground poppy seeds and heat for 4–5 minutes while stirring. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the vegan butter until it has melted and leave the filling to cool.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C/355 °F (circulating air). Knead the flour, sugar and vegan butter into crumbles for the crumble. Pit the cherries and cut half of them in half. Line a baking tray with baking paper and grease it with vegan butter.
Spread the chilled shortcrust pastry on the baking tray and press down evenly to create an even base. Place the tray in the oven for 10 minutes at 180 °C/355 °F (circulating air) and pre-bake.
Take the tray out again, spread the poppy seed filling on top, and smooth out. Now spread the quark layer on top, and top with cherries and crumble. Bake the cake at 180 °C/355 °F (circulating air) for a further 60 minutes. Cover if necessary to prevent the crumble from getting too dark, and leave to cool before slicing.
