Baby You’re a Firework: Vegan Mixed Berry Cake with Rum Buttercream Frosting

Tracy was throwing a Fourth of July party, giving me another excuse to bake a cake.  Since the strawberry cake was a huge hit, I decided to stick with a berry theme.  There are so many beautiful berries in the market right now, and I thought it’d be fun to mix them all up.  They do so in berry smoothies, why not a cake?

A much simpler version would be to take the strawberry cake recipe and substitute the strawberries with a bag of frozen mixed berries, or mix fresh berries yourself.  But in honor of the holiday, I wanted to create something more interesting: a red layer of cake, a white layer of buttercream, and a blue layer of cake.  Good ol’ Red White and Blue.  And to add a little more pizzazz, I used rum buttercream frosting to help bring it all together.  Berries and rum, yum.

Mixed Berry Cake with Rum Buttercream Frosting 

Strawberry-Raspberry Cake Layer

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Unbleached Pastry Flour

1 tbs Corn Starch
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1/2 pkg Strawberry Jel Dessert

Wet Ingredients:

2 tbs Soy Milk + 1 tsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 2 tbs Water

1/3 cup Canola Oil

3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Strawberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup Raspberries (fresh or frozen)
2 tbs Water
1/4 cup Raspberry Preserves

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tsp Red Food Coloring (optional)

Blueberry Cake Layer 

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Unbleached Pastry Flour
1 tbs Corn Starch
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1/2 pkg Strawberry Jel Dessert

Wet Ingredients: 
2 tbs Soy Milk + 1 tsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 2 tbs Water
1/3 cup Canola Oil
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Blueberries + 1/4 cup Water (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup Blueberry Preserves
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Blue Food Coloring (optional)

Preheat oven to 320ºF.  In a food processor, blend strawberries, raspberries, 2 tbs water and raspberry preserves.  Push mixture through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of most of the seeds, reserve.  Next, blend blueberries, 1/4 cup water and blueberry preserves and strain into a separate bowl.  Pour soy milk in separate bowls and add 1 tsp vinegar to each, reserve.  Stir egg replacer and water in separate bowls, reserve.  Sift together dry ingredients into two large bowls.

With a hand mixer, add and incorporate wet ingredients to dry ingredients.  Pour into two 9-inch cake pans and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool.

Rum Buttercream Frosting 
(Feel free to substitute rum with more soy milk if you don’t want the alcohol, or are serving to children.) 

1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Margarine
1/2 cup Earth Balance Natural Shortening
3 cups Powdered Sugar
4 tbs Rum

Using an electric hand mixer, cream margarine and shortening until light and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar in stages.  Lastly, mix in rum.