Coconut Cornmeal Cake

When my birthday rolled around this year, I thought it was going to be almost impossible to come up with a cake that would even come close to the beloved poppyseed cake my mom has been making me for years.  Now that I try to maintain a vegan diet, and have eliminated refined sugar from my diet it seemed like I may be stuck eating a fruit cup on my big day.  Thug Kitchen to the rescue!  Every recipe I have tried from this cookbook has been amazing, and this was no exception.  It is moist and slightly sweet.  I paired it with fresh coconut cream and berries.  Delicious, and perfect for a summer dessert!

SUPPLIES

1¼ c cornmeal
¾ c oat flour, or gluten free all purpose flour
¾ c coconut sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1½ c coconut milk (in the can, Thai Kitchen brand is best)
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp grated lemon zest

METHOD

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.  Grease an 8 inch pan with coconut oil, and dust it with flour so it doesn’t stick.
Combine cornmeal, flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  
Make a hole in the center of the dry mixture and pour in the coconut milk, vanilla,and lemon zest.
Stir until there are no dry pockets left and very few lumps.
Pour the batter into the cake pan.
Bake the cake for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the middle clean.  Let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.  
Turn onto a wire rack, or cool counter to finish cooling.
Top with whipped coconut cream and berries.  To prepare coconut cream, place a can of full fat coconut milk in the refrigerator overnight.  When ready to prepare the cream, scoop out the coconut cream into a bowl.  Add about 3 tbsp of maple syrup, and a 1 tsp of vanilla extract.  Mix with a spoon or hand mixer until fluffy.  Spread on the cake and serve with berries.