Moist and soft VEGAN Coconut Cake topped with strawberry jam, coconut flakes and doused in a delicious coconut syrup. Sponsored by Torani. #ad #AToraniBrunch

I am a chocolate girl. You know that, everybody knows that. There are shockingly few cakes on this blog that does not have chocolate in it. That’s because when I walk into a dessert shop or see a dessert menu, my eyes narrow down the search to items with chocolate. After that, it’s just a matter of finding that one item with the highest concentration of chocolate. Life is quite simple for me. What can I say? I made my choice early on and stuck with it.

If I had to choose a close second, not that this humble cake features on many menus or displays, I’d pick this VEGAN Coconut Cake. Like let’s say I gobbled up that perfect chocolate cake or the store is out of anything made of chocolate, then this cake is my next choice, no contest. For my husband though, it would be his first choice. With this cake on the counter all week (test batches + photo batch), this week has been pretty good for him. I find him loitering around the kitchen a little too much, buzzing around the cake stand like you’d expect a swarm of flies to. I’ve even managed to get extra chores out of him in exchange for a larger slice of cake!

Back in India, there was this tiny bakery on my way home from school, and to say that it was a torture to walk past it everyday is an understatement. The air around it seemed perpetually saturated in sugary smells that infected all those who inhaled it with a placebo sugar rush. Even when the bakery was closed for the day, the sweet fragrance lingered, and it was impossible to walk past the establishment without turning towards the glass display cases inside.

Among the several breads and pastries both savory and sweet they baked everyday, were a tray of these golden sponge cakes, soaked in a sticky sweet syrup, topped with a thick layer of scarlet fruit jam and shredded coconut. They called them honey cakes, and whether there was any honey in them, I cannot say, but I loved them nonetheless. On the rare occasions that my mother allowed us (my little brother and I) two slices of cake each from the store , I always picked one slice of chocolate cake to eat and one slice of this honey cake to go.

It’s been almost a decade since I last had a slice of honey cake from that bakery and the memory completely slipped my mind until I saw Torani’s Coconut Syrup on their seasonal Spring/Summer Syrups list. And as soon as I saw the bottle, the first and only thing I could think of was the coconut crusted honey cake and flashbacks flooded in like a broken dam. So I decided to recreate the taste from memory in this VEGAN Coconut Cake.

Yes the sponge is VEGAN and no, you won’t know the difference. It is light, airy and soft the way all sponge cakes are. When doused in the Coconut syrup, the air pockets in the sponge drink up the flavor and even though it is uncomfortably moist for a day, the extra dampness dissipates the following morning, leaving behind just the right amount of moisture and all of the coconutty goodness.

This cake pairs wonderfully with the Strawberry Hibiscus Iced tea that I posted earlier. The floral notes in the drink and the coconut flavor of the cake recreate the feeling of being alone on a tropical island, serenaded by the soft rustle of the palm breeze, with the cool comfort of the wet sand as the quiet afternoon waves lash against your feet.

Now that is a feeling I’ll be chasing all through this Spring – after all, the year’s just getting started and who knows what manner of inspirations come with it.

Carve out a small slice of this make-believe paradise with this exclusive offer: Head over to www.Torani.com and use coupon code TUMMY15 at checkout and get 15 % OFF all orders + FREE SHIPPING (upto $300). Offer valid till June 30th, 2018 and cannot be combined with any other offers. 

What are some of your favorite pastry shop treats from days gone by? What are your first and second choices when faced with a display window of options? Tell me, tell me, tell me!

When you make this delicious VEGAN Coconut Cake (which I really think you SHOULD!), be sure to SHARE YOUR PHOTOS with me through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. I’d love to see what you cook from here!