The Coconut Almond Candy known as the Raffaello just got turned into a cake
Complete with homemade truffles to decorate the top of every slice!
Vegan Raffaello Cake is the stuff dreams are made of!
Raffaello’s are coconut almond truffles stuffed with a roasted almond and then coated in coconut.
For those not familiar with the Raffaello, it is the not so distant cousin of the famous Ferrero Rocher chocolate confection!
However I’m not going to lie, this Raffaello Cake is one hefty project!
Since not only do we have to make coconut cake layers but we also have to make layers of almond dacquoise too!
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Notes for Success:
If you are making the Rafaello truffles for this cake be sure to start the preparation the day before
I am using 3-7″ cake pans for the cake layers but you can use 2-8″ pans if that is all you have.
Coconut cake can also be made ahead of time and just wrap the layers well and freeze them until you are ready to assemble to cake.
If you don’t have cake flour you can use all ~ all purpose flour instead
Truffles can be made days or even a week in advance by storing them in the refrigerator
But the dacquiose is one recipe I would save for the morning on the day you are making the final cake
Leaving a meringue out exposed to the elements it will attract moisture and lose its characteristic crispness.
So be sure to wrap the discs really well so they are not exposed to the air
Making the dacquoise, or any meringues for that matter can be tricky and I prefer to use a dehydrator
But it can be done in the lowest setting of your oven.
My oven does not go below 170°F and my dehydrator obviously has much lower settings.
Aqauafaba does not like high temperatures and while 170°F technically is not a high temperature, I still like to control it by staying at 155°F and lower.
Either way it will take 2 – 3 hours to dry them out.
The cream of tartar is a helpful ingredient that aids in the stability of meringue, but if you don’t have it, it’s ok to leave it out.
ALSO: The recipe below for almond dacquoise is definitely more than you will need for the 2 meringue discs for the cake!
You can half the recipe or just make meringue kisses like I did!
In my opinion, after all the trouble to dry out the meringues it is nice to have more to show for all that time!
CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS CAKE!
Raffaello Cake
Ingredients
For the Homemade Raffaello Truffles
- Vegan White Chocolate 6 ounces (1 scant cup)
- Canned Coconut Milk 5 Tablespoons (75ml)
- Roasted Whole Almonds 12
- Unsweetened Shredded Coconut ½ cup
For the Almond Dacquoise
- Aquafaba Liquid ¾ cup (177ml)
- Cream of tartar ¼ teaspoon *see notes
- Granulated Sugar ¼ cup + 2 Tbs (75g)
- Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon
- Roasted Almonds heaping ½ cup
For the Garnish on the cake:
- 2 cups coconut flakes and more almonds as needed
Instructions
- Make the truffle ganache by melting the vegan white chocolate and then add the warmed coconut milk and whisk smooth
- Refrigerate overnight until it is to a scoop-able consistency
- Scoop the truffles with a #100 scoop and roll into perfect balls after inserting a roasted almond into the center of each one.
- Roll in the shredded coconut and keep refrigerated until needed
- Now to make the Dacquoise by whipping the aquafaba on high speed with a balloon whip attachment on a stand mixer.
- Combine the cream of tartar with about 1 Tbs of the sugar and add it slowly to the whipping meringue, then add the remaining sugar 1 Tbs at a time until you reach stiff glossy peaks.
- Add the vanilla extract and then fold in the finely ground almonds and pipe into a 7" disc on a parchment or silicone lined sheet pan and then either dehydrate at 155°F or bake on your lowest oven setting (not more than 175°F) for 2- 3 hours or until crispy and thoroughly dried out
- Prepare the coconut cake recipe (I love this new one bowl mix recipe that I have linked to above!!) and then divide the batter amongst 3-7" cake pans bake in a preheated 350°f oven for approximately 20 minutes or when they are springy to the touch when you gently press the centers.
- Next Prepare the buttercream as per the instructions on that blog post then add the coconut flavor last.
- Assemble the cake as shown in the video
Notes
Raffaello Cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days in very cool temperatures, but if it is too warm the cake will start to droop.
For longer storage keep refrigerated wrapped to prevent drying for up to 1 week.
Cake can be frozen for up to 1 month wrap well
This looks delicious! Do you know if this would work with gluten-free flour instead of cake flour?
I think it would work in a 1:1 flour like Bob’s or King Arthur. I do not do much gluten free, but I have been told my a friend who is both GF & Vegan that there is some tweaking that needs to happen (typically more fat needs to be added to GF + vegan baking) (Even in the form of applesauce just for more moisture and better texture)
How long can the dacquoise be kept if you are not ready to use it immediately?
From the blog post: Truffles can be made days in advance but the dacquiose is one recipe I would save for the day you are making the final cake; since if you leave a meringue out, exposed to the elements it has a tendency to attract moisture and lose its characteristic crispness. If this is not possible, then just be sure to wrap it really well so it is not exposed to the air. (I did this actually, and it was fine)
Up to 2 days will be OK
Hi! I have a few questions. First, can i substitute the vegan butter for margarine? In my country, Bulgaria, there’s no vegan butter (at least i can’t find it anywhere) Second, can i substitute the cream of tartar with something else or drop it all together? Because I can’t find that either
Hi Yes you can! You can leave out the cream of tartar, I understand many people cannot get it.
Hi Gretchen wanda ask you about meringue cookies? Would be a good idea to add agar agar ?
Yes It could be helpful, especially since I dehydrate mine for a better crispier cookie versus baking them
Hi Gretchen, I have only two 7″ pans, can I use them and then cut the cakes into 4 layers?
Hi Julia, it will be too much batter for just 2 pans that are 7″- if you had 2- 8″ pans? that would be better, since you don’t want to overfill the cake pans (unless of course yours are 3″ height?? mine are just 2″ height)
It looks stunning! How can I replace the coconut flavor or emulsion in the buttercream? I don’t have it in my country 🙁 maybe a few tablespoons of extra virgin coconut oil? Or coconut milk cream? I’d like it to have a rich coconuty flavour, but I’m scared to break the swiss buttercream which happens to me often 🙁
Yes unfortunately adding liquids to buttercream can result in disaster, and why I prefer to add the coconut emulsion or extracts rather than milk or coconut cream. The coconut in the cake, as well as the coconut garnish on the entire outside of the cake is going to give you plenty of coconut for sure!
I´ll start with the best parts of the cake. The Raffaello-pralines are very tasty!! The cake-base was also very good, a Little too sweet for me. The other two Elements didn´t work at all. The Dacquoise melted away after five minutes at 65 Degrees Celsius in the oven. the buttercream split- I tried to Whip it back together as you suggest in your video and it did after 10 minutes (using a hairdryer) 😀 but the Buttercream tastet just like butter with a Little coconut-flavour. Not the best birthday-cake I ever made… :/
I was very sad and angry because i spent so much time and money on this cake. It looked amazing in the end but the taste was not what i hoped for. I may have done many mistakes (even though i bake a lot of cakes) but the amount of sugar was definitely toooo much for all of us!
I´d love to find out how the buttercream gets better..any tips? (I added very soft butter and one teaspoon at the time..) Could the difference of the temperatures cause the Splitting? (Cold aquafaba and roomtemperature butter)
Thanks !
Hey there thanks for the feedback, Im sorry it was not up to your expectations. The AF meringues are no easy task to begin with. Not sure if you dehydrated them? or baked them? (**Oh I see you baked them) But I have NOT had success in baking meringues and why I prefer to dehydrate. In the oven they ALWAYS melt for me.
I have learned that Americans love sugar way more than other countries and why our recipes seem to be sickeningly sweet to folks from different countries. I’ve has a myriad of of responses over the years from various geographics- those from US say “It needs to be sweeter!” LOL and those from other parts say, “Uggh can I cut the sugar??”
The AF Buttercream can be tricky as well, and that is mostly because vegan butter seems to be different from brnad to brand, the more moisture, the more trouble with this recipe and why I usually stick with the American Recipe from now on. I dont have the patience anymore… By the way the American BC recipe you can adjust the sugar to your liking, even extremely less with no trouble.
On another topic (Aquagfaba…) CLICK HERE FOR MORE
Hello there,
Just a short question: 1 TABLEspoon of backing powder? Or is it 1 TEAspoon? I’m gathering up the ingredients to start baking this cake and an entire spoon of backing powder seems a bit too much for this amount of flour….
Hi I’m sorry for the late reply! I hope I am not holding you up too much!!
The recipe is correct as written, when recipes are lacking in eggs there tends to have to be more of a leavener and in this cake the flax is the only “binder” which does nothing for rising, as real eggs do, and some egg replacers also do.
Hi Gretchen! I just wanted to say I made this into coconut cupcakes and filled it with homemade mango compote and coated the buttercream in coconut flakes. It was absolutely divine. Both my husband and I are not vegan but we absolutely loved it! It’s so light and airy and most of all you taste the coconut!
You are a goddess of vegan baking. Thank you so much for sharing your gift to the rest of us.
Awesome! Thank you!
I’ve attempted the dacquoise two times. I’m following the directions but it’s not setting. I even left it in the oven last night to see if it would harden but it stays sticky and soft. 135f for three hours. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Bill, To put it bluntly Aquafaba is a real pain to work with! I’d have to suggest to go back to the actual making of the meringue & rule out the oven since that is a very low setting for sure & so it should work!
As I read my instructions I will go back to say, ” Begin whipping the AF on high speed with a balloon whip attachment until it reaches medium peaks, then start adding in the cream of tartar/sugar 1 Tbs at a time until you reach thick firm glossy peaks”
Additionally (while I did just use regular granulated sugar when I made this recipe) I have noticed lately that those granules are often very large & inconsistent from bag to bag that I buy (I use Zulka brand sugar) so I would also note that it could be a good idea to grind the sugar down to a finer granule if you have a spice grinder? These things could help the final meringue.
Hi Gretchen! I think you have updated the coconut sponge recipe here. It used to be made out of cake flour and coconut flour (just like the full tutorial video) but now it directs to your classic coconut cake which only uses AP flour. Would it be possible to have the old recipe back, that one was amazing and also easy to follow with the video showing exactly the same ingredients. Thanks so much!
Hey there, so I just searched through my archives & cannot seem to find the original recipe. I’ll have to take a look at the video to see if I can reverse engineer it 😀
Update:: So it looks to me like it was my original vanilla cake recipe but with a portion of coconut flour (looks like a full cup) in place of some of the cake flour
I’m sure I also used coconut milk for the plant milk & coconut extract & looks like about 1/2 cup of desiccated coconut
That’s too bad 😞
I tried making these today with the revisions you noted, and it turned out too dry 😭. I wished I saved the old recipe – that one was amazing.