St Patrick’s Day Loaf Cake (Vegan Gluten-Free)
This St Patrick’s Day Loaf Cake is light, moist and so tender. With a hidden pistachio-green shamrock inside a vanilla sponge cake, decorate this loaf with a chocolate ganache for a healthier, vegan and easily gluten-free cake.
I just love making themed cakes and bakes and this one is all about St Patrick’s Day. I’ve never been one to celebrate March 17th apart from making green-themed recipes and this one is a sure-fire winner, and is secretly very easy. It’s a showstopping cake that will wow your friends and family and takes only a few steps to make.
Why will I love this cake?
This cake is delicious, it is:
- Light, moist and so fluffy
- Packed with vanilla and soft subtle flavours
- Has a surprise green shamrock middle
- Naturally green with pistachios and matcha (or a green food gel option)
- Easy to make in a few steps
- Topped with a luscious chocolate ganache
- Naturally vegan and easily gluten-free
- A real showstopper dessert
- Great for all the family
- Can be made all year round with any shape in the middle
If you already love this loaf cake then skip ahead to the recipe card below. Or, first let’s discuss the recipe in more detail.
What ingredients do I need?
The two loaves are almost identical in terms of ingredients, so don’t be put off by the long recipe card and take a look at the “shop the recipe” section below for my favourite products.
- Thick coconut yoghurt: this is great for adding moisture, fat and a delicious texture to the loaf while adding tons of goodness. My go-to is Cocos Organic as it contains just a few simple ingredients and is really thick (runny yoghurt will not produce a moist, well-baked loaf).
- Plant-based milk: any dairy-free milk is great like oat, almond, coconut (from a carton) or soya.
- Light olive oil: for moisture, I love baking with light olive oil and you can also use sunflower oil.
- Caster sugar: as the colour of this loaf cake is important, I used regular white caster sugar so that the vanilla loaf was pale yellow and the green one remained vibrant green. If you don’t mind about dark brown-green cakes and a golden beige vanilla cake, you can use coconut sugar.
- Lemon juice: this reacts with the milk to form a buttermilk and helps to bind this egg-free cake.
- Vanilla and salt: for flavour.
- Plain or GF plain flour: for a light, fluffy cake, use plain white flour or if you are gluten-free, use your preferred 1:1 baking blend of flour that contains xantham gum.
- Raising agents: baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Ground pistachios and/or ground almonds: the nuts add a lot of fat and moisture to the loaf cakes which is great for this recipe. for the green cake, I use ground pistachios (simple grind your own in a blender until they resemble ground almonds) and for the vanilla loaf, I use shop-bought ground almonds.
- Green matcha tea powder or green food gel: this is for adding more colour to the green shamrock inside as the pistachios alone aren’t quite enough for the real wow-factor. I love a matcha tea powder, but you can also use a vegan food gel (I prefer gel over liquid as it is more concentrated so you need to use less and produces a stronger colour) from Baking Time Club (who are fully vegan and gluten-free).
As for decorating this fun loaf cake we need:
- Dairy-free whipping cream: for spreading over the cake, I love a layer of fluffy clouds of whipped cream. I have linked my favourites below. If you prefer, you can skip the cream and go straight in with the chocolate ganache, or spread with some buttercream underneath.
- Dark chocolate: I use the dark mint chocolate from Divine which is so perfect for this flavour combination but any dairy-free dark chocolate will work.
- Coconut butter or coconut oil: for allowing the chocolate to set not as firmly so it is easier and more delicious to slice. I like coconut butter but coconut oil or vegan butter will also work.
- Sprinkles and cake crumbs: for decorating and I love the fully vegan, GF and halal-friendly sprinkles from Baking Time Club, linked below and my code AMY20 saves you 20%. I also add some of the leftover green cake on top as crumbs.
Is this gluten-free and nut-free?
Yes this is easily gluten-free, please use your preferred 1:1 baking blend of flour that you usually bake with. I have not tried this nut-free, but can imagine if you swap the ground pistachios and almonds for ground sunflower seeds (or pumpkin seeds) this will work. Remember to aim for the texture and consistency of ground almonds.
How do I make this?
Like my other hidden cakes, this is an easy bake, although does require some forward-thinking.
- Make the green loaf first: whisk together the wet ingredients then sift in the dry ingredients.
- Bake the loaf till springy and baked through: it will darken on top but this is OK.
- Allow the loaf to cool fully: First in the tin and then on a wire rack.
- Slice the green loaf into slices: just thinner than your cookie cutter.
- Cut out a shamrock (or other shape) from each slice: and keep these shapes together. Keep the leftover cake to one side.
- Make the vanilla cake batter: in the same way.
- Spread a little vanilla cake into a lined loaf tin: and smooth over the bottom.
- Line all the shamrock shapes down the middle of the pan: it’s easier if you place them in the order they were cut.
- Cover with the remaining vanilla batter: and smooth over the top.
- Bake till golden and baked through: and allow to cool fully.
- Whip the cream and make the chocolate ganache: by melting the chocolate and the coconut butter/oil/vegan butter together.
- Spread the cream over the cooled cake and drizzle over the chocolate: pop in the fridge to set slightly.
- Decorate with sprinkles, cake crumbs and pistachios: and slice before enjoying.
How long will this last?
This cake will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge in a sealed container or you can freeze the unfrosted loaf for 1 month, wrapped well, and allow the loaf to defrost before decorating.
What do I do with leftover cake scraps? Or can I only make one cake?
I have a delicious recipe coming with the green pistachio cake crumbs, but you can also make:
- Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake Balls
- Ferrero Rocher Cake Balls
- Chocolate Cake Balls
- Cake Caramel Slices
If you only want to make one loaf cake, that is totally fine, either make the vanilla or the green pistachio loaf and decorate as usual.
What else can I make?
If you are looking for other green-themed recipes, how about my:
- Chocolate Mint Cheesecake Slices
- Matcha White Chocolate Cupcakes
- Minty Pea Hummus Bowls
- Minty Matcha Chocolate Nut Butter Cups
- Chocolate Oreo Cookies (make without the Halloween eyes)
St Patrick's Day Loaf Cake
This St Patrick's Day Loaf Cake is light, moist and so tender. With a hidden pistachio-green shamrock inside a vanilla sponge cake, decorate this loaf with a chocolate ganache for a healthier, vegan and easily gluten-free cake.
Ingredients
For the Green Pistachio Loaf:
- 120g thick coconut yoghurt
- 120ml plant-based milk
- 30ml (2 tbsp) light olive oil
- 120g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 180g plain/GF plain flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 100g ground pistachios*
- A pinch of salt
- 2-3 drops green food gel or 1 tsp matcha tea powder
For the Vanilla Loaf:
- 120g thick coconut yoghurt
- 120ml plant-based milk
- 30ml (2 tbsp) light olive oil
- 120g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp vanilla essence
- 180g plain/GF plain flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 100g ground almonds
For the Topping:
- 120ml vegan whipping cream
- 90g dark chocolate, chopped small
- 30g coconut butter, coconut oil or vegan butter
- Sprinkles, pistachios, cake crumbs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160Fan/180ºC and line a loaf tin with parchment paper.
- Start by making the green loaf cake: whisk together the yoghurt, milk, oil, sugar, lemon and vanilla till smooth. Sift in the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and add the ground pistachios and salt. Stir/whisk to a thick, smooth batter. Before it is totally mixed in, add the food gel to your desired colour.
- To bake: spoon into the loaf tin and smooth over the top. Bake in the middle of the oven for 38-40 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven, cool for 10 minutes then carefully lift out the tin to cool fully.
- For the shamrocks: once cool, slice the green loaf cake into slices that are just thinner than your shamrock cookie cutter. From each slice, cut out a shamrock and line them up in order. Save the leftover cake for later to cake pops etc.
- Prepare the main loaf cake: preheat the oven to 160Fan/180ºC and line a loaf tin with parchment paper. Make the vanilla loaf: whisk together whisk together the yoghurt, milk, oil, sugar, lemon and vanilla till smooth. Sift in the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and add the ground almonds and salt. Stir/whisk to a thick, smooth batter.
- To create the loaf cake: spoon a thin layer of cake batter into the loaf tin. Now line up the shamrocks down the middle of the loaf tin, nestled together. Spoon the vanilla cake batter up and around the sides of the shamrocks, making sure to cover the tops, too.
- To bake: place in the middle of the oven for 35-38 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. You can cover the top with tin foil after 25 minutes, if it is browning too quickly. Remove from the oven, cool for 10 minutes then carefully lift out the tin to cool fully.
- Once cool, prepare the toppings: whip the cream till fluffy. Melt together the chocolate and coconut butter/oil or vegan butter till glossy and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes, until thicker but still pourable.
- To decorate: spread the cream over the cake and now pour over the chocolate ganache. Decorate with sprinkles, pistachios and some green cake crumbs. Enjoy straight away or allow the ganache to set.
- Once set, use a warmed knife to slice through the chocolate ganache. Keep in a sealed container for 2-3 days in the fridge. You can freeze the loaf (without the toppings) for 1 month and allow to defrost thoroughly before decorating.
Notes
*make your own ground pistachios by adding shelled raw pistachios to a blender and processing to a fine crumb (stopping before it clumps together into a pistachio butter). If not, use ground almonds.
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Stay in touch
I look forward to hearing what you think of this St Patrick’s Day Loaf Cake so please leave a comment below and a star review above. If you do make this, I’d love to see so please tag me, I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest – please say hello!
With St Patrick’s Day love x
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