Four Plant-Based Buttercream Recipes That Really Take the Cake

Black Sesame Brittle Cake With Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Makes one 7-inch, 3-layer cake

The brittle is very addictive, reminiscent of the sticky-sweet but satisfyingly crisp Sesame Snaps we ate as kids. Crush a portion of the brittle up into textural crumbs of varying sizes to press into the buttercream layers for even more crunch. Look for toasted black sesame seeds at your local Asian supermarkets, or online with the usual suspects.

Pistachio Cake with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Makes one 9-inch single-layer cake

Finely ground toasted pistachios sifted with cake flour gives this beautifully nutty single-layer fancy cake its flavour. Swiss meringue strawberry buttercream is then piped on top using a large multi-pronged star tip, and the whole cake is dotted with fresh berries of all kinds, along with whole pistachios and chopped sprinkled pistachios, if you so desire.

Cookies and Cream Cake

Makes one 7-inch, 3-layer cake

This cookies and cream cake does not hold back on the use of Oreos—they’re chopped up into the buttercream layers and sprinkled and placed in between piped buttercream dollops, combined with dark chocolate cake layers and creamy vanilla buttercream.

Apple Caramel Cake With Oatmeal Cookie Crumble

Makes one 7-inch, 3-layer cake. (See photo page 66).

In this recipe, freshly grated apple cake and caramel buttercream team up with oatmeal cookie crumbles to create a perfect fall vibes cake. Bonus: leftover oatmeal cookie crumbles are a sheer delight layered in yogurt parfaits or liberally sprinkled on top of ice cream.

Excerpted from Plantcakes by Lyndsay Sung. Copyright © 2023 Lyndsay Sung.  Photographs by Lyndsay Sung. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.