Instruction:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of three 6-inch round cake pans or two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper rounds. Spray parchment paper and sides of the pans with nonstick cooking spray. You should use parchment paper or the cake is likely to stick.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut sugar, maple syrup, almond butter and vanilla extract until smooth. Slowly whisk in the melted and cooled coconut oil until it’s well incorporated. The mixture should be very smooth and well combined. It is important that your eggs are at room temperature otherwise the coconut oil will coagulate. The coconut oil should be melted but not HOT, but rather closer to room temperature.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the almond flour, cacao/cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well with a rubber spatula until smooth.
• Divide batter evenly between pans and spread out with a spatula to smooth the tops. Allow batter to sit in pans while your oven preheats. Bake for 17-28 minutes in the two 9-inch pans or 20-25 minutes for three 6-inch pans. Cakes are done when a tester comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pans and placing on a wire rack to finish cooling. The cake should be completely cool before you frost it. This is very important. Cakes can be made a day or two ahead if you’d like.
• Make your frosting: first add your freeze dried strawberries to a high powered blender (or a food processor) and blend until they become a fine powder. Next, in the bowl of an electric mixer, add the softened butter (or vegan butter) and whip on high until light and fluffy. Next, add the freeze-dried strawberry powder, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and beat for 2-3 minutes more, starting on low speed and slowly increasing to high. Add in a few tablespoons of milk to thin the frosting out, beat again until smooth.
• Now it’s time to frost the cake: place a few tablespoon tablespoons down onto the cake stand and spread over a few inches. Invert one cake onto the cake stand, add about ½ heaping cup frosting between each layer, repeat with each cake, then frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. If necessary, you can do a crumb coat here: frost the layers as you normally would and then coat the outside of the cake with a very thin layer of frosting then place in the fridge for 10-15 minutes before you finish frosting. This is so that the crumbs stick to this layer of frosting and not your main layer. Once you are done frosting, place your cake in the fridge. This is important! The frosting needs to be somewhat cool so the chocolate drizzle will set properly on top.
• To make the chocolate ganache drizzle: add chocolate chips and coconut oil to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until chocolate is smooth and completely melted. Remove cake from the fridge and pour over the top of the cake. It should naturally start to drip down the sides, but if it doesn’t, use a spoon to spread the chocolate a little towards the sides to create a drip look on the sides. Place whole strawberries on top of the cake and place in the fridge until chocolate hardens.
• Chocolate strawberry cake can be at room temp for a day or so, then should be placed in the fridge. Cake will stay good for 5-7 days in the fridge, and should be covered to ensure freshness. Enjoy!

website: www.ambitiouskitchen.com