Vegan Victoria Sponge

The British teatime classic, but then vegan

The first thing I have to say is that this is not my own recipe (although the whole point of this blog was to share my own creations! I promise the next batch of recipes will all be my own!) but I was so amazed at how moist and delicious this vegan variation on my absolute favourite British cake that I had to share it. I found this in BBC Good Food’s vegetarian magazine, but it is also on their website. Perfect for Birthdays, High Teas or a cheeky Sunday afternoon slice of cake

INGREDIENTS:

For the Cake:

• 150g Vegan Spread (plus extra for greasing)

• 300ml Almond milk (or any plant based milk)

• 1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

• 1 Vanilla Pod, seeds scraped*

• 300g Self-raising Flour

• 200g Golden Caster Sugar

• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

For the Filling:

• 100g Vegan Spread

• 200g Icing Sugar (plus extra for dusting)

• 1-2 tbsp plant-based milk

• 4 tbsp Raspberry jam

* You can also use essence, but the real thing gives it a deeper flavour, which I think makes up for the lack of butter and egg!

METHOD:

• Pre-heat the oven 180 c.

• Line the bases of x2 20cm cake tins with baking paper.

• Grease the sides and bottom lightly with the vegan spread

• Put the milk in a jug, add the vinegar and leave for a couple of minutes until little lumps start to appear

• Put half the vanilla seeds with all of the other cake ingredients in a large bowl and mix

• Pour over the milk mixture and beat everything together until smooth

• Divide the cake mixture evenly between the 2 cake tins and smooth the top

• Bake for 35 minutes in the middle on the oven

• When ready, take them out and leave to cool for about 10-15 minutes. Then turn out onto a wire rack to completely cool

• While cooling, make the filling by beating together the spread and sugar with the other half of the vanilla seeds. (If you are using a spreadable spread, they are normally lighter, so only need briefly mixing. If you are using a harder plant based butter, then it will need beating first to soften it.)

• With both cakes faced down (baking paper facing upwards), peel the baking paper and choose the prettiest to be your top. Turn this one over and spread with the jam

• Turn the other one over and spread the filling on the top. Then, gently lift the top and put it onto the bottom, sandwiching the jam and 'cream' between the two

• Dust lightly with a little icing sugar

Enjoy! Joseph x