Vegan Victoria Sponge with buttercream cheese filling/frosting
This is a light and fluffy vegan sponge cake that is lower in sugar than usual, and incorporates wholemeal flour, but remains light and fluffy.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas Mark 4. Grease and line two 7inch/18cm cake tins. Use the middle shelf - non-fan oven setting
- with the electric whisk, beat the margarine and sugar together for 3-4 minutes, until pale and fluffy.
- Add the yoghurt, soya milk, and the vanilla extract, then add them to the bowl & beat until well mixed. (If the mixture looks 'curdled' just add a few tablespoons of the flour to the mix and beat again).
- Sieve and then add the flour and baking powder, (the remainder if you have added some already), and gently fold it into the mixture, until fully combined.
- Divide the mixture between the two tins, and bake for 25-30 minutes until an inserted skewer or knife comes out clean. Then remove from the oven and let stand for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cake is cooking or in advance, you can do the next part.
- Remove stalks, then cut strawberries in half then 1/4's, and then into 4 so nice small pieces or blitz quickly in a food processor.
- Put the strawberries, sugar and agar agar into a bread maker with a jam program or simmer on low heat stirring often until a thick jam like consistency is achieve. If you don’t want to, you can just blitz a commercial strawberry jam, but the homemade one is better as it has a much lower sugar content.
- Melt the coconut oil in a medium pan and add thecustard powder and coconut flour.
- Cook on medium heat for a few minutes.
- Add apple sauce and cook a few more minutesuntil thick.
- Add all other ingredients to the pan and mixwell heat up a little – leave to stand for at least 30 minutes to allow thestarch grains to swell up.
- Blitz in a Nutribullet or similar high speed blender– it may need a little more heating in a microwave oven first to get it thinenough to blend well. Even better leave to stand after first blitz, then blendagain.
- Put in the fridge to firm up for around 60minutes.
- Do the jam first, then the sides of the cakewith the icing – and the top last - is the easiest way
Notes
- You can if you prefer put just the jam in the middle, and spread the cream cheese frosting on the top and sides of the cake - as in the recipe picture. That can be even more decadent.
- You can use commercial strawberry jam blitzed a bit to take out the large lumps of strawberries which would prevent it being spread evenly.
- You can substitute cold pressed rapeseed oil for the hard vegetable fat, but it doesn’t rise quite so well.
- Inspiration for the recipe came from Kate Ford of "The Veg Space"
- If you use a whole pack (400g) of strawberries, it would be enough for 1 1/2 cakes - pro rata that would be 400g strawberries, 200g sugar and 1 1/2 teasps of agar agar. The jam keeps quite well in the fridge.
- I often make a single layer cake, cut it in half, and put one half on top of the other, and end up with half a cake - as shown in the picture at the top of the recipe. This is a good solution if you don't want to eat too much cake!
