Love cake? How to veganise a fabulous Victoria sponge

If there’s one thing that says English afternoon tea more than scones with jam and cream (non-dairy, of course), it’s a slice of Victoria sponge cake. Dusted with icing sugar and filled with a generous layer of sweet buttercream and fruity strawberry jam (it must be strawberry!). It’s the perfect treat for a Sunday afternoon or a village garden fete.

The Victoria sponge gained its name from one of its greatest fans, none other than Queen Victoria who was said to be particularly partial to a slice with her afternoon tea. The classic sponge cake recipe evolved around 1843 when Alfred Bird (of custard factory fame) discovered baking powder and its ability to make cakes rise.

Fact: Bird’s custard is vegan! (if made with plant-based milk) - as confirmed by the Vegan Society

Plain sponge was probably one of the first cake recipes that my mum taught me to make. Until I converted fully to vegan baking, I always followed her tried-and-trusted weigh the eggs method and used equal quantities of flour, fat and sugar. And, I always creamed the butter and sugar together first, too. No written recipe required. Hmmm … how to veganise this?

I turned as usual to the internet for inspiration. Our American friends have two varieties of plain sponge cake: yellow cake and white cake. (If you Google it the first result will throw up Yellowcake, a chemical substance related to uranium, so keep going). As the Kitchn.com explains, yellow cake is a sponge mix that uses whole eggs and butter to give a golden-yellow colour to the sponge. In contrast, white cake just uses egg whites. So, the yellow cake is pretty much like a traditional Victoria sponge.

One of my favourite vegan bloggers, Vegan Richa, came up with a recipe for Yellow Cake, but unfortunately I didn't have all the ingredients to hand, so for this first experiment I adapted a Vanilla Cake recipe from LovinItVegan. With a few tweaks to account for French ingredients, I’m pleased to say that the first attempt was a resounding success. The original recipe is loaded with vegan buttercream, sandwiching the two halves and smothering the top and sides. Too much sugary sweetness for us, so I just made up a very small quantity of vegan buttercream for the centre – 1 cup icing sugar (sucre glacé), ½ tablespoon vegan spread, 1 tsp vanilla essence and 1 tsp soy milk.

Vegan Victoria Sponge

Vegan Victoria Sponge

1 ¾ cups plain flour
1 cup white sugar
1 sachet levure chimique (2 tsp baking powder)
½ tsp salt
1 cup soy milk
2 tsp vanilla essence
⅓ cup colza oil (vegetable oil)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1. Measure the soy milk into a jug and add cider vinegar. Allow to stand until curdled and lumpy.
2. Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl
3. Pour oil and vanilla into milk mix, stir
4. Add wet ingredients to dry
5. Mix really well, use a balloon whisk to ensure the batter is smooth and silky
6. Pour into two greased and lined 7” round tins
7. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180c for 30 minutes
8. When cool, sandwich together with vegan buttercream and jam and dust top with icing sugar