A strawberry Victoria sponge cake is one of the tastes of summer, and the beauty of this vegan Victoria sponge cake (besides the fact that it’s vegan) is that it is lower fat than a conventional Victoria sponge while still being as light and moist as you expect this classic cake to be.
The temptation to increase the raising agents in a quest for a lighter, fluffier cake is strong, but must be resisted if you want to avoid an aftertaste of baking soda.
A mixture of strawberries and jam creates a bit of balance of sweet and fresh flavours in the filling, and this recipe includes a little maple syrup to add the warmth of flavour that is sometimes missing in plain vegan sponges.
The pictured cake is actually a mini version made with half the ingredients in 6″ sandwich tins. The full recipe will make a more substantial cake in a 7″ or 8″ tin.
Although it’s always difficult to delay the gratification of eating a cake – any kind of cake – you’ve just made, it is better to give this a bit of time to settle before cutting.
Vegan victoria sponge cake…
Ingredients
- 280 g plain white/unbleached flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 150 g caster sugar
- 60 g vegan margarine
- 60 ml light olive oil (or other mild tasting oil)
- 230 ml oat (or other non-dairy) milk
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (white wine vinegar will do)
for the filling
- 180 g fresh strawberries (or other berries)
- 3-4 tbsp strawberry jam
- 150 g icing sugar, plus a couple of teaspoons for sifting on top
- 25 g vegan margarine
- 1 tbsp oat (or other non dairy) milk
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
method
- Set the oven to 180°C/360°F. Very lightly oil and line the base of two 7″ or 8″ round cake tins (or 6″ tins if making a half-sized cake like the one pictured above, with half the ingredients).
- Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl and whisk in the sugar to combine evenly.
- Measure the oil and margarine into a jug or bowl and warm this mixture in the microwave to mostly melt the margarine before whisking to combine.
- Add the milk, vanilla, maple syrup and vinegar to the oil and whisk again.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture, turning gently with a hand whisk as you go, until you have a runny cake batter. Whisk only until it looks pretty smooth. Don’t over-mix.
- Divide the batter between the cake tins and bake for between twenty and twenty-five minutes until the cakes are well risen and golden. Like a conventional Victoria sponge, this sponge will rise really well and then settle back a bit.
- Allow the sponges to cool while you prepare the filling.
- Chop the strawberries roughly and stir in the jam.
- In a separate small bowl, beat the icing sugar, margarine, milk and vanilla together until you have a light, smooth buttercream.
- When the cakes are cool, spread the buttercream over the top of one and then spoon on the fruit mixture before placing the second sponge carefully on top. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar.
- Ideally, you should leave the cake to settle and the icing to firm up a little bit before cutting.
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