I wanted to make trifle, I haven't made it for such a long time and I do love it. My next thought was Graham. How to make it vegan? That's easy I thought, I have jelly that is suitable for him and he's had a dairy free custard before that he really enjoyed.
Tumpty, tumpty tum! All great. Project Trifle has lift off.
But things are rarely that simple are they? The bloomin' cake! It needs to be vegan too. *sigh* Back to the drawing board!Or should I say internet? After a good search around I found some substitutions I could make to the traditional ingredients. So instead of eggs and butter, this cake is could be made with soy milk, white wine vinegar and vegetable oil. Although, I decided to use some of the coconut oil, The Groovy Food Company had sent me instead of oil, but if you don't have coconut oil, then just use vegetable or even rapeseed oil.
The smell of this cake baking was heavenly! I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Brilliant, that's how! It had a good rise and was moist and light, with a lovely vanilla flavour. In fact, there is no way you would know the ingredients were tinkered with.
Graham loved it and it was just as well I got on with making the trifle or the cake would have been demolished. A slice to try it, another little slice, then another slice just to make sure. Hmmmm, if you say so Graham!
Here is a sneak peak of the trifle, which I will post later this week. It didn't last long either! You will notice there's no cream on the trifle. I had a bit of a disaster with that, but that's a story for another day.
Vegan Vanilla Cake
A light, moist sponge with the flavour of vanilla shining through.
Ingredients
- 250 plain flour
- 250g caster sugar
- 1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 250ml soy milk (or other dairy free milk)
- 60g coconut oil (or vegetable/rapeseed oil)
- 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 180c/160c fan/gas mark 4.2. Line a 20cm cake tin.3. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix together with a whisk.4. Mix together all the wet ingredients in a jug. If you are using coconut oil and it is still a bit thick, pop the jug in the microwave for a quick blast, to give it a chance to melt.5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix together lightly, then pour your cake batter into your tin.6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the cake is golden and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.7. Allow to cool in the tin for a while, before moving to a cooling rack.
Details
Total time: Yield: Makes 1 cake
Disclosure: The Groovy Food Company sent me some coconut oil to try. You can find my review of the product in my post about Peanut Butter Cookies.
I've bookmarked this recipe. My vegan baking experiences so far have been very stodgy, so I'm looking forward to trying this! Looks fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThanks ELizabeth, I was really pleased with it and Graham loved it.
DeleteI don't think I've ever tried vegan baking before. I really like the idea of it since I'm always trying to cut down on the animal products I use, but the recipes usually have really weird ingredients. But this sounds really simple so I might just give it a go.
ReplyDeleteIt was so easy to make and the results were great. You would never know the difference.
DeleteNever have been into vegan OR gluten free, but this cake is going to change my mind. Taste is what matters to me and you've researched the vegan world nicely to come up with that fab looking trifle!
ReplyDeleteThanks Barbara, the trifle was really good. I just have to work on the fake cream now.
DeleteAs to the vegan recipes, I don't like recipes with lots of odd and artificial ingredients, so this one is a keeper.
a friend told me about coconut oil recently but I am yet to use it... I must get some now. Your cake looks divine, so light and such a great recipe, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt's lovely stuff Dom. I made some cookies with it and they turned out great. You can use it instead of butter in recipes.
DeleteNot being vegan or cooking for anyone who is, I never seek out such recipes - but what amazes me is how pretty much ANYTHING can be adapted nowadays - where there's a will there's a way. And hurrah for that - no one should be deprived of cake or trifle!
ReplyDeleteYou are right there CC, no one should be deprived of cake or trifle.
DeleteThe only vegan bakes I've tried so far have been muffins which have generally turned out quite well. I'm yet to try a proper cake yet though. Although there's no need for me to bake vegan cakes I do think they might perhaps be a tiny bit healthier. I also want to say that I love your cake stand, it's beautiful and a perfect way to present this cake :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I would have baked vegan cakes either, if Graham hadn't turned vegan.
DeleteAs to the stand, I had to chuckle. It's a plate with an upside down bowl underneath it. Blue Peter or what!
What a great recipe - thank you for sharing. I will make it for my sister soon. I loved the vegan lemon cake in the CCC book too, made that for our last meeting which was a big hit!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'll have to have a look for that one Charlotte and give it a go.
DeleteNice to see you are up for a challenge Jac and what great results. I love the smell of baked vanilla. I'm not surprised you helped yourself to more than one slice - it looks really good!
ReplyDeleteIt smelled divine, but it was Gtaham tucking in. I can usually resist cake once I've had a taste.
DeleteI love using coconut oil as it adds an amazing depth of flavour :)
ReplyDeleteI'm quite excited about using it in different dishes, especially if it brings the fat/calorie content down.
DeleteCongratulations on your successful vegan vanilla cake. It is easy enough to make vegan fruit and vegetable-based cakes, that aren't supposed to have much rise anyway. But to imitate a sponge is quite an achievement. Just wondering if you have used soaked chia seeds as a sub for eggs in baking? I have been doing this recently with pretty good results. But I guess their dark colour rather militates against a pristine vanilla cake.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kellie. No, I haven't tried chia seeds yet to bake with. I have heard about it though. I'll have to get some and give it a go.
DeleteYour cake looks wonderful. I never cooked with soy milk or coconut oil but always wanted to try. Someday! Can't wait to see your trifle in all of its beauty!
ReplyDeleteHopefully get it up tomorrow night :)
DeleteI really want to make this - and am curious about the custard that you used - was it from a custard powder (I think mine is vegan) or did you make it from scratch? the idea of vegan trifle really appeals
ReplyDeleteHi Johanna,
DeleteI used a ready made dairy free custard, that is readily available here and tastes just like normal custard. This is the one Graham likes.
This looks like a perfect sponge, I can't believe it's vegan. As you say in one of your comments, a lot of vegan baking recipes have a lot of artificial ingredients which really puts me off so I love the fact that your recipe uses such 'natural' ingredients. Does the coconut oil impart any coconut flavour to the cake?
ReplyDeleteYou can faintly taste the coconut oil. I didn't really add much, but you can substitute it for the same weight in butter.
DeleteBest use of Tumpty, tumpty tum ever! Tickled me half to death!
ReplyDeleteYou can blame my husband, he is always saying stupid things like that!
DeleteA lovely home-made vegan vanilla cake! Yes, please! :) MMMMM!
ReplyDeleteEggless cake , looks divine.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if i add two eggs? i got tis recipe as i was searching for a non dairy cake, which my mom in law cant take milk and butter.
ReplyDeleteBut she can take egg, if i add in egg to tis cake, wat do you think?
Thanks in advanced
You could try it, the cake would be richer. Usually my vegan cakes have flax eggs and you can just add a normal egg instead,but this one is a little different. Do let me know how it goes.
DeleteHow many eggs do u suggest me to put?
DeleteAs you are making the cake for someone special, unless you have the time to experiment with adding eggs and removing some of the other liquids in the cake, I would recommend this victoria sponge instead. http://www.tinnedtomatoes.com/2012/02/victoria-sponge-with-lemon-curd-cream.html Where it calls for milk use sweetened soya milk and instead of butter use dairy free spread (such as vitalite dairy-free or pure). You will get the same result and you don't have to worry about the cake not working. You could also fill it with jam and buttercream made from creaming some of the dairy-free spread with icing sugar until you have the right consistency, you can add a splash of soy milk if it needs loosened and vanilla extract if you like. Let me know how you get on.
DeleteMade this cake last night for my husbands birthday today... haven't tasted it yet, but I did notice that it smelled very strongly of the white wine vinegar when I took it out of the oven... fingers crossed it tastes good tonight!
ReplyDeleteThat's strange. I never had that with mine. I suppose vinegars come in different strengths. If it does somehow leave a taste, try lemon juice next time instead? Are you topping it? Coconut whipped cream or dairy free buttercream would be good or even my aquafaba choc mousse and sprinkles. That would be amazing! Let me know if it turned out ok pnce you've tried it.
DeleteOnce even!
DeleteOnce even!
DeleteThat's strange. I never had that with mine. I suppose vinegars come in different strengths. If it does somehow leave a taste, try lemon juice next time instead? Are you topping it? Coconut whipped cream or dairy free buttercream would be good or even my aquafaba choc mousse and sprinkles. That would be amazing! Let me know if it turned out ok pnce you've tried it.
DeleteI made this it was awesome!!!. Thanks for this amazing recipe………
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cakengifts.in/cake-delivery-in-delhi