The Perfect Vegan Victoria Sponge

Here's an AMAZING Victoria Sponge recipe! I originally stumbled across this on The Veg Space website (thank you!) so I've now saved it here so I can come back to it when I next make it.

Heres how my first ever attempt turned out and I'm pretty darn happy!

Some top tips that are listed include:

- Beating the sugar and butter for a long time to get as much air in as possible: Don't give up! 4 minutes in an electric mixer or 8-12 by hand!! (It's worth it I promise)

- Get the cake in the oven as quickly as possible! The baking powder is activated as soon as it comes into contact with liquid. Pre-grease the baking tins so as soon as the batter is done you can get them baking.

- Use a good quality vegan butter I recently found out that the 'Stork Block margarine' is vegan. Tastes great in bakes!

Ingredients

For the sponge:

- 200 g dairy-free margarine (Stork block margarine or Tomor are excellent)

- 300 g caster sugar

- 200 g dairy-free yoghurt (I used Alpro soya yoghurt)

- 200 ml dairy-free milk

- 3 tsp vanilla extract

- 400 g self-raising flour

- 2 tsp baking powder

For the filling:

-150 g dairy-free margarine

- 200 g icing sugar

- zest of half a lemon

- strawberry or raspberry jam

Here is attempt number two! Still looking pretty good since I have the baking experience of a toddler. This time I decided to go big and double the recipe as I wanted three-tiers (plus one back up!). I need to get a piping bag so I can 'pretty' it up a bit!

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas Mark 4. Grease and line two 20cm or 22cm cake tins.

2. In a food mixer, beat the margarine and sugar together for 3-4 minutes, until pale and fluffy - or I did 8 minutes by hand!!

3. Add the yoghurt, soya milk, and the vanilla extract, then add them to the mixer and beat. (If the mixture looks 'curdled' just add a few tablespoons of the flour to the mix and beat again, don't worry, it'll come together as you fold in the four on the next step!).

4. Add the flour and baking powder, (the remainder if you have added some already), and slowly fold it into the mixture, until fully combined.

5. Divide the mixture between the two tins, and bake for 20-25 minutes until an inserted skewer or knife comes out clean. Then remove from the oven and turn out onto a cooling rack.

6. To make the buttercream, just beat the margarine, icing sugar and lemon zest (be careful not to get lots of lemon juice in or it'll split) in a food mixer for 3-4 minutes until very light and fluffy. - Or again double it if by hand!

7. When the cakes are completely cool, (a few hours at least), smother the top of one with plenty of jam, then smother the buttercream over the bottom of the other cake. Carefully sandwich them together, then sprinkle the top of the cake liberally with icing sugar.

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