Vegan Victoria Sponge Birthday Cake

Another year has passed.  Another birthday for E.  And it is 6 years since I started this Green Gourmet Giraffe blog.  In past years I have made some fun novelty cakes to celebrate.  This year I lacked the energy and will to immerse myself up to my elbows in buttercream, food dye and lollies.  Instead I kept it simple.  Well almost.  I made Victoria Sponge Cake.  Twice.  And it was vegan.

I come from a family where the birthday boy is king for the day.  E always wants a boring vanilla sponge cake.  He is very British when it comes to sponges.  It is not the Aussie tradition of the light airy sponge cake that my mum ices and sandwiches together with cream.  He wants it buttery and dense.  Preferably with buttercream frosting.  The very mention of a Victoria Sponge Cake makes him swoon.

Such a cake is all about eggs and butter rather than chocolate and fruit.  It is just not my thing.  Inspiration finally hit this year when I saw Jac post a very British Vegan Vanilla Cake.  It is the sort of cake that E likes but not laden with eggs and butter.  I cheer at any cake where I don't need to crack icky sticky eggs.  (Anyone who has followed this blog might recall that I have never liked eggs.)  E always accuses me of making cakes that are too dense, heavy or rich.  He was quite happy for me to make his cake vegan.

Some time ago I bought a little cake stand on special.  I also have purchased a smaller cake tin.  I made the full recipe but baked it in the 6 inch tin.  It took ages to bake but it looked very impressive.  (So good that even my 4 year old Sylvia could take the below photo and it looked pretty!)  I sandwiched together the two halves of the cake with buttercream and jam, as is traditional in a Victoria Sponge (though some have cream and jam Mrs Beeton's cookbook required just jam).  It was rather delicious.  E was most pleased.

The sponge exterior was notably browner than a traditional sponge but slightly yellower inside.  My mother commented that it is the eggs and butter that make cakes yellow.  Never mind.  It was a good dense cake that held its shape.  I thought it very sweet and felt a little paranoid you could taste the oil ever so slightly.  Sylvia thought the buttercream frosting was too sweet and scraped it off her cake.  E loved it and thought it tasted like it had a touch of treacle.  I think he liked that it was a bit lighter than a traditional sponge.

We kept the celebrations low key for E's birthday.  A visit to the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).  The wrong one.  At least we enjoyed the waterwall and the ceiling in the great hall.  Even if the lunch wasn't that great in the ground floor cafe.  It is not far to walk back to the Australian site of the NGV at Federation Square.

Sylvia and I enjoyed some Aleks Danko craft.  E and I enjoyed Top Artists 2013 - the exhibition of school students' work.  We enjoyed an ice cream and caramel slice in the Atrium.  Then home for pizza and birthday cake.  Sylvia found it all very exciting and wanted to do it all again the next day.

Actually I did make the cake all over again for a birthday lunch with the family.  This time I doubled the recipe and baked 2 x 20cm round cakes.  This time they baked quicker.  This time I tried a bit of turmeric for yellow colour but it didn't make much impact.  This time the buttercream frosting and jam oozed down the side and the top threatened to slide off.  Perhaps I used more jam this time.  Perhaps it wasn't as easy to transport in the car as I thought.  My mum said it was because the cake was heavy.  You can see her light fluffy yellow sponge in the picture below.

So in this above photo you have my past and present birthday cakes.  The cake that my mum made for birthdays during my childhood and the cake that I am making for birthdays today.  Oh yes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I don't want to dwell on my 6th blog anniversary.  I write my reflections on blog changes each new year so I don't need to repeat those here.  I can announce that my StatCounter account (which I started in March 2008, almost a year into my blog) has just recently reached 1,000,000 "page loads".  (Stats are a moveable feast so I don't place too much trust in them but I do love a 7 figure number!)

As I have been saying recently, I am glad the blog is still going strong but goodness I wish I had a bit more time and energy for it.  Fortunately I still have truckloads of inspiration thanks to the wonderful bloggers and readers around me.  So thank you for reading, thank you for sharing.  Here's to many more years of Green Gourmet Giraffe.  If time is kind to me, I have a few self indulgent posts to share over the next week as a little birthday present.  You can decide whether it is me or you getting the presents :-)

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Ghost cake, birthdays and wildlife
Two years ago:  Guitar Birthday Cake
Three years ago: Viking cat cake with a butterscotch secret
Four years ago: Happy Birthday to E and GGGiraffe
Five years ago: Green Gourmet Giraffe Birthday Cake

Vegan Victoria Sponge Cake
cake adapted from Tinned Tomatoes and buttercream adapted from BBC Good Food.

Cake:

• 250 plain flour
• 250g caster sugar
• 1 and 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp salt
• pinch turmeric (for colour)
• 250ml soy milk (or other dairy free milk)
• 60ml canola oil
• 3 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:

• 50g non-dairy margarine (I used Nuttalex)
• 70g icing sugar
• drop of vanilla essence
• 2-3 dessertspoons of raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F).  Grease and line a round 20 cm cake tin.  

Mix together the dry ingredients in a medium to large mixing bowl.  Mix together the wet ingredients in a large jug or small mixing bowl.  Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until just combined.  Pour batter into prepared cake tin.

Bake until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.  It took me about 55 minutes and but on Tinned Tomatoes, Jac said it took about 25 to 30 minutes.

I have also baked these in a 15 cm or 6 inch round tin but as it was a taller cake it took even longer.  I think it took me about 1 hour and 30 minutes. 

On the stereo:
Goodbye yellow brick road: Elton John