Sponge Cake Concept

Recently I wanted to find a very simple vegan base recipe for creating fluffy cakes.

And guess what, I did! 🙌

In one of BOSH.TV’s videos I discovered what they refer to as „Victoria Sponge Cake“. Exactly the inspiration I needed. So I started to play with the parameters while more or less still sticking to the ratio of wet and dry ingredients, completely ignoring the filling/topping part 🙂

Compared to the original I swopped the type of flour and reduced sugar and oil content, which definitely shifts the experience a little closer to bread than cake, but hey, people (including myself) still enjoy them 🙂

But you are in charge here! Grab the concept and create something new! ✨

A cake concept was born

So let me introduce you to the foundation of my version of sponge cakes.

Important note: This section is only the base. At this stage it will just taste like sweet bread. Read on for some flavour inspirations.

Dry ingredients

• 250g white spelt flour (Type 630)
• 50g sugar of choice
  • I experimented with 25g only, which was a subtle sweetness that I enjoy, but definitely tastes more bread-like. So if you’re aiming at satisfying people with a sweet-tooth I suggest to go for 50+.
• 1 tsp baking powder (2g)
• 1 tsp baking soda (4g)
• Pinch of salt

Wet ingredients

• 200ml water
• 25ml olive oil (~20g)
• 3 tsp lemon juice (~10g)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius
2. Mix dry ingredients
3. Mix wet ingredients
4. Gently fold wet into dry ingredients until well combined (don’t stir, otherwise the cake might end up dense)
5. Pour mix into baking pan (lined with parchment paper)
6. This is the moment for an optional topping! Sesame seeds look pretty and add a lovely flavour, but experiment with what you have available.
7. Bake for 30 – 35min
8. After baking, let the cake cool down before removing the parchment paper

Let’s add some flavours

To give you some inspiration, let me share flavour directions I explored:

Note: Amounts are based on the cake concept above. If no adjustments of base ingredients are mentioned, they stay the same.

Lemon Sponge Cake

• Put all the wet ingredients into a blender and add:
  • zest of 1 lemon.
  • juice of 1 lemon (instead of only 3 tsp)
• Blend well
• Continue with step 4

Banana Sponge Cake

• Wet ingredients:
  • Reduce amount of water to 150ml
  • Add 2 ripe bananas (~200g)
  • Mix in a blender, then gently fold into dry ingredients.
• After dry and wet have been combined, add 2 good handful raisins (~70g) into the mix.
• Continue with step 5

Chai Sponge Cake

• Additional dry ingredients
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 0.25 tsp clove powder
  • 0.25 tsp cardamom powder
  • 0.5 tsp turmeric powder
  • Pinch of black pepper
• Additional wet ingredients
  • 12g fresh ginger
  • 0.5 tsp fennel seeds
  • Mix in a blender, then gently fold into dry ingredients.
• After dry and wet have been combined, add 2 good handful raisins (~70g) into the mix.
• Continue with step 5

Apple-Cinnamon Sponge Cake

• Dry ingredients
  • 30g sugar of choice
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
• Wet ingredients
  • Instead of water, use 200ml unfiltered apple juice (no sugar added)
  • ~250g grated apples
• Continue with step 4

That’s it!

Hope you found some inspiration in the lines above.

Let’s bake some fluffy vegan cakes! 🤙