Vegan Chocolate Orange Sponge Cake

Vegan Chocolate Orange Sponge Cake

Another Clandestine Cake Club meeting and another cake inspiration. Our secret location was Thyme to Eat, a vegetarian café located in the Shambles area of Chesterfield. Since Thyme to Eat specialise in vegetarian food it was our chance to bake some cakes for various dietary requirements. As this was a Clandestine Cake Club meeting I immediately reached for my Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook as I had previously made the Vegan Lemon Cake in it and it was very nice.

I've obviously changed the lemon to orange and added cocoa to get the chocolate hit. The original recipe uses Limoncello which is something that has never entered his house and probably never will. I substituted lemon extract for it then and used this same trick by using orange extract this time. I use Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Valencian Orange Extract but if you can't get hold it then old-fashioned zest and juice of a real orange could be used. For the soya spread I use Pure Dairy Free which is easily available in supermarkets.

Although this recipe doesn't have the same light and airy texture of a Victoria sponge made using eggs it is a pretty good alternative. It's also excellent even if you are not vegan and find you need to make a sponge cake in a hurry and you don't have enough eggs. As they say the proof of the pudding is in the tasting and I came home with just one slice left and compliments from the owner of Thyme to Eat.

Equipment: 2 x 8in/20cm sandwich tins.

Ingredients

9oz (250g) Self-raising flour

1oz (25g) Cocoa

1tsp (5ml) Baking powder

7oz (200g) Caster sugar

3½ fl oz (100ml) Corn oil

7 fl oz (200ml) Cold water

1tsp (5ml) Orange extract

Filling

4oz (100g) Soya margarine/spread

10½ oz (300g) Icing sugar, sifted

1tsp (5ml) Orange extract

Method

1. Line and grease 2 8in/20cm round sandwich tins

2. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6.

3. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder together and stir in the sugar.

4. Add he oil, water and orange extract and fold in until the mixture is well combined. It should look more like a muffin mix.

5. Spoon the mixture evenly between the two tins and cook for 15-20 minutes until the sponges are cooked and springy to the touch

6. Leave in the tins for a few minutes before removing and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

7. For the filling put the margarine/spread in a bowl and then gradually beat in the icing sugar. Add the orange extract and beat well until the ingredients is mixed together.

8. Spread the top of one of the sponges with the filling and carefully place the other sponge on top. 

9. To finish off dust the top with either icing sugar or cocoa powder.