Vegan Mini Victoria Sponge Cakes – The Great British Bake Off (S5, E10)

This was one of the three bakes given to the contestants in the final of series five of The Great British Bake Off. This is a pretty straight forward recipe, for my vegan adaptation I’ve used the same basic sponge I’ve used in other recipes. However you do need a very specific cake tin to make these, a 12 cup mini sandwich tin to be precise. Also I just put a buttercream icing in the middle of mine but you could also use the coconut whipping cream recipe I’ve posted previously instead. Happy baking!

Ingredients

Sponge

• 400g self-raising flour
• 240g caster sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 400ml non-dairy milk
• 160ml vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract

For the filling

Jam

• 250g strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 250g jam sugar

Buttercream icing

• 45g vegetable fat (shortening)
• 45g vegan margarine
• 240g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 tbsp non-dairy milk

Or 1x recipe Coconut whipping cream

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and lightly grease the 12 cup mini sandwich sponge tin.
2. Make the sponge by mixing the flour sugar and baking powder together in a bowl.
3. Mix the non-dairy milk, oil and vanilla in a separate bowl, pour into the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
4. Divide the mixture evenly between the mini sandwich tin cups, spread evenly and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
5. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
6. Make the jam by placing the strawberries in a saucepan over a medium heat and breaking them up with a masher or just the back of a wooden spoon.
7. Add the sugar to the strawberries and stir continuously until the sugar dissolves.
8. Increase the heat and bring to a full boil. Boil for four minutes, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
9. To make the buttercream cream together the vegetable fat and vegan margarine together until smooth, now beat in the icing sugar a bit at a time until fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla and non-dairy milk a tablespoon at a time until the desired fluffly consistency is achieved. Place in a piping bag with a star nozzle and set aside.
10. Cut each cake in half horizontally with a bread knife.
11. Pipe one dot of the buttercream in the middle of each cake base and the rest in dots around the edges. Drizzle the jam over the cream, place the sponge tops on and lightly sift icing sugar over the cakes.