I used to have great admiration and a little sadness for vegans as I felt that their food choices were so limited. All the best foods needed eggs, milk, butter and cheese; all ingredients that vegans do not consume.
While I still have great admiration for vegans, my sadness has turned to joy and a little envy, because vegans now have so many delicious foods to eat. There have been and are so many pioneers that have relentlessly given the world such amazing vegan options.
To all of you pioneers, I say thank you, because now the whole world gets to enjoy your discoveries.
While I cannot claim to be one of these pioneers, I can claim to have the ability to adapt a recipe, with a few minor changes, to produce a delicious vegan cake.
This vanilla cake is flavoursome, soft, moist and tender courtesy of some apple sauce/puree. The icing is creamy and delicious.
Most importantly, this is an easy cake to make and I hope that everyone who likes cake, tries this recipe.
If you can, make your own apple puree. It is so easy and I find that cooking the apples with some lemon juice really brings something wonderful to this cake. See notes on apple sauce further down.
Vegan ingredients
Most vegan products are easily found in all supermarkets. The substitutes that are specifically needed are for butter and milk, as these are key components to bake a cake.
Vegan ‘Butter’
Butter is often the first ingredient listed on most cake recipes. It is also one of the most important ingredients. I have read that there are vegan butters available at speciality health stores and online It was more convenient to buy Flora vegan margarine at the local supermarket. And this margarine works really well. Use the highest fat content that you can find and that would be the 60% fat Flora vegan margarine.
Vegan ‘Milk’
This is an easy replacement to find as the milk aisles have tons of substitutes. Rice milk, soya milk, oat milk, coconut milk, almond milk etc.
For this cake I used soya milk.
Apple sauce or puree
Apple sauce or puree is often used in vegan cakes. It is credited with providing egg substitution, moistness and flavour. Apple sauce can be bought at any supermarket. Another easy way to access apple sauce is to buy tinned pie apples and blend the contents.
You can also make your own apple puree or sauce. I recommend making your own apple puree. See below.
Home-made apple puree ingredients
- 3-4 medium sized apples
- juice of half a lemon
Method to cook sauce
- Skin and core apples
- Cut into small chunks.
- Add to a small saucepan with the lemon juice.
- Cook on medium heat till fruit is soft.
- Blend to make into a sauce.
Ingredients for cake
- 280 g cake flour
- 25 ml baking powder
- 2 ml salt
- 250 g caster sugar
- 200 ml non-dairy milk (soy, almond, coconut)
- 125g vegan margarine (Floro, 60% fat)
- 5 ml vanilla extract
- 80 ml pureed apples or apple sauce
Method to make cake
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
- Grease the base and sides of a 23 cm round cake pan and line the base with baking parchment.
- In a mixing bowl, measure out flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and lightly whisk to combine.
- Heat milk and vegan margarine in a small, heavy-based saucepan until the margarine melts. Do not boil the mixture. Alternatively melt the margarine/milk mixture in the microwave.
- Add vanilla to milk mixture.
- Add apple puree and milk mixture to flour mix.
- Using a whisk or spatula, beat all ingredient until well combined and smooth.
- Add mixture to baking pan and bake for 30- 35 minutes until cake is risen, lightly golden and coming away from the sides of the pan.
- Leave to cool for 10 minutes in pan before turning onto a wire rack to completely cool.
- If you want to split the cake in two to make a sandwich cake, I recommend that once the cake cools and before you frost the cake, wrap the cake in clingfilm or keep in a closed container in the fridge for half an hour. The cakes firms up so that it makes it easier to cut in half to make 2 cake layers.
Vanilla Buttercream
- 125 g vegan margarine
- 1 1/2 c sifted icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 – 2 TB non-dairy milk or lemon juice
- Beat vegan margarine with an electric beater till pale, smooth and fluffy.
- Add sifted icing sugar in 2 batches along with vanilla.
- Beat well until smooth and creamy, scraping sides and base of mixing bowl a few times.
- Add non-dairy milk or lemon juice.
- Beat well so that all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Split cold cake in 2 and spread half the icing evenly over the cake layer.
- Add top cake layer and spread remaining icing.
- Decorate with fresh fruit or nuts.
