This Strawberry Sponge Cake is so good in summer as it utilises fresh strawberries. It’s also vegan and sugar-free!
Every summer I love going strawberry picking. It’s nice to get out in the sun and wander around the strawberry patches finding all the best ones and of course sampling them too! This summer’s haul was particularly good.
My hubby and I went to a different orchard (Zaberri) than past years so I’m not sure if that’s why or maybe we just went earlier in the season. Regardless, there were so many good, bright red strawberries! Super sweet and juicy.
I’m not sure about you but when I go strawberry picking I find it pretty easy to get carried away, and then I get home and realise it’s not possible to eat them all before they go bad. Unless I freeze them of course. But they were so good fresh that’s how I wanted to use them. So I decided to bake with them. It was near impossible to find a strawberry based vegan, sugar free dessert, so I got creative.
Here is my vegan, sugar free vanilla sponge cake with strawberry compote and coconut whipped cream. The perfect summery dessert. The compote can be made a day or so advance if you’re short on time and you can pretty much add anything to it (vanilla, spices, basil or rosemary) or just make it how I did.
The whipped coconut cream was a bit of a struggle and I’ve tried it in the past and failed. With some trial and error I found it absolutely 100% needs to go in the fridge for at least a day before you plan on using it. Unfortunately that means this is not a spontaneous, last minute cake. It will (hopefully) get all nice and thick and creamy on the top of the can. Then you just spoon that part out and whip away.
I have used Natvia powdered sweetener for the cake in this recipe, and Sugro Max liquid concentrate sweetener for the compote as they were the easiest to come by in my local supermarket. All sweeteners seem to work differently so feel free to try a different one if you like but I can’t vouch for other brands or types as they are untested in this recipe. For the egg substitute I used Organ No Egg Egg Replacer. I would normally be trying to get you all to use my Flaxseed Egg Replacer recipe, however I have to say the Organ No Egg Egg Replacer actually works a lot better. I did try these cakes with my Flaxseed Egg Replacer recipe but they came it out a bit too dense and tough. They also were not white like a normal vanilla sponge, due the brown of the flaxseed. That part is just cosmetic, but sometimes, especially if you’re trying to trick non-vegans, it’s preferable to have a white sponge cake.
Ingredients
-
Sponge
- Strawberry Compote
- Topping
Instructions
- If you haven't already put the can of coconut cream in the fridge overnight, or longer if you can.
- Preheat oven to 180℃
- Measure margarine and powdered sweetener into mixing bowl and cream using electric beaters until thick and pale, approximately 4 minutes
- Add vanilla and egg replacer and beat until well combined
- Add flour and stir to combine
- Gradually add the milk, mixing as you go until all the milk has been added and combined
- Grease 2x 20cm cake tins with more dairy free margarine and split batter between both tins
- Bake cakes in middle of oven for approx 30mins or until starting to brown and skewer comes out clean
- Leave to cool in tins for 15mins before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely
-
To make the compote halve the strawberries and remove green tops and put into a small pot or saucepan with lemon juice and liquid sweetener
-
Turn heat to medium low and stir occasionally until strawberries are broken down and it is a jam like consistency
-
Put one of the cakes on a plate or cake board and spread the compote on top
- Put second cake on top
- To make the coconut cream take the can out of the fridge and spoon out only the top thick layer into a mixing bowl. (For me this was about half the can). You don't want any water as the cream won't whip properly
- Add vanilla and liquid sweetener and whip with electric beaters until thick (note this will likely take a bit longer than normal cream)
-
Spoon cream on top of cake and top with chopped fresh strawberries
Notes
This cake keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days, but any longer and it starts to dry out.
I am really enjoying the theme/design of your blog. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues? A handful of my blog readers have complained about my site not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Safari. Do you have any ideas to help fix this issue?
Thanks!
I’ve never had any browser compatibility issues that I’m aware of, but there is bound to be something that doesn’t work quite right on a certain browser. There could be so many reasons why your site doesn’t always operate in Explorer but is fine in Safari as all browsers are so different. I think I also read a while ago that Microsoft are phasing out support for IE, so that could possibly be why you’re having issues.