These Vegan Mini Victoria Sponge Cakes have all the flavour of a regular Victoria Sponge Cake in bite sized form!
Cake in miniature form
I love cake, it's incredibly satisfying cutting a big wedge and tucking into it with a cake fork. But, sometimes the occasion calls for something a little more delicate. Sure, cupcakes would do but I think a more sophisticated option is to make a full sized cake but in miniature.
What is a Victoria Sponge Cake?
The Victoria Sponge Cake is a light, fluffy sponge cake that is layered with jam and cream. The Women's Institute (WI) in the UK say that the basically filling should be raspberry jam though some people prefer to use strawberry jam. The WI don't say that cream is essential, rather they list it as a decadent optional way of filling the cake! But, many people in the UK would expect to see either buttercream or whipped cream alongside the jam filling.
It's believed that Queen Victoria used to enjoy a slice of the cake with her traditional English afternoon tea, hence the name. (More afternoon tea recipes below!)
Baking a Victoria Sponge Cake
A Victoria Sponge Cake uses the creaming method: the fat and sugar are creamed well together, the egg (if being used) is beaten into this mixture, and sifted flour and salt, together with raising agent. It's a classic technique to bake a classic cake.
How do you make Mini Victoria Sponge Cakes?
The good news is that the method for baking Vegan Mini Victoria Sponge Cakes is that it's exactly the same method as making a big cake. You cream together the butter and sugar, add in the flour and milk (amongst other things) then bake!
But, to make these Victoria Sponge Cakes miniatures you will need a special bit of kit: a 12 cup mini sandwich tin. These usually have loose bottoms which helps you push the miniature cakes out. And, because they have straight sides they are the perfect shape.
You could use a muffin tin as an alternative but they will be a little wider on top than they are on the bottom when you cut them in half.
How do you make Vegan Mini Victoria Sponge Cakes?
Making cake recipes vegan is easier than you think it might be (even if those cakes are miniature in form!). These days there are easy swaps for butter, milk and more.
The main ingredient missing from this recipe is eggs. Whilst you can use a vegan egg replacer, each brand works slightly differently and so I'm sharing a recipe that uses raising agents like self raising flour to give the cakes their lift. The soy milk gives the sponge the richness eggs would normally create and keeps the cake moist.
If you'd like to know more about vegan baking I've created a guide which covers all the substitutions you could need in various scenarios. You can read my big vegan baking guide here.
Top tips
- Don't forget to pre-heat your oven, test the temperature with an oven thermometer before baking
- Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature
- Beat the butter and sugar well so that it is really creamy, the sugar shouldn't still be grainy and visible
- Use soy milk as it is the plant milk most similar to cows milk
- To get an even amount of cake batter in each hole of the cake tin, use an ice cream scoop
- Wait until the cakes have cool completely before cutting them in half
- Don't overfill the cakes with jam and buttercream, too much jam will cause the top to slide off
The recipe
Vegan Mini Victoria Sponge Cakes
Equipment
- 27 x 36cm 12 Hole Mini Sandwich Tin with Loose Bases
- grease proof paper
- 2 piping bags
Ingredients
For the cake
- 150 grams non-dairy butter e.g. Flora or Naturli
- 200 grams caster sugar
- 300 grams self raising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 300 ml non-dairy milk e.g. soy milk or oat milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
For the filling
- 4 tablespoon raspberry jam
- 200 ml vegan whipping cream
To decorate
- 2 tablespoon Icing sugar
Instructions
To make the cake
- Pre-heat your oven to 180C / 356F / gas 4.
- Cut out 12 small discs of grease proof paper and place in the bottom of your tins.
- Make sure all of your ingredients are weighed out and ready to go.
- In a large bowl, beat the non-dairy butter and caster sugar together until it is pale and creamy.
- In a separate jug, mix together the milk, vinegar and vanilla extract. (Do not worry if the acid reacts with the milk and it looks like it has split or curdled).
- Add half of the milk and vinegar mix in with the creamed butter and sugar.
- Sift in half of the flour and baking powder and fold in.
- Stir in the remaining milk and vinegar before folding in the remaining flour and baking powder.
- Spoon the cake batter into your cake tins (1 heaped tablespoon - 2 tablespoon per cake hole)
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 15-18 minutes or until the cakes are golden brown, a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes come out clean and the cake is springy to the touch.
- Remove the cakes from the oven once they are cooked and leave them in the tin until cool enough to handle.
- Push the cakes out using the loose bottoms tins and peel off the layer of grease proof paper.
- Let them finish cooling before cutting and decorating.
To make the filling
- While the cakes are cooling, whisk the vegan whipping cream until thick and holding its shape.
- Spoon this into your first piping bag.
- Next spoon the jam into a second piping bag.
To assemble
- Carefully cut the cakes in half horizontally.
- Pipe alternating blobs of cream and jam on top of the bottom layer.
- Sandwich the top piece of cake on top.
To decorate
- Simply dust with sifted icing sugar to finish.
Nutrition
More Afternoon Team Recipes
Create a classic Afternoon Tea with these simple recipes.
Vegan Blueberry Scones
More British Recipes
If you like this recipe then why not try some of my other British recipes.
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