Bettina Campolucci Bordi – This is the ultimate homage to my childhood. You simply can’t go wrong with a vanilla sponge, white icing and sprinkles on top. This cake is popular with children and adults alike and is a joy to make and serve. I mean who doesn’t love sprinkles?
They make everyone happy!
Note: Double the ingredients for the sponge and bake in two sandwich cake pans if you would like to make a bigger double-decker cake. You will also need to double the quantity of icing to cover the bigger cake.
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE CAKE:
120 g (4 oz) vegan butter, plus extra for greasing
150 g (5 oz/2⁄3 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
3 tablespoons aquafaba (liquid from tinned chickpeas)
320 g (11¼ oz/2½ cups) self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
300 ml (10 fl oz/scant 1¼ cups) plant milk (I like oat milk)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 vanilla pod (bean), split and the seeds scraped out, or 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
pinch of salt
FOR THE ICING:
90 g (3 oz) vegan butter
2 tablespoons thick plant yoghurt
100 g (3½ oz) icing (confectioner’s) sugar
1 big packet of multi-coloured sprinkles
FOR THE INSIDE LAYER:
1 jar of strawberry or raspberry jam (about 340 g/12 oz)
1 punnet (tray) of strawberries (about 250 g/9 oz), de-stemmed and sliced
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/gas 4). Grease a 21 cm(8 in) spring form cake pan with butter (you can also use coconut oil). A square cake pan also works nicely for this cake.
To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until soft and fluffy.
In another bowl, whisk the aquafaba until it is white, fluffy and forming stiff peaks. This will take a good 10 minutes. I find an electric whisk makes this much easier! Set aside.
Add the flour, baking powder, milk, apple cider vinegar, vanilla, and salt to the large bowl. Mix to incorporate everything well.
Gently fold the aquafaba through the mix, then pour into the prepared cake pan. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
Check if the cake is ready by inserting a skewer into the middle and seeing if it comes out clean (it may need an extra 5–10 minutes). Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
While the cake is cooling, make the icing by mixing the butter, yoghurt and sugar together in a bowl.
When the cake has cooled, remove from the cake pan and slice in half horizontally. (If you are making a double-decker cake, sandwich together the two larger layers made in separate cake pans.)
Place the bottom half on a serving platter and spread with a layer of jam followed by a layer of strawberries. Pop the other half of the cake on top, cover the top and sides with icing, and decorate generously with lots of sprinkles!
Source: Veganlifemag.com
