This easy to make vegan blueberry cake looks impressive and is soft & fluffy. With a delectable bilberry water icing, this cake is bursting with juicy colour and flavour.
Equipment
- 1 x deep-sided 8-inch springform cake tin
Ingredients
For the cake
- 250ml non-dairy milk (see notes)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 250g plain flour
- 180g golden caster sugar
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 80ml flavourless oil (e.g. groundnut)
- ¾ tsp vanilla extract
For decoration
- 100g icing sugar
Method
- Begin by making the buttermilk - put the milk and lemon juice into a small bowl, stir and leave for 5-10 minutes to curdle (some milk curdles more obviously than others)
- Meanwhile, reheat the oven to 180C / 350F / GM4 and grease and line a deep-sided 8-inch springform cake tin with baking parchment
- Take 1 tsp of flour and toss the dried blueberries in it and set aside
- Pour the rest of the flour into a medium-sized mixing bowl along with the baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar and whisk together briefly
- When the buttermilk has curdled, stir in the oil and almond extract
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk for around 1 minute until the batter is just smooth
- Pour half of the batter into the prepared tin and sprinkle half of the blueberries and half the bilberry powder over the batter
- Drizzle 3 tbsp of the remaining batter over the cake (it won't cover it entirely). Add the remaining blueberries and bilberry powder
- Spoon the remaining batter over the top and use the back of a teaspoon to ensure that all the blueberries are covered
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until the cake is well risen, golden and a cocktail pick inserted into the centre comes out clean
- Let the cake cool completely in the tin before removing from the tin - the sponge is quite delicate so remove the parchment carefully
- Put the icing sugar and bilberry powder into a small mixing bowl and add just enough water to form a soft icing that drips from the knife easily
- Check the colour of the icing, add a little more bilberry powder if you want to deepen the colour
- When ready, drizzle the icing over the top of the cake, then top with dried blueberries and almond slices
- Allow to set for at least 30 minutes before serving
- Store for 48 hours in an airtight container at room temperature
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