If you are looking to bake a vegan sponge cake that would satisfy everyone, try this recipe today! This easy vegan orange cake is fluffy and moist and you can decorate with almost any frosting. It’s perfect for after dinner dessert or making a birthday layer cake. If you are making a layer cake, just double the amount of the ingredients and bake in two cake tins! I frosted my cake with whipped coconut cream and little drizzles of apricot glaze that went really well with the cake☺
The recipe uses a good amount of orange juice but the flavour doesn’t come out strong when baked. However, you can taste a subtle flavour of the orange in the cake. If you want to make it more orangey and citrusy you can add some zest of fresh orange or orange extract or both! You don’t need to add too much oil to this cake, the orange juice and oil work together that create fluffy and moist texture!
what do need to make the easy vegan orange cake
- orange juice
- oil (I used sunflower oil)
- vanilla extract
- plain flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- sugar
- salt
Yes, you only need few basic ingredients for this cake, which you might already have in your kitchen! Please make sure your orange juice is 100% pure. I used 100% pure orange juice from Tesco for 69 pence☺
How to make guide
It’s just so easy to make this cake. For the cake batter, make sure you prepare the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately before combining all together. When you mix the dry and the wet together please be careful not to overmix the batter, the cake may come out dense if you mix too much. Quickly pour the batter into a cake tin and bake for 22-25 minutes.
- Mix all of the wet ingredients in a bowl, set aside.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda in another bowl and mix in the sugar and salt.
- Carefully add the dry in to the wet and mix until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the greased cake tin and bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Let it cool before taking out from the tin and frost.
Please check the instructions for the whipped coconut cream below. I recommend to used full fat coconut milk with higher percentage of coconut extract, more than 50%.
You can serve the cake with any kinds of frosting such as Whipped coconut cream, shop bought vegan whipped cream, vegan butter frosting, icing glaze and chocolate glaze. The cake is delicious without frosting as well☺
Easy Vegan Orange Cake
Ingredients
- 240 ml orange juice
- 30 ml oil I used sunflower oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 185 g plain flour
- 7 g baking powder
- 3 g baking soda
- 100 g sugar
- a tiny pinch of salt
For the Whipped coconut cream (optional)
- 1 can coconut milk refrigerated at least for 24 hours
- 3 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Apricot Glazing (optional)
- 4 tbsp apricot jam
- 1-2 tbsp hot water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 177°C (gas mark 4.5). Grease a 8 inch tin by spreading a thin layer of margarine and sprinkling some flour.
- In a large bowl, mix the orange juice, oil and vanilla extract together well (wet ingredient). In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix in the sugar and salt (dry ingredient).
- While one of your hand adding the dry ingredient into the wet ingredient gently, use the other hand to stir the mixture. Mix until just combined with no lumps, do not overmix!
- Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 22-25 minutes or a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Baking time can vary depending on the type of your oven so please watch your cake when it's time to check!
For the whipped coconut cream (optional)
- *Take out the can of coconut milk from the fridge with out shaking or tilting. Open the can and carefully scoop out white coconut cream, put it in a mixing bowl. Please do not add the water that is left at the bottom of the can, you only need the coconut cream!
- Add in the icing sugar and vanilla extract and mix with a folk before using an electric mixer. This will avoid the powdery mess!! Then using an electric mixer, whip in a medium speed for a couple of minutes or until firm peaks form. **
- You can frost your cake straight way, make sure your cake is cool, not warm! If you are not ready to frost your cake, keep the whipped cream in the fridge until needed.
For the apricot glazing recipe (optional)
- Mix the apricot jam and hot water in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave it for 1 minute on high power with a lid on. Open the lid, stir and leave to cool.
- You can decorate with this in any ways you want. I used a piping bag to decorate on top of the whipped cream.
Notes