Hello beautiful cats! How are you? I hope you are enjoying your weekend! For me, this is a very relaxing one as the past week has been so busy – but Sundays are also for a walk and I found a lovely new spot not too far from my home: I wasn’t aware of it as I usually go the other direction and a colleague told me about it. Loved this little Sunday adventure! And what better sweetie I could find at home if not this Vegan School Dinner Sponge by TraditionalPlantBasedCooking?! If you don’t know this website, please go and give it a look because they have veganised almost every food you grew up with not only from the British Isles but North America, Oceania and more.

So without further ado, here is the recipe!

Ingredients

• 225 grams self-raising flour sieved, or plain/all purpose flour with an extra ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder sieved
• 175 grams caster sugar or granulated
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil such as rapeseed/sunflower (this is not a strong tasting oil)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 225 ml water

Jam and coconut topping:

• 8 tablespoons fruit jam (jelly) Give the jam a good mix with a spoon so it’s easier to spread.
• 4 tablespoons desiccated coconut

Method

Prepare the sponge:

1. Preheat oven to 160 Fan/ 180 Celsius/ 350 Fahrenheit/ gas 4.
2. Grease the baking dish and line with greaseproof paper if necessary.
3. Add dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix.
4. Add wet ingredients and mix to a smooth batter.
5. Scoop the cake batter into the baking dish. A spatula is amazing as it helps scrape all the batter off the bowl.
6. Place baking dish on the middle shelf of the oven.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes depending on your oven. Fan ovens are often faster to bake. Check the traybake after 25 minutes. Cake is ready when risen, lightly golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
8. Leave the cake for about 20 minutes and then carefully remove from the tin to cool on a wire rack. Or simply leave in the tin to cool. It will be fine. Carefully peel away the baking paper.
9. Once cool finish the sponge by adding the decoration.

Jam and coconut topping:

1. Whip your jam with a spoon to loosen it up and make it easier to spread. Spread over your cake.
2. Sprinkle coconut over the jam to cover.
3. Slice into 12 pieces.

I enjoyed a piece of this sponge with some hot tea after the walk!

Love,

TVCL xx