We gave our basic vegan cake recipe a blood orange and rosemary twist. Many people feel a bit intimidated by baking a cake with frosting and layers. But it’s really fun and easy! To make this buttery-citrusy-goodness you need:
Basic vegan orange cake
Vegan Buttercream
Blood-Orange and rosemary marmalade
SIMPLE VEGAN SPONGE CAKE
This cake is the base for our Blood Orange Cake: It is the moistest and most delicious vegan sponge cake we know and it is also incredibly versatile. Instead of orange you can use lemon, vanilla, cinnamon or any other flavour you like. This makes it a perfect starting point for your wildest cake ideas.
Two 7-inch cakes
2 ¼ cups plant milk 1 ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar 3 ⅓ cups all purpose flour 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar 1 tbsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1 ½ tsp salt zest of 1 orange (or any other flavour like lemon, vanilla, cinnamon) ¾ cup vegetable oil (+ more for greasing the cake pans)
Preheat the oven to 180 ºC/350 ºF and grease the baking pans with oil. We usually also line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper. In a bowl mix the plant milk and vinegar and set aside to clabber for 10 minutes. Meanwhile in a second bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange zest until fluffy. Add the oil into the clabbered milk and mix. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk until the batter is smooth. Divide the dough evenly between the two cake pans. Bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes. They are done when the edges are golden and have pulled away from the sides of the pans and a test comes out clean or with one or two crumbs. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Then remove gently from the pans and leave to cool fully on a rack. Chill the cake in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator overnight to prevent crumbling when you decorate them.
BLOOD ORANGE AND ROSEMARY MARMALADE
For our cakes, we usually make the fruit fillings ourselves. Of course, you can also use store-bought jam, but it tends to make the overall flavour profile of the cake too sweet for us. It's also easier to give the cake a little twist. Here we have spiced up the quick orange marmalade with a little rosemary. Following the recipe you'll have a little more marmalade than you need for the cake. But we think that won't be a problem, right?
4 medium blood oranges 1 cup water 1 cup granulated sugar 1-2 sprigs of rosemary
Halve the oranges and cut into thin slices, picking out any seeds. Place the orange sliced in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the water and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn the heat to low. Strip the needles from the rosemary sprigs and add. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has darkened in color and thickened a bit (it will get thicker as it cools). This will take approximately 40 minutes. Transfer the marmalade to jars and seal with the lid. Marmalade can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 10 days in an airtight container.
VEGAN BUTTERCREAM WITH CITRUS
The last recipe you need for the cake is this heavenly vegan buttercream. To match the rest of the Blood Orange Cake it has a subtle citrus note to it. This can be left out or be replaced (with rum, vanilla etc.) if you are making a differently flavoured cake.
1 cup room temp high-fat vegan butter (at least 79% fat) 3 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted 2 Tbsp blood orange juice 1 tsp orange zest
Put the butter out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature. Add butter and half the powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer (with the paddle attachment). Mix on low (!) until completely incorporated. Add the second half of the powdered sugar, and mix again on low until completely incorporated. Add the orange juice and zest and mix on low again until completely incorporated. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix again until the buttercream is smooth and fluffy. If you want an ultra smooth buttercream, it takes up to half an hour of mixing on low speed. You can adjust consistency by adding more liquid or sugar.