This is a great all-purpose cake recipe which can be used for a layer cake or cupcakes.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups plain flour
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup soy milk
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup rice bran or sunflower oil
- 2/3 cup raw sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Grease and line a small round or square cake tin, about 23cm or 9” across. If you want to make two sponges to make a layer cake, double the recipe.
Method
- Sift the flour, bicarb/baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.
- In a smaller bowl, mix the milk and cider vinegar and leave to thicken slightly. Whisk in the oil, sugar and vanilla extract.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir gently with a spatula to mix everything together.
- Pour the batter into the tin and level off.
- Bake at 170 °C / 325 °F / Gas 3 for about 25 minutes or until the cake has risen, turned golden and doesn’t wobble too much when you give it a little shake.
- Take the cake out of the oven and check if it is done by inserting a wooden or metal skewer into the centre of the cake – if it comes out with sticky stuff on it, cook a little longer.
- Cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
Flavour options:
Chocolate: substitute 1/3 cup of the flour with cocoa.
Lemon: add zest of one lemon to batter, replace vanilla with 1 tablespoon lemon juice or ¼–½ teaspoon lemon extract.
Orange: add zest of one orange to batter, replace vanilla with 1 tablespoon orange juice or ¼–½ teaspoon orange extract.
Almond: substitute ½ cup of the flour with ground almonds, add ¼–½ teaspoon almond extract.
