Vegan Orange Cake with Orange Buttercream | Bake With Me

A few weeks ago, I saw a post on Twitter that joked about pulling out a can of sliced pineapples from under the bed to surprise someone on their birthday during the coronavirus crisis. Rather post-apocalyptic. I had a little chuckle because I thought it was so over the top. If I'm being honest, the severity of the crisis hadn't hit hard yet. Fast forward to now, living through a lockdown, and this scenario doesn't seem so far-fetched.

It was my mum's birthday this past week and because your girl's got mad skills, there was not a tin of fruit in sight. Instead, I made this beaut of a cake: two layers of orange flavoured sponge cake with orange buttercream frosting.

The ingredient quantities make up enough for a two-layer, 8-inch round sandwich cake. Feel free to halve the quantity for a one-layer cake. The buttercream is just enough to spread in the middle and on the top. For a rustic 'naked cake' effect, you can smear small amounts around the outside.

If you'd like to have some virtual company and bake along with me, you can prep all your ingredients and check out my YouTube video. Let's bake together!

And if you do make this cake, share a picture of it online and tag me @vegannigerian so that I can repost :)


Ingredients
for the cakes
- 5 cups self-raising flour
- 2 and 1/2 cups caster sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 cups vegan milk (I used Alpro coconut)
- 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 cup sunflower or vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- zest from 4 medium oranges
- juice from 1/2 medium orange (for syrup)

for the orange buttercream
- 2 cups icing sugar
- 1/2 cup vegan margarine
- zest from 1 medium orange

for garnish
- 3 semi-dehydrated orange slices
- fresh mint

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

To make the cakes, combine the flour, sugar and salt in a very large bowl. Set aside.

In another bowl or large jug, combine the vegan milk, orange juice, oil, vanilla extract and vinegar. Whisk to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold gently with a spatula until just combined. Add the orange zest and fold again to distribute. Be careful not to over mix.

Prepare 2 round 8-inch round cake tins, coating the insides with a dab of vegan margarine and dusting with a little flour to prevent sticking. Use a round of baking paper at the bottom of the tins if you have  any to spare.

Divide the cake batter evenly between the two cake tins. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown and cooked all the way through (a toothpick stuck in the centre of the cake should come out clean).

Once the cakes are out of the oven, leave to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Drizzle the extra orange juice onto both cakes. This will soak into the cake and act as a syrup to keep them moist and enhance the orange flavour.

While the cakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream and garnish. To make the buttercream, combine the icing sugar, vegan margarine and orange zest in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth and creamy (I used an electric hand whisk to seed up the process).

Prepare the garnish orange slices by baking them at 120 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes until they are semi-dehydrated. The idea is to draw out most of the moisture so that it doesn't make a mess of the buttercream.

Assemble the cake by spreading half of the buttercream between the cakes and the other half over the top. Decorate with orange slices and a sprig of fresh mint.