Vegan Blueberry Cake with Bilberry Icing

This easy to make vegan blueberry cake looks incredibly impressive and it is soft & fluffy. Bursting with juicy colour and flavour, this cake is an absolute winner.

THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY INDIGO HERBS

This vegan blueberry cake with fantastically pretty bilberry icing received instant praise from all of my family. My husband is rarely impressed by cake so I take his compliments particularly seriously.

I generally love adding fruit to cakes in whatever form that may be, fresh or dried. But in this instance, I’ve discovered a new trick – fruit powder – it works wonders in cake baking.

Though I’ve been keen on the idea of fruit powders for a while, I wasn’t quite sure how they would work out in a sponge cake. So I decided to make a blueberry and bilberry cake using fruit powder (available online from Indigo Herbs) to see.

I sprinkled some bilberry powder directly into the cake batter to amplify the fruity nature of this cake and then I used a little more to create a strikingly colourful icing. No need for artificial colouring gels in this vegan blueberry cake.

It worked a treat. The result is a light and fluffy sponge cake that is speckled with dark nuggets of fruit and loaded with tangy flavour.

To say it is a winner in the looks department too is stating the obvious. This vegan blueberry cake is no wallflower.

What’s the Difference Between Bilberries and Blueberries?

Before we delve into how to bake this cake, I’d like to share with you some information about bilberries and blueberries so you better understand the ingredients selected for this bake.

Bilberries, also known as European wild blueberries, are part of the same plant family as blueberries. But there are some marked differences between bilberries and the cultivated blueberries that are readily available in supermarkets:

• Bilberries are usually smaller in size and darker in color than cultivated blueberries
• On the inside cultivated blueberries have flesh that is white, light green, or yellow. Bilberries, though, have a dark blue-purple color inside and out
• Bilberries are more intensely flavoured than cultivated blueberries

Taste is perhaps the most important difference to be aware of when considering which fruit to bake with.

Cultivated blueberries have a gentle, sweet and vaguely floral quality to the flavour. Drying out fruit does tend to strengthen the flavour though, hence why I’m using dried blueberries in this recipe.

Bilberries, on the other hand, have a more intense, fruity, tangy and only mildly sweet flavor. This makes them a fantastically flavourful ingredient to use in baking.

Of course, unless you happen to live in the right part of the world, fresh bilberries are very hard to get hold of.

Luckily, it is now possible to purchase dried bilberries and bilberry powder. Again, the flavour has been intensified by the drying process, so a little powder can add quite a punch of flavour.

I decided to use both dried blueberries and bilberry powder in this vegan blueberry cake. Both of these ingredients are available from Indigo Herbs.

The blueberries add visual and textural interest and a mild, sweet flavour whilst the bilberry powder adds an extra burst of fresh, tangy fruitiness to the cake and colours the icing magnificently.

Having sampled the bilberry powder, I’m now keen to try out some of the other fruit powders from Indigo Herbs (cherry; raspberry; strawberry and mango) in other cakes, bakes and perhaps my ultimate treat, homemade marshmallows.

What Other Ingredients Do I Need?

The majority of ingredients for this cake are likely to hand without extra effort if you have a well-stocked baking cupboard. There will just be a few items you’ll likely need to pick up before baking can start.

Vegan buttermilk – this is a homemade combination of almond milk and lemon juice. This acidic liquid helps activate the raising agents in the cake. Other plant-based milk alternatives will also work, but they may not all curdle as well as almond milk does.

Flour – I’ve used plain (all-purpose) flour in this recipe. Self-raising flour can alternatively be used, but do omit the baking powder since self-raising flour already contains this.

Raising agents – both baking powder and baking soda are required for this cake. Only a small amount of lemon juice (acid) is used in this recipe (to avoid turning it into a lemon cake) so the amount of rise that it is capable of producing from the baking soda is limited. For this reason, baking powder is also necessary to provide additional lift.

Golden caster sugar – I used this over white sugar to add colour and a slight buttery taste. Since this cake contains oil and no eggs, these qualities are beneficial, but white caster sugar works fine too.

Salt – again, due to the use of oil, a small amount of salt makes a world of difference in this recipe. The cake does not taste salty, but this ingredient does help draw out flavour in the cake.

Vegetable oil – this is the oil I had it to hand, but any flavourless oil (e.g. groundnut, sunflower) work equally well.

Almond extract – I’ve included a little almond flavour to tie in with the almond milk and the decoration. Almonds work a treat with most fruits, including blueberries.

Water icing – made from icing sugar, water and bilberry powder, the colourful water icing on this cake is a real attention grabber. Water icing is quick to make and compliments the light and bouncy sponge cake perfectly.

How to Make Vegan Blueberry Cake

• Begin by making the buttermilk – put the almond milk and lemon juice into a small bowl, stir and leave for 5-10 minutes to curdle

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• Meanwhile, preheat the oven 180C/ 350F/ GM4 and grease & line a deep-sided 8-inch springform cake tin with baking parchment
• Take 1 tsp of the flour and toss the dried blueberries in it. Set aside
• Pour the rest of the flour into a medium-sized mixing bowl along with the baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Mix briefly with a balloon whisk

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• When the buttermilk has curdled stir in the oil and almond extract
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Mix with the balloon whisk for around 1 minute until the batter is just smooth

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• Pour 1/2 of the batter into the prepared tin and sprinkle 1/2 of the blueberries and 1/2 of the bilberry powder over it
• Drizzle 3 tablespoons of the remaining batter over the cake (it won’t cover it entirely). Add the remaining blueberries and bilberry powder
• Spoon the remaining batter over the top and use the back of a teaspoon to ensure that all of the blueberries are covered. You might notice a few streaks of bilberry powder on the top. This is fine – it adds to the charm of the cake in fact

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• Bake for 35-40 minutes until the cake is well risen, golden and a cocktail pick inserted into the centre comes out clean
• Let the cake cool completely in the tin before unmolding carefully. The sponge is quite delicate, so remove the parchment slowly rather than ripping it off quickly
• Put the icing sugar and bilberry powder into a small mixing bowl. Add just enough water to form a soft icing that drips from the knife easily. Begin by adding 1/2 tsp water and keep adding more in 1/4 tsp increments until you are happy with the consistency
• Check the colour of the icing. Add a little more bilberry powder if you want to deepen the colour
• When ready, drizzle the icing over the top of the cake then top with dried blueberries and almond slices. Allow to set for at least 30 minutes before serving

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Top Tips

• As with all baking, do measure out ingredients accurately and follow the recipe carefully. Each ingredient has its place and purpose in this recipe. Leaving things out is really not advisable
• Use the tin size specified (8-inch round, deep-sided spring-form). Trying to cram the batter into a smaller tin could lead to it overflowing in the oven. It could also end up having an underbaked middle. Similarly, problems can arise if a tin that is too large is used. The cake will be shallower and likely need a different length of time in the oven
• Always grease and line your baking tin, even if it is non-stick. Getting your cake out will be so much easier if you do this
• The cake needs to cool completely in the tin before unmoulding. Do this carefully as the cake is quite delicate
• Do not put the icing on until the cake is completely cold since water icing will sink into a warm cake

Adapting this cake for a Nut Allergy

As presented, this vegan blueberry cake contains almond milk, almond extract and flaked almonds, so it will need modifying before it is safe to eat for anybody with a nut allergy. Make the following changes to make it nut-free:

• replace the almond milk with oat milk (the buttermilk may not curdle in quite the same way but the resulting cake will still be delicious)
• use vanilla extract instead of almond extract
• omit the almond flakes from the decoration

How to Store this Cake

Once assembled this vegan blueberry cake is best stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

The cake itself will stay fresh for up to 4 days, but the icing may discolour after 48 hours (especially if the weather is hot). For this reason, I suggest consuming within 2 days to ensure this cake is eaten at its best.

Can I Freeze it?

If intending to freeze this cake, do so before adding the icing and decorations.

Once baked, let it cool completely, then wrap in clingfilm and freeze for up to 6 weeks.

Defrost fully before proceeding to ice and decorate it.

More Vegan Recipes you May Enjoy:

• Ginger Loaf Cake with Orange & Almond
• Shepherd’s Pie with Lentils
• Lemon Elderflower Cupcakes
• Carrot and Lentil Soup with Coriander
• Rice Pudding with Spiced Pears