Vegan Blueberry Cake

5 from 2 votes

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.

Prep Time20

Cook Time35

Total Time55

Course: Baking

Cuisine: Worldwide

Servings:

Calories: 302kcal

Author: Jane Coupland

Equipment

A deep-sided 8-inch circular springform cake tin

Ingredients

For the Cake

250 ml Almond milk
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
250 g Plain flour All-purpose
180 g Golden caster sugar
1 ½ teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda Baking soda
½ teaspoon Salt
80 ml Vegetable oil
¾ teaspoon Almond extract
30 g Dried blueberries
1 ½ teaspoon Bilberry powder

For Decoration

100 g Icing sugar
½ teaspoon Bilberry powder
15 g Dried blueberries
1 tablespoon Almond flakes

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Bake the 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
Meanwhile, preheat the oven 180C/ 350F/ GM4 and grease and line a deep-sided 8-inch springform cake tin with baking parchment
Take 1 teaspoon 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
When the buttermilk has curdled stir in the oil and almond extract
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with the balloon whisk for around 1 minute until the batter is just smoothP
Pour ½ of the batter into the prepared tin and sprinkle ½ of the blueberries and ½ 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 this is totally fine (it adds to the charm of the cake in fact)
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 carefully

Decorating the Cake

Put the icing sugar and bilberry powder into a small mixing powl and add just enough water to form a soft icing that drips from the knife easily. Begin by adding ½ teaspoon water and keep adding more in ¼ teaspoon 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
Store for 48 hours in an airtight container at room temperature

Notes

Making this cake nut-free

Make the following changes to make this vegan cake 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

Storage Instructions

The cake itself will stay fresh for 4 days. The icing, however, may begin to discolour after 2 days (it will still taste fine). For this reason, it is best eaten within 48 hours.

Freezing Instructions

This cake can be frozen, but do so before decorating it. Cool completely, wrap in clingfilm and freeze for up to 6 weeks. Defrost fully before decorating.

Nutrition