Vegan School Cake

Vegan school cake - this nostalgic traybake is a total throwback to school dinners! This is the ultimate comforting pudding consisting of a soft vanilla sponge cake topped with a white glace icing and colourful sprinkles.

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword cake

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 25

Servings 20 people

Author Domestic Gothess

Ingredients

Cake:

240 g (1 cup) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy)
120 g (½ cup) plain non-dairy yogurt (I use soy) (or use more milk)
83 g (6 Tablespoons) neutral oil (I use olive)
120 g (½ cup) vegan block butter melted
250 g (1 + ¼ cups) caster or granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vinegar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
½ teaspoon salt
400 g (3 + ⅓ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour

Icing:

450 g (4 cups) icing (powdered) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-5 Tablespoons water
2-3 Tablespoons sprinkles

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160° fan/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease a 23 x 33 cm / 9 x 13 inch rectangular cake tin and line it with baking parchment.
Whisk together the milk, yogurt, oil, melted butter, sugar, vinegar and vanilla in a large bowl.
240 g (1 cup) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy), 120 g (½ cup) plain non-dairy yogurt (I use soy), 83 g (6 Tablespoons) neutral oil (I use olive), 120 g (½ cup) vegan block butter, 250 g (1 + ¼ cups) caster or granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons vinegar, 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Use a balloon whisk to whisk in the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt, followed by the flour. Be careful not to over-beat the batter, just mix it until no dry lumps remain.
2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), ½ teaspoon salt, 400 g (3 + ⅓ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and spread it level. Bake for about 25 minutes until the cake is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 20 minutes then carefully turn it out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the vanilla extract and gradually mix in enough water to make a very thick but pourable consistency. If it is too thick, add more water a couple of drops at a time, and if it is too runny add more sifted icing sugar.
450 g (4 cups) icing (powdered) sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 4-5 Tablespoons water
Drizzle the icing over the cake (flip it upside down if you want a totally flat surface) and spread it level with a palette knife or the back of a spoon.
Scatter sprinkles generously over the icing while it is still wet, then leave it to set for about 30 minutes before slicing.
2-3 Tablespoons sprinkles

Notes

See post above for tips, details and step-by-step photos.
All of my recipes are developed using grams, and as with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup coversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
Let the cake cool completely before icing it, otherwise the icing will just melt and soak into the cake.