I made this sponge cake for my dad’s 70th. It was so good that everyone asked for it again for my mum’s birthday the week after!
It’s quite simply a perfect, light and s-p-o-n-g-e-y chocolate cake for any occasion.
And topped with fresh berries… that’s next level.
Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups white spelt flour
- ½ cup cacao powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ cups coconut sugar less if you don't have a big sweet tooth
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup milk any milk is fine
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 tsp vanilla bean powder
- 1 cup super hot / boiling water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Grease 2 x cake tins with butter (I used 2 x square silicone cake pans).
- Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl.
- Add sugar and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Beat eggs with electric hand mixer for 10 mins (yep, 10 mins! I was able to configure the bowl and mixer to balance there doing it's thing while I walked away. You could always enlist the help of the little people who will help eat this cake, or use a stand mixer)
- Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla to flour mixture. Whisk well to combine until lump free.
- Add super hot / boiling water and whisk to incorporate.
- Pour batter into cake pans.
- Bake for around 35 mins (or until a wooden skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean).
- Cool for 10 minutes then turn out to wire tray cake coolers.
- Cool completely before frosting. I used a chocolate cashew coconut cream icing in the middle (cos' that's where I could get away with it), and simply thickened cream and berries on top (my kids don't like coconut cream)!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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About the Author: Laini Oldfield
Laini is a mum of 5 and creator of STACKD Wholefood Blends, The Wholefood Collective + The No Fuss Nourished Method. She's coached tens of thousands of people on how to feel amazing using nutrition. She has a particular love for helping parents learn how to nourish their children and themselves without losing their marbles. Unconventional smoothies are Laini's obsession, and she's even developed a range of organic wholefood booster blends that target particular health goals and deliver maximum goodness in one complete and balanced meal. When she's not with her own family or coaching other families, you'll probably find her at the beach soaking up the sun and getting some much needed solitude.
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This looks delicious! Do you think it would be possible to make without the cacao?
Hi Claire,
Baking is much more of a science than savoury cooking, so it’s often trickier to leave ingredients out or swap them. But if you decide to try do let us know!
Hi Kate and Laini, can you suggest any egg alternatives for this cake? Would like to try a vegan version to serve to my plant-based inlaws…
Hi Bel, sorry for the delayed reply here. Unfortunately the whipped egg is what makes this cake so spongey. My only thought is to perhaps use the liquid from chickpea cans – aquafaba, instead of eggs.
Here’s a recipe that does that: https://gayathriscookspot.com/2017/07/vegan-vanilla-sponge-cake-recipe-with-aquafaba-video/
And here’s some helpful notes:
Aquafaba can replace eggwhites in a recipe, as well as whole eggs in baked goods.
Drain and reserve the liquid from cans of chickpeas (aquafaba liquid can be kept in a container). Transfer the liquid to the bowl of a stand mixer.
If you’re using aquafaba as a binder, like whole eggs, you will have to lightly whip the liquid until foamy – not whipped. It should look like runny glue with bubbles.
As a rough guide, three tablespoons of aquafaba will bind ingredients like one whole egg. Two tablespoons of aquafaba is about the equivalent of one eggwhite.
(source: https://www.goodfood.com.au/recipes/what-is-aquafaba-and-how-to-use-the-vegan-egg-substitute-in-meringues-pancakes-cake-and-mayonnaise-20190218-h1bf0b)
I made a vegan version using flax eggs (they are the best egg alternative for baking cakes), using 1T flax meal to 3T water. I whipped them for the 10 mins as per the recipe. The only other swap I did was to use a plain GF flour mix from the supermarket.
Oh wow you did it! Wonderful, I love that you dove in and tried something. So glad it worked!
Hi, would this work with wholemeal spelt flour? Thanks.
Hi Grace, yes I’ve made it using wholemeal spelt flour a bunch of times, it’s great!