Vegan Pineapple and Rose Sponge Cake That May Well Win You a Bake-off

Vegan Pineapple and Rose Sponge Cake That May Well Win You a Bake-off

I once eyed down my older sister, Rach, just prior to proposing a cake-off.

To set the scene, three members of our family were on the cusp of their birthdays, so in an effort to kill three celebratory birds with one stone, we decided to host a single event. Rach was assigned the task of baking two sponges, and I was allocated just the one. In my mind, that alone felt like a win.

“You’re going down,” I taunted, as we each took up position at our respective kitchen corners.

Rach immediately launched into action, juggling ingredients with the precision and speed of a hipster handling Apple products. Before I’d even assembled my ingredients, she was already perfecting peaks on a bowl of cream while separating eggs.

If there was ever a time to come out firing, this was it.

I feverishly boiled a bucket of orange juice with enough cornflour to make cement. I slathered the goop with a generous layer of cream atop my store-bought sponge base, mounted its lid, then topped the whole thing with as many blackberries as I could humanly convince to stay put.

And then the moment of truth arrived.

Rach and I took our places at the dining table, cakes in hand. She was first to serve, leading with an espresso chocolate number that, just quietly, delivered a heavenly blow.

Then I followed suit, slicing and serving my slightly lopsided creation to anyone within reach. The room soon filled with clean plates and, more remarkably, there were no signs of under-the-table portions being palmed off to the dog.

Just as I was preparing to declare victory, Rach unveiled her final offering: a raspberry and lemon curd sponge that unanimously finished me off and claimed the title.

Curled in the corner licking my wounds, and let’s be honest, my plate, I made a vow. True to the never-say-die character I like to present to the world, I would create a cake that might not win a sponge-off outright, but could at least secure a very respectable draw.

Given that I’m currently going vegan for a month, I decided this one would be entirely plant-based.

Eight disasters, including three complete flops, later, I finally landed on a potential winner. I know this because it received the ultimate endorsement from Mumsy, our household’s most reliable cake hoover.

“Darling, it’s so fresh and summery,” she said. “It’s like something Meghan Markle would serve at one of her royal tea parties.”

So there you have it.
My double-barrelled, pineapple-and-rose, Meghan-Markle-tea-party-grade sponge cake.
It may not win you a sponge-off, but it should keep you firmly in the game.