This Gluten-Free Vegan Victoria Sponge Cake consists of moist and fluffy, perfectly rich sponges sandwiched together with melt-in-your-mouth vegan buttercream and sweet, tangy jam. It's refined sugar free, comes together in one bowl and makes a simple yet elegant dessert that's perfect for any occasion!
Victoria sponge Cake, also known as Victoria Sandwich Cake, was named after the 19th-century British monarch Queen Victoria. It consists of two butter sponge cakes sandwiched together with jam and buttercream or whipped cream.
Strawberry or raspberry jam are most commonly used, but you can use any type of jam or spread, or even vegan lemon curd.
For a completely refined sugar free cake, make sure to use a refined sugar free jam or spread.
How to make the cake
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
Tip: Make sure to use a measuring jug to measure out the exact amount of plant-based milk!
- Transfer the mixture to two 18 cm / 7 inch sandwich baking tins.
Tip: Line them with greased baking paper to make the sponges come out easier.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Leave the sponges to cool down on a cooling rack once they’re out the oven.
How to make the buttercream
Victoria Sponge Cake is usually sandwiched together with buttercream, so I decided to make a cashew-based vegan buttercream. If you'd prefer, you can use a coconut milk-based vegan whipped cream instead.
- Place the ingredients for the buttercream in a food processor or blender.
- Whizz until completely smooth, adding more water or plant-based milk to thin out if necessary.
- Place one of the sponges on a cake stand or a plate and spread the buttercream over it - you can use a palette knife for frosting for this.
- Carefully spread over the jam.
- Place the other sponge on top and sandwich together.
- Dust with icing sugar (powdered sugar), if desired.
Tip: If you want the pretty icing sugar effect but want to keep the cake completely refined sugar free, you can dust it with cornflour (cornstarch) instead.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can replace the ground almonds (almond meal) with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground walnuts with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ cup) ground walnuts, use a nut-free plant-based milk and replace the buttercream with a coconut milk-based vegan whipped cream.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you’re not gluten-free.
- For a completely refined sugar free cake, make sure to use a refined sugar free jam or spread.
Flavour substitutions you can make
- You can replace the raspberry or strawberry jam with any other jam or spread or even vegan lemon curd.
- You can replace the buttercream with a coconut milk-based vegan whipped cream instead.
How long does this cake keep for?
This Victoria sponge Cake does taste best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
More vegan cake recipes
- Coconut Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Cherry Bakewell Cake
- Purple Carrot Cake
- Black Forest Cake
- German Chocolate Cake
- Brooklyn Blackout Chocolate Cake
- Jaffa Cake
- Almond Cake
- Olive Oil Cake
- Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake
- Yogurt Cake
- Ginger Cake
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make this recipe
Gluten-Free Vegan Victoria Sponge Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 200 ml (⅘ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
For the buttercream**:
- 75 g (½ cup) cashew nuts soaked in cold water overnight or in hot water for 15 minutes
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (or sub water or any other plant-based milk)
To assemble:
- 4 tablespoons raspberry jam (or strawberry jam - ensure refined sugar free if necessary) ***
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the vinegar, maple syrup and ground almonds.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it’s looking too dry.
- Transfer mixture between two greased baking tins lined with baking paper (I used two 7inch/18cm baking tins).
- Bake in oven for around 15 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Once done, turn the cakes out onto wire racks and leave to cool completely before frosting.
For the buttercream:
- Drain soaked cashews and add to a food processor or blender with all the other ingredients (a hand-held blender works too).
- Whizz until completely smooth, adding more milk or water if necessary.
To assemble:
- Place one of the sponges onto a plate or cake stand and spread all of the buttercream evenly on top of it.
- Carefully spread the jam evenly across the buttercream.
- Place the other sponge on top and sandwich together.
- Dust with icing sugar (powdered sugar), if desired. If you want the pretty icing sugar effect but want to keep the cake completely refined sugar free, you can dust it with cornflour (cornstarch) instead.
- Tastes best when fresh but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Video
Notes
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Shanti
I was excited for it but... it was a big waste. It wouldn't even cook, the whole thing had a grainy almond flavor, and even with heaps of added milk it was still more of a sloppy biscuit dough. If anyone can offer any fixes please let me know.
One good point about it though is the nice sweetness of the maple syrup. Not much else at all
Rhian Williams
I'm so sorry you had a problem with the recipe. Did you make any substitutions? And did you buy shop-bought ground almonds/almond meal or make your own? Also what type of gluten-free flour did you use? Thank you so much for your feedback!
Anonymous
Hi- this cake tasted amazing but the sponge completely fell apart once cooled and cooled, so tasted great but looked like I’d dropped it from up high- any ideas to get the sponge to hold its shape a bit better?!
Rhian Williams
Hi! Thank you so much, I'm so glad you liked the taste, but sorry about the texture. It shouldn't be that fragile - what type of gluten-free flour did you use?
Rochelle
Your recipe looks really tasty and stable. However, I have a nut allergy. What do you recommend I replace the almond meal with( cannot eat coconut as well)
Rhian Williams
Thank you! You can use ground sunflower seeds!
Pam
This was a crazy delicious cake! I made both the Boston Cream Pie and this one today for a birthday party, and both received rave reviews. And in case anyone is interested, I use King Arthur Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Mix and Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour and it comes out perfectly each time.
A quick note: I used Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Baking Flour once before for this sponge recipe (I’ve made the Boston Cream Pie probably a dozen times at this point) and the sponge ended up flatter and denser than using the King Arthur brand. (I live in th US; I’m not sure of the availability of these brands are outside of the US.) Just thought I’d share in case it helps anyone.
Great recipe, and I do follow the directions and don’t need to substitute or modify anything. 👍🏻
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so glad you liked the cakes! That's really helpful to know about the flours. Hope you enjoyed the birthday party!
Emma
Hi Rhian
I need to make a bigger cake so I plan to double the recipe and halve it between two 9 inch cake tins. Can you tell me roughly how much longer I’ll need to cook it for?
Incidentally I made it last weekend twice, the first time it was very crumbly and wouldn’t hold together so I added an egg the second time round and the sponge came out perfectly - we have gluten and dairy allergies in the family and sensitivity to sugar, but luckily eggs are no problem.
Anyway, love the recipe. Thanks in advance for help with cooking time.
Rhian Williams
If you double the recipe and halve it between two 9 inch cake tins you'll have to bake it for 30 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Thank you so much for the feedback about the recipe - I'm glad it worked well with the egg added, but so sorry it came out crumbly the first time. Did you make any substitutions at all the first time? Thank you for letting me know!