Two tier vegan lemon and elderflower cake with semi naked lemon frosting, topped with adorable chai spiced animal biscuits. The perfect cake for a special occasion to impress your friends and family.
This is a sponsored post and I have partnered with Pyrex to bring you this recipe, all views are my own. Chances are you’re probably well aware who Pyrex are.
If not, they are most known for their recognisable super strong, heat resistant glassware. That glass measuring jug you have in your cupboard? It’s most likely Pyrex!
The best bit? They have two fantastic bakeware ranges. The Pyrex Magic metal bakeware range is non-stick, made from carbon steel and dishwasher safe. Hello cakes, pies, cheesecakes, cupcakes, pizzas, you name it.
The second is the Pyrex Bake & Enjoy glass range which is oven, microwave, freezer, fridge and dishwasher safe. Hello biscuits, cookies, meringues and quiches.
What better way to test out both these ranges by making a vegan showstopper cake with biscuits! The whole range is beautiful and as with all Pyrex products everything is extremely high quality, they won't let you down.
They make baking and cooking so seamless and I'm going to show you how you can make a showstopper vegan cake with chai spiced biscuits at home using their Magic metal bakeware and Bake & Enjoy glass bakeware ranges.
I’ve also used lots of Pyrex glass prepware, including the Expert bowl (so handy for mixing on an angle!)
The recipe for the sponge is really quite simple, I've used plant milk and rapeseed oil to substitute any dairy/eggs and it gives for the fluffiest, moist sponges.
Honestly, you don't need dairy or eggs to make a delicious cake and my non-vegan family and friends couldn't tell the difference.
Lemon and elderflower are two of my favourite flavours so combining them for this cake was super fun. You get the subtle flavours of floral elderflower mixed with the citrus lemon tones from the zest and juice.
When I baked my first test run for the sponge I ate all but one slice of one sponge, no joke.
Do you think making a two tier 6-layer cake is too difficult? You don't have much experience?
I am going to make this as easy as I can for you because this is not too difficult, you just need a little patience and you can create this at home! I'm sure of it!
You’ll find it easier if you make some of the sponges in advance and freeze them. I made all 6 sponges few days before I needed them and froze them.
Freezing cakes is really easy and they will be just as moist when they defrost. If you want to do this, wait till the sponges have cooled completely, leave the baking parchment underneath and wrap well in cling film.
Place on a flat surface (a baking sheet, such as the Pyrex Bake & Enjoy glass one works) in the freezer and take them out the night before you want to use them.
For the biscuits, you can use which ever cutters you like. I got some deer shaped cutters in three different sizes and they looked super cute.
As you can see from this picture, I iced them quite simply and I think they look really effective. Some other ideas are bears, squirrels, owls or foxes.
I displayed my cake on a wood slice which fitted really nicely with the rustic woodland theme. I purchased mine from eBay but I know there are some shops that have them too.
Just make sure it is wide enough for the cake, mine is 32cm in diameter.
There are a few items you will need to make decorating this cake a little simpler if you don't have them already:
- A palette knife for the icing so you can smooth it out and then scrape to get the naked frosting effect.
- Plastic/wooden rods to keep your cake stable, you cut them to the length you need.
- Cake leveller, unless you have a steady hand and can use a knife. This will cut the rounded tops off your sponges and make sure they are even and all the same height.
- A cake lifter, especially for the larger sponges. You won't run the risk of dropping or breaking the sponge when you pick it up. You can also use this for pizzas to get more use out of it!
Want to get your hands on these Pyrex products? You can find the Magic range in Ocado, Asda, Dunelm and The Range. The Bake & Enjoy range can also be found online at Ocado.
You may also be interested in some of these fruity cakes:
Lemon and poppy sead loaf cake
Choc chip banana bread with peanut butter frosting
As always if you make this lemon and elderflower cake be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!
Don’t forget to follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram – I’d love to see you all there!
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Vegan Lemon and Elderflower Cake with Chai Spice Biscuits
Fluffy and moist lemon and elderflower cake with chai spice biscuits. This vegan showstopper is sure to impress your friends and family.
Ingredients
20cm/8" - makes 3 sponges
- • 960g self-raising flour
- • 3 teaspoon baking powder
- • 540g caster sugar
- • 790ml unsweetened almond milk
- • Juice of 3 lemons
- • Zest of 2 lemons
- • 7 tablespoon elderflower cordial
- • 340 ml rapeseed oil
26cm/10" sponge - makes 3 sponges
- • 1.25 kg self-raising flour
- • 5 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- • 700g caster sugar
- • 1030 ml almond milk
- • 440 ml rapeseed oil
- • Juice of 4 lemons
- • Zest of 3 lemons
- • 9 tablespoon elderflower cordial
Buttercream
- • 1kg vegan butter
- • 1.6 kg icing sugar
- • Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Chai Spiced Biscuits
- • 130g vegan butter
- • 100g light brown sugar
- • 100g golden syrup
- • 100g black treacle
- • 425g plain flour
- • 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- • 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- • ½ teaspoon ground all spice
- • ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- • 4 tablespoon icing sugar
- • Splash of water
Instructions
- Start with the 20cm/8-inch sponges. Preheat the oven to 160Cfan/180C/300F.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the sugar and gently mix together with a wooden spoon.
- In a separate bowl, pour in the milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, oil and elderflower cordial.
- Pour this slowly into the bowl with the flour and sugar and mix until combined, but do not over mix.
- Grease and line three 20cm/8-inch tins, such as the Pyrex Magic spring form options. To make sure the mixture is evenly distributed you can weigh each tin. Tap the pans gently on the work surface to release air bubbles.
- Place in the oven for 40 minutes. To check the cakes are done, place a skewer in the middle and if it comes out clean, it’s done. The sponges will be lightly browned and beginning to pull away from the sides.
- Leave to cool on the cooling rack for 10 minutes before taking out the tins.
- Repeat for the 26cm/10inch sponges and bake for 50 minutes.
- If you want to do this in advance you can freeze the sponges. Once they are completely cool, leave the baking parchment on the bottom and wrap tightly in cling film. Place in the freezer on a flat surface and take them out to defrost the night before you need them.
- Make the buttercream frosting by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl, if it is quite soft leave it in the fridge for an hour before using.
- Make the biscuits. Preheat the oven to 160C fan/180C/300F. Place the vegan butter at room temperature into a bowl with the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the golden syrup and treacle and mix. Then add the spices, flour and baking powder and mix until it forms a ball, you may need to use your hands.
- Roll into a ball then place in some cling film and place in the fridge to firm up. When its firmer, cover a chopping board with cling film, place the dough on top and then place the cling film it was wrapped in on top. This will make it easier to roll out the dough.
- Use a rolling pin to roll the dough to ¼ inch thick. Cut out animal shapes and place on a lined or greased baking sheet – I used the Pyrex Bake & Enjoy glass baking sheet.
- Place in the oven and cook for 10-12 minutes. They are cooked when they are beginning to brown on the edges. Leave to cool and then transfer to a cooling rack. To ice, mix 4 tablespoon icing with a splash of water. Use a spoon or small piping bag to ice the biscuits.
- Once all your sponges are ready, you will need to cut the tops off. They should have cooked with a fairly flat top but they will need levelling. It's best to do this with a cake leveller to make sure it is even, but you can use a serrated knife. Make sure you have the cakes on a flat surface and then cut the sponges to the same height.
- Place one of the larger sponges on a cake board with a little buttercream underneath to help it stick. Generously spoon some buttercream on top and smooth out right to the edges using a palette knife. Repeat with next two sponges, making sure they are stacked on top carefully (use the cake lifter you if have one).
- Once all three sponges are iced and stacked, spoon some extra buttercream onto the sides until it is fully covered. Then using the palette knife vertically scrape the buttercream so you are getting rid of excess buttercream. You will start to get the naked icing effect like the pictures. Continue all the way round, scraping excess buttercream into a separate bowl.
- Place 4-5 rods in the cake, cutting them to the size required.
- Repeat with the smaller sponges and then carefully place on top of the larger tier.
- Decorate with the biscuits and rosemary. For the trees, place the rosemary upside down.
Notes
I used Belvoir Elderflower Cordial which I got in Sainsbury's, there are a few different brands and own supermarket ones available.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 80 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 459Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 8gUnsaturated Fat: 12gSodium: 486mgCarbohydrates: 66gFiber: 1gSugar: 39gProtein: 4g
Hi, tried those cookies and it’s absolutely gorgeous!
How long can you keep them in air tight container?
Thanks 🙂
Hey! So glad you liked them, they should last 5-7 days in an air tight container. They just might lose some of their crunch/crisp. Tamsin xo
Hi there! I’m going to attempt to make this cake for my friends birthday, it’s so beautiful 🙂 Just wondering, if I didn’t want to do elderflower, and just keep it to a lemon flavour, can I just leave it out, or should I substitute it something? Let me know 🙂
Hi Tessa, sorry for the late reply. It should be fine just to leave out but you could sub for a bit of extra oil. I also have a lemon and poppyseed loaf you can use just leave out the poppyseeds 🙂 - https://cupfulofkale.com/vegan-lemon-poppy-seed-cake/ Hope it works out well 🙂 Tamsin xo
@Tamsin, Thank you so much!! Can't wait to see how it turns out 🙂
Lovely light sponge. Cracked in oven a little. When turned out of the Tin 1 of the cakes fell apart on cooling rack.
But will try again. Lovely flavour light and fluffy.
am currently practising making this cake.Firstly I don't know how anyone can have all the ingredients in one bowl? I have just made the 8" sponges and they are all different as I had to split the flour mixture with the liquid and cannot have got the quantities right as I have about 150ml over Secondly, my sponge looks yellow but yours is paler and lastly how moist is this sponge supposed to be as it taste a bit doughy. I used Mellow Yellow Rapeseed oil and I can taste this rather that the lemon and elderflower. The liquid mixture did not blend together either. Any tips would help as you have had such lovely reviews I would like to pursue in getting this right. I going to try dividing the ingredients by 3 so I can fit everything in one bowl to start with
Hi Lynn, sorry for my late reply I have been on holiday. You will need a fairly large bowl or divide into 2/3 and bake in batches. The sponge should be a pale yellow colour, this is probably due to the oil. I think that one is quite yellow and rich. Go for a cheap one or you can sub for sunflower oil. Any neutral flavoured oil will work. The cake shouldn't be doughy, it should be light and fluffy. I would recommend baking them in batches to avoid any over mixing and making it easier to manage. | hope this helps, Tamsin xo
@Lynn, Thank you. Yes that's what I have now been doing and almost getting there. Should I fold the dry and wet ingredients together or should I use a hand whisk? also should the batter be totally smooth as it can look lumpy or is that just the air bubbles? x
Hi Lynn, fold the dry ingredients in don't use a whisk as you'll over mix the batter. A few spots of flour is okay but try to fold most of it i 🙂 Tamsin xo
Thank you so much for this recipe. I had never made a vegan cake before but was tasked with baking a half/half three tier wedding cake and used it. I’d never made a wedding cake before but it turned out really well (for a novice!). The crumb was sturdy enough and moist, the buttercream easy to work with. Thank you so much!
Hi Jess, thanks so much for your comment. Aww I am so glad it turned out well! I bet it looked beautiful! Tamsin xo
Hi Tamsi,
i made the cake today.Totally delicious, and amazing texture.
Thank you so much.
Would it work making an extra tier using 6 inch tins?
Thank you
Hi Josephine, thanks for your comment. Yes it should work fine as long as you use dowels in each tier and cake boards to make sure its structurally sound! I would probably half the 10 inch ingredients for the extra 6 inch tier. Hope it goes well! Tamsin xo
Do you have to use Almond milk or will unsweetened soya or unsweetened Cashew milk work just as well? Thank you
Hi Shazz, no you don't need to use almond milk - I would say soya or oat would work best 🙂 Tamsin xo
@Tamsin, Thank you so much for your reply. I am looking forward to making the cake. It sounds so gorgeous.
Best wishes Shazz
Of course! Good luck and would love to know how it turns out 🙂 Tamsin xo
Hi there, I must say this cake looks so elegant and gorgeous!!! I am so keen to make this cake for a vegan friend of mine, but it's the first time I am attempting a tiered cake and would like to know how I would adjust the quantities for a 6" Square and 10" Square cake tin maintaining the 3 Layer cake height as you have? Also did you have to place cake cards along with dowels between tiers to support the weight? Look forward to your response...thank you!!
Hi Suzana, sorry for the late reply. So glad you're thinking of making it! I don't usually bake with square tins but from what I've read they hold 25% more batter than a circle one. For the 6 inch cake I would use my 8 inch measurements (you may have a bit left over which you could add to the 10 inch) and then for the 10 inch cake maybe just increase it by 25%. And yes, the top tier is on a 7 inch thin cake board and both have dowels in 🙂 Hope it turns out well for you! Tamsin xo
Here is a link that might be useful - https://www.roundcaketins.com/conversions-guide-for-square-and-round-cake-tins/
Hi Tamsin, this cake looks amazing!!
I've not made a vegan cake before so I'm looking forward to trying your recipe for my dads wedding cake. I was just wondering if you knew whether the recipe would adapt easily to make it gluten free as well? A lot of 'normal' cake recipes work simply changing self raising flour for gluten free self raising flour, but I don't know if it works so simply with a vegan recipe?
Thanks
Hi Edie, thank you! I don't have much experience with gf baking. I have had people make my other cakes by swapping for a self raising gf flour with success, so I think it would work. I don't think it being vegan would make any difference in terms of it being gf. I would advise doing a small batch test just to be sure though 🙂 Thanks, Tamsin xo
What else did you put on the top to decorate? This is so beautiful i want to make a few as gifts this year! Do you think it would be a pain to make the buscuit shapes without cutters?
Hi Cara, I used fresh rosemary upside down for the trees and some coconut flakes for the snow. I would recommend using a cutter for the biscuits, it would be very fiddly without one. I got those ones on ebay 🙂 Thanks, Tamsin xo
Hi
I am so excited to try this cake! I'd also like to decorate it the same way and was wondering where did you get the deer biscuit cutters from?
Jean x
Hi Jean, I got the cutters from ebay. I think this was them 🙂 I would just say be careful when pushing the dough out as one of my cutters did break as they were plastic. Would love to see a photo of the finished cake 🙂 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Deer-Reindeer-Cookie-Cutter-Biscuit-Dough-Pastry-Fondant-Christmas-AL65-67/113791129302?hash=item1a7e7ad6d6:g:4S0AAOSwS3xdC4mk&var=413960952145
Hi there!
Just found this site and I really love it! As it's the first day of autumn I've been thinking all about autumnal spices and baking ideas, and was thinking those chai spice biscuits (along with the chai spice hot chocolate) would be amazing to try this week! I wanted to ask - How long do you put the biscuit dough into the fridge for?
Thanks so much!
Kate
Hi Kate, thank you for your comment, so glad you came across my site! Those biscuits with the hot chocolate would be amazing! I would put them in the fridge for at least half an hour, but it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days if you want to make ahead of time 🙂 Thanks, Tamsin xo
Hi there!
I'm interested in making this as the second (top) tier for my wedding cake. This would be 10 inches. Can I use the recipe for 3x10 inch pans for just 2x10 inch pans instead? Only I have a small kitchen and preferably didn't want to buy 3 new tins!
Would I reduce the quantities?
Thanks, Justine
Hi Justine - thanks for your comment and I'm so glad you're thinking of making it as part of your wedding cake! Yes definitely, what you could do is make the full qty for the 3x8inch cakes to make 2x10 inch. With this could just make a thicker sponge (this gives you a little more leeway to get them flat when trimming) or just use any excess batter for cupcakes! Hope that helps, Tamsin xo
Hello,
Beautiful! I would love the American conversion for this recipe. Not sure where I can purchase elderflower cordial in the states, (I make it in June from my home grown elderberry flowers , but I've used it all). And black treacle?, never heard of that.
Thanks,
Christine
Hi Christine, I don't have an american conversion as I always use grams for baking because this gives the most accurate measurement. Elderflower cordial might be available on somewhere like Amazon, as I don't live in the States I can't say for sure where you can find it. For the black treacle you can try and substitute for molasses. Hope that helps, Tamsin xo
This looks amazing
Where did you get that wood base from?
Hi Jaya, thanks for your comment. I got mine for ebay, I got it a while ago but if you search for 'wooden log disc' or 'wooden cake stand' you should find one 🙂 Thanks, Tamsin xo