BAKEWELL SANDWICH CAKE

I didn't mention last Sunday that I was having a bit of a hard time (read: sheer panic. Utter despair. Tears. Hopelessness. Ha) with my oven last week. My beloved old oven broke in a mysterious way and I got it replaced but this shiny new one is such a twat :D. Shall I mention carob brownie charcoal soup and six (SIX) batches of soggy muffins that found their home in the bin. Maybe not.

But you don't mess with birthday cakes. So magically, when the moment came to bake my colleague Matt's birthday cake, the monster behaved. And a Sunday-baking-session later, baby Bakewell cake was born, properly cooked and everything. Thank you, monster oven, for dismantling my self esteem no more.
And here it is. It's a Bakewell cake because it's kind of like a Bakewell tart except it's not a tart, it's a cake. Ehe. It's sweet and moist and nice and fluffy and you should totally make it for a very English birthday. Or a Japanese or a Peruvian one, the cake doesn't mind.
Aaaaand many moooreeee. 

Notes: This recipe makes two 10 cm/4” mini cakes (which I sandwiched), but you can double the recipe (for both cake and icing) and adjust the cooking time to 30-35 minutes if you want to make a bigger cake. Big cakes also rule.

BAKEWELL SANDWICH CAKE

Adapted from Ms Cupcake – Bakewell tart cupcakes

200ml (3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon) soya milk

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

180g (1⅓ cups) self-raising flour

20g (1/4 cup) ground almonds

200g (1 cup) caster sugar

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

¼ salt

80ml (1/3 cup) sunflower oil or other flavourless oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

Filling:

Raspberry jam!

Icing:

60g (1 cup) icing sugar

1 teaspoon soya milk or other non-dairy milk or water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and lightly grease your cake tin(s). First mix together soya milk and cider vinegar and set aside for 10 minutes to curdle. In a bowl, sift in the flour then add the ground almonds, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix together oil, vanilla extract and almond extract. Add the curdled soya milk and the rest of the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients then quickly mix together with a spoon until just combined. Pour the batter into the tin(s) and bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave the cakes in their tins on a cooling rack until completely cool. Once cool, spread the jam on top of one layer, then place the other on top and move on to the icing. Mix together icing sugar, soya milk and lemon juice and pour over the cake. Top with flaked almonds and/or glacé cherries for the Bakewell look.