Angela says: “There’s only one way to celebrate this vegan gem – put it into cake!”

Serves 15

Ingredients

10 Lotus Biscoff biscuits/cookies
1 quantity of Vegan Terrific Traybake Sponge mixture (see below)

For the vegan terrific traybake sponge:

320ml soya milk
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
350g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 tsp baking powder
200g caster sugar
175g vegan butter, melted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Makes enough for a 30 x 20-cm/ 12 x 8-inch pan

For the frosting:

300g icing sugar
100g vegan butter, softened
100g Lotus Biscoff spread

For the decorations:

6 Lotus Biscoff biscuits/cookies
1 quantity of Soft Vegan Caramel Sauce, made with 2 tbsp almond butter, 1 tablespoon golden syrup and 1½ tsp coconut oil (add another ½–1 tsp melted coconut oil, to get a good drizzling consistency, if necessary)
20 x 30-cm/8 x 12-inch cake pan, greased and lined

Method

Vegan terrific traybake sponge

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Put the soya milk and lemon juice into a jug or bowl, mix well and set aside until thickened.

Meanwhile, sift the flour into a large bowl, add the bicarbonate of soda/baking soda, baking powder and sugar; mix together. Add the melted vegan butter, the vanilla extract and half the milk and lemon juice mix.

Fold with a rubber spatula until it’s just combined and smooth, then add the remaining soya milk and lemon juice, mixing in two to three tablespoons at a time, continuing to use a folding technique between each addition.

Top tip:
Grease and line the pan with baking parchment. With the long side facing you, allow the top and bottom of the parchment to overhang the two long sides. If your pan is non-stick, this should be enough. If not, stick a small strip of parchment to each of the shorter sides.

Soft vegan caramel sauce

In a bowl, mix the almond butter and golden syrup together.

Heat the coconut oil in a small bowl in the microwave for 20–40 seconds, stirring every 20 seconds, until melted, or heat in a bain marie until melted.

Gradually stir the melted coconut oil into the almond butter mix.

Pulse the biscuits/cookies in a food processor so they are mostly fine crumbs but with a few bigger lumps for a bit of texture (or place in a sealable/zip-lock bag and bash with a rolling pin). Stir the crumbs through the sponge batter.

Spoon into the cake pan and bake in the preheated oven for 35–40 minutes until an inserted cocktail stick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully invert onto a chopping board to remove from the pan, then invert again onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Frosting

Place all the frosting ingredients in a bowl. Whisk with a hand-held electric whisk, adding one to two teaspoons of just-boiled water to loosen, if necessary.

Use a dinner knife to coat the top of the traybake in the frosting. Decorate with a fan of three biscuits/cookies. Put the remaining biscuits/cookies in a bag and bash with a rolling pin to crush roughly. Scatter over the top of the cake. Finish with a drizzle of soft caramel sauce.

From Va Va Voom Vegan Cakes by Angela Romeo (Ryland Peters & Small, £16.98), out now

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