butter Archives - Cakeophilia

Here’s a brand new recipe to try, and its kind of weird. Vanilla Tofu Sponge Cake. It’s a simple, homey kind of cake, but I promise, it’s super delicious.

How – or why did I come up with it? Well, I had “tofu donuts” for the first time the other day. For the record, they were amazing. I had no idea that you could put tofu into baked goods – beyond perhaps the addition of tofu to cheesecake I suppose. But it turns out that there are two really great reasons to do it. First, the texture is really great. And second (and perhaps a little bit nutrition geekily), it amps up the protein content in the cake, which arguably means that the hollow calories that cake brings aren’t quite so hollow. Maybe.

I confess it took me two tries to put tofu into cake. The first was – well, it wasn’t what I would classify as “food”, although it could certainly stave off starvation. The second, well, the second was worth some fuss.

This cake is basically a classic sponge cake into which you fold a smooth tofu puree and a bunch of melted butter. The cake has a lovely soft texture, which is spongy and moist. It cuts like a dream, which means it is a great base for a party cake. And you would never ever know that there was tofu inside.

I like to use a simple fruit and butter icing on top of the Vanilla Tofu Sponge Cake. The recipe below has a passionfruit frosting, but you could use equal quantities of pureed berries instead.

Vanilla Tofu Sponge Cake

Makes a single layer 20cm square cake. Make two recipes for a layer cake, and sandwich together with your favourite buttercream, or more passionfruit icing.

ingredients

150g firm tofu ( I used Mori-Nu, which is very silky in texture)
1 tsp vanilla paste
1/8 tsp salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
90g butter, melted and cooled

mixing

Line a 20cm square baking tin with a single sheet of baking paper, folded at the corners to fit.

Puree the tofu, vanilla and salt until completely smooth. Set aside. Beat the eggs with an electric mixer until foamy. Beat in the caster sugar in a thin stream, then beat until the mixture is light and has tripled in volume. Tip in the tofu puree and fold in gently. Sift the flour and baking powder over the mixture and fold in gently. Finally, fold in the butter.

Tip the mixture into the prepared baking tin, and gently smooth the top. Drop the tin onto the bench from a few centimetres height a few times to allow any large air bubbles in the mixture to be released.

Bake the tofu sponge at 190 degrees Celsius for approximately 25 minutes, or until the mixture is set. The cake will still whisper slightly when it is taken out of the oven, but a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake will come out clean.

Let the cake cool, then frost with passionfruit butter icing.