Clean it Up “Sponge” Rainbow Cookie Cake 🧼

The inspiration for this “Sponge” cake was an Instagram recommended post that I did not make a note of. It wasn’t vegan, so I thought it would be neat to transform the rainbow cookie recipe into this clever cake. This was my first trial. The texture was a bit too soft, which made the sponge cuts difficult to get right. But here it is for your viewing pleasure. I will attempt again at some point.

“Sponge” Rainbow Cookie Cake

Adapted from VegLife’s awesome recipe.

2 and 1/4 (or 270 grams) cups All-purpose Flour

1 and 3/4 plus 1/8 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp Salt

1 and 1/2 (or 300 grams) cups Sugar

1-1/4 cup Earth Balance

2 oz Almond Paste, grated

6 Tablespoons Silken Tofu, mixed smooth

1 and 1/8 tsp Vanilla Extract

3/4 cup plus 3 Tablespoon Soy Milk

Gel food color: yellow and teal

1.) Prepare: Bring soy milk, Earth Balance, silken tofu and almond paste to room temperature. Line two 8 inch square pans with parchment paper with overlap to easy handling. Weight your large mixing bowl in grams and note it somewhere.

2.) Preheat oven to 350.

3.) In a Magic Bullet blender, blend tofu, almond paste and vanilla until creamy. Scrape blade with rubber spatula and set aside.

4.) In a medium size bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

5.) In the large mixing bowl you weighed, cream Earth Balance and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

6.) Add tofu mixture and beat until well incorporated.

7.) Add 1/2 of the flour mixture and beat until incorporated, then add half the soy milk and beat. Add the rest of the flour and beat again, then the rest of the soy milk. Beat until well-incorporated. The batter is done!

8.) Weigh the bowl with the batter, then subtract the weight of the bowl. In a separate bowl, weigh out 20% of the batter’s weight for the teal “scrubber” layer. The rest will be yellow “sponge.” Add the gel coloring to each of the bowls and mix until uniform in color.

9.) Divide the batter between the two prepared pans. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula as the batter is a bit thick.

10.) Bake for teal layer for 15-20 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean. Bake yellower layer 25-30 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean. Set all pans aside on cooling racks and let each cool in its pan.

11.) After, carefully release the teal scrubber layer and place on top of the yellow layer. Pull out layers with parchment and place on counter or cutting board, still with the parchment underneath

12.) Trim the edges with a sharp knife, then carefully cut your “sponge” pieces, cleaning the knife in between strokes. Store in an airtight container and allow to set in the fridge until serving.

Do you have a different sponge scrubber color combination you’d like to attempt? Give this a try and let me know how it turns out.