Victoria Sponge Cake
The sponge part is totally soya-free and dairy-free and wheat-free

Ingredients
Olive Oil 8 tablespoons
Honey 8 dessert spoons
Eggs – large 4
Organic brown rice flour – 4 tablespoons
Organic maize flour – 4 tablespoons
Organic corn flour – 2 rounded teaspoons
Bicarbonate of soda – 2 small rounded teaspoons
Freshly squeezed lemon juice – 2 tablespoons

Note that the filling isn’t soya or dairy-free as such but substitutions can be made

For the filling
Cream – whipped only if you can tolerate the fat in milk otherwise use goat’s milk or sheep’s milk double strained (greek style therefore – thick) yoghurt
Raspberries frozen
Green and Black’s Organic plain chocolate x 2 (contains soya lecithin which can be tolerated sometimes by those who are soya intolerant because lecithin is a fat and generally people if they are allergic, are allergic to the protein part of the food)
Or Green and Black’s Organic coco powder mixed with Olive Oil (can have a burning taste not too unpleasant) or Organic Sunflower oil (tastes nutty) or Organic Grapeseed Oil (no taste)

Method
Whisk the oil and honey with an electric whisk until smooth and fluffy getting in as much air as possible.
Break all the eggs into the bowl and whisk again until light and fluffy.
Add all the flours and bicarbonate of soda and whisk thoroughly
Add lemon juice and whisk again

Pour mixture into 2 oiled (olive oil) victoria sponge tins and cook on 170c (fan oven) for 10 minutes. Test with a skewer and if it comes out clean remove tins from the oven. If not clean then cook for further 2 – 3 minutes.

The fine flours used in this recipe cook very quickly.
Honey can be substituted with Agave syrup or Xylitol.
Lemon juice can be substituted with pineapple slices (about two slices chopped up) or an equally acid fruit and this makes the cake nice and moist.

I was worried that the bicarbonate of soda would cause stomach concerns and diarrohea but it doesn’t or didn’t appear to on the 11 or so people I tried it out with a birthday cake at Rick Stein’s in Padstow, Cornwall at the weekend! Baking powder can be used instead but it didn’t raise the cake as well as the reaction with Bicarb to the acid of lemon juice. I also don’t like the taste of the baking powder or the feeling it produces in my mouth.

The cake is very firm and if too dry then next time reduce the corn flour. I think the corn flour is needed when fruit is added and maybe not needed if only lemon juice is used.

If you want to put some raspberries into the mixture then you will still need the lemon juice to cause the action to the bicarbonate that helps the cake to rise.

For the birthday cake at the weekend I filled it with whipped cream and still frozen raspberries mixed together and poured melted Green and Black’s chocolate over the top.