I used a basic recipe from Delia Smith sponge to create a coconut oil version, using the typical coconut oil conversion of 3/4 the weight of the butter stated in the recipe. I also added the rind of 2 lemons, and filled with lemon curd and a marscapone and fromage frais filling. My inspiration came from the June 2009 edition of delicious. magazine.

Lemon Sponge cake, filled with Lemon curd and marscapone

Lemon Sponge cake, filled with Lemon curd and marscapone


I made this for my fiancee’s 30th birthday, and it went down really well, the lemon curd recipe is to follow. Makes enough for 2 9″ sandwich tins.

  • 175g of self-raising flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 3 large eggs
  • 130g of coconut oil, soft
  • 150g of caster sugar
  • 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 2 lemon rinds, optional, if you don’t want a lemon sponge leave them out.
  • Room temperature water

METHOD

  1. Preheat the oven to 170oC, and take the eggs out of the fridge, leave till they reach room temperature.
  2. Add the flour and the baking powder to a sieve, sieve the contents into a large mixing bowl, trying to encorporate as much air as possible into the flour.
  3. For the next step you will need soft coconut oil. Softening coconut oil can be a bit of a problem in a colder climate (like Scotland) as you don’t want to microwave it which will most likely melt some of the oil and leave the rest still hard. In the end I left my coconut oil on top of the oven where it would feel the heat.
  4. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl. Stir in the ingredients (I find if you don’t do this before using an electric whisk your kitchen becomes coated with a light dusting of flour. Mix with an electric whisk for 1 minute till entirely combined.
  5. At this point I felt my sponge was a little dry so I added 2 tablespoons of water, although add only if you think it necessary. I think mine needed the water as my eggs were a little smaller. Mix in the water.
  6. Split the mixture between the two sandwich tins, and put in the oven for 30-35 minutes. Once cooked they should have a golden colour and the sponge should spring back to the touch.

I was really pleased how my sponge cake turned out, it’s really simple to make and you only need one bowl, so less cleaning up!

Filled Lemon Sponge caked

Filled Lemon Sponge caked