This vegan chocolate cake is fluffy, decadent and delicious! You might think that a cake needs eggs and butter to make it rich, moist and fluffy but this cake will prove otherwise. Its easy to make and you don't need any egg substitutes or expensive hard-to-find ingredients. All the ingredients are pantry essentials that you can find at any supermarket.
With a vanilla buttercream in the centre and a delicious chocolate buttercream icing on the outside, this cake will surely impress any of your family & friends.
As for your decorations, you can get creative and use anything you like. I used some fresh strawberries which I drizzled with melted dark chocolate, I also used some chopped up vegan chocolate biscuits. Don't worry if you can't find vegan chocolate biscuits, you can use fresh fruit to make your cake look colourful and beautiful.
I uses two round pans that were 24cm wide and made two batches of the mixture. You can make one batch and divide it between two cake pans but I just made two for accuracy. The pans were quite wide, so don't be alarmed if it looks like there's not enough mixture in each pan. They will rise and when stacked, they will make one beautiful cake.
Recipe:
Serves 10
Prep Time: 15 to 20 mins
Cooking Time: 25 mins
Ingredients
I made two separate batches of the cake mix for each cake pan, these are the ingredient PER cake so if you wish to make one batch, you will need to DOUBLE these ingredients. The cake pans I used were wide so if you are using small cake pans, you can certainly use the measurements below and divide that into two cakes.
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup raw sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup soy milk or other plant milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Two round cake pans - I used 24cm wide pans
Decorations - fresh fruit/strawberries/dark chocolate for melting/biscuits
For the vanilla buttercream centre:
250g icing sugar
120g vegan butter
2 to 3 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the chocolate buttercream icing:
250g icing sugar
120g vegan butter
2 to 3 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp cocoa powder
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. In a small bowl, combine the milk, apple cider vinegar and vanilla extract. Mix and let it sit for 5 mins to thicken.
3. In a large bowl, sift the flour and add the sugar, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda. Once the milk has thickened, add it to the large bowl and mix the ingredients together.
4. Add the vegetable oil and mix together until well combined and smooth.
5. Repeat this process to make your second batch of cake mix and pour into greased cake pans (or split the mixture between two cake pans if you're making one bigger batch)
6. Place the cake pans in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 mins until a skewer comes out clean. (I only needed 20 mins so just check them as you go) Once they're baked, remove them from the oven and let them cool in the pans for 15 mins before removing them and transferring to a cooling rack. Let them cool face down.
7. When your cakes have completely cooled, you can prepare your buttercream mixture. If you try to put icing on the cake while it's still warm, it will just side off the cake so you need to let it cool first.
8. To make the vanilla buttercream for the centre, first soften the butter (I used my food processor for this but you can do it by hand) and gradually add the icing sugar, vanilla and water until the mixture is really smooth. Add the water gradually so that you can stop if you're happy with the texture and how thick it is ( or add more if you think it's too thick)
9. Spread vanilla buttercream on top of one of your cakes and place the other cake on top.
10. To make the chocolate buttercream icing, first soften the butter and gradually add the icing sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla and water until the mixture is smooth,
11. Spread the chocolate icing over the entire cake, covering the sides and place your topping decorations however you like. Sprinkle a little icing sugar over the top or use a sifter for a soft touch.
If you give this cake a go, remember to tag @veganbyeden on instagram, I'd love to see your creations.