Vegan Chocolate Cake

Vegan Chocolate Cake

This recipe is an adaptation of one that I found in my “vegan bible” Easy Vegan Cooking by Leah Leneman (thornsonselement.com). I stumbled on this book while cooking for a group of around 30 at Mandala Yoga Ashram a couple of years ago. It was one of those serendipitous discoveries that I will always remember with a smile. During the course one of the ashram residents approached me and quietly asked if I felt I had the time to cook a birthday cake; she had just discovered one of the course students had her birthday in a couple of days time and it is very much in the ashram tradition to make a cake to celebrate any birthday.

To be honest, I’m not that enthusiastic about making cakes for various reasons perhaps because living on my own (and not having the luxury of a freezer) it means that I will have to spend the next week eating it. Another reason is that my daughter Sophie excels at baking (perhaps following in the footsteps of her paternal grandmother Nancy?) and so on family events that require a cake we can depend on her to produce something delicious to mark the occasion. I was reassured however, to hear that there were plenty of good cookery books in the ashram kitchen with gluten free, vegan and sugar free recipes.
Looking through the books available I discovered this recipe and immediately took to it because it sounded so simple and had the bonus of all being measured by cups, a method I very much prefer when making cakes. Later that week I went through the book more extensively and realised what a great little recipe book it is – especially the recipe for Masoor Dahl (maybe I will post that another day). This anecdote could go on for at least another two paragraphs but it ends with me finding my own copy of the book in a local junk shop. For now I will be disciplined and give you the recipe.

Ingredients

170g/ 6 oz/ 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour (I use spelt flour which works well)

4 tsps cocoa or carob powder

½ tsp salt

¾ tsp bicarbonate soda

115g/ 4 oz/ 2/3 cup raw cane sugar

90ml/ 3fl oz/ 1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tsps cider or wine vinegar

200ml / 1/3 pt / ¾ cup cold water
1 small or 1/2 large mashed ripe banana

You will also need two round 6 ½ -7”or 16-17 cm baking tins, greased and bottom lined with parchment paper. If you want a larger cake, double the quantities and use a 7 ½”/ 18cm tin instead  (this size makes a very large cake - enough for around 10/12 people).

Turn the oven on to 350c/180C/ Gas 4 before you start to mix the ingredients.

Sieve the first 4 ingredients together into a large bowl. Add the sugar making sure all large lumps are broken up and mix well.

Mix the oil, essence and vinegar in a jug and add to the dry ingredients in the bowl along with the well mashed banana. Once the ingredients start to incorporate start adding the water slowly to the mixture. At first this seems somewhat counter intuitive but don’t be tempted to leave any of the water out - you will end up with a mixture of soft dropping cosistency.

The recipes states to use a fork to mix but I find a wooden spoon is better just don’t stir too vigourously just enough to mix the ingredients together instead or large air bubbles will mar the finished cake.

Divide the mixture into two and place in the prepared tins – give them quite a strong tap or two to encourage any air bubble to leave the mix and to let the mixture settle in the tins before placing in the oven - I have left the mixture for 15 minutes and found there was no ill effect. Bake for around 30 minutes and test to check if the cake bounces back when lightly pressed - if not leave a little longer. If it is starting to burn round the edges cover with a little bit of foil (shiny side up) to stop the outside cooking any further. Leave to cool thoroughly before removing from the pan.

I didn’t have much success with Leah’s recipe for Chocolate icing so turned to the net for this one:

http://minimalistbaker.com/one-bowl-vegan-chocolate-cake/

This will give you more than enough to ice the smaller cake; if you just want to ice the outside of the cake and use a different filling I recommend using half the quantities. Roughly double the ingredients for the larger cake.

1 cup/ 224gs vegan butter (I use stork margarine) at room temperature

2 – 3cups/ 300-336gs of icing sugar

1/3 or 2/3 cup/ 31/63gs cocoa powder (I used 1/3 as the vegan chocolate* was very dark)

¼ cup/ 30 gs dairy free chocolate* – melted and slightly cooled

2tsps vanilla extract

Optional around ¼ cup unsweetened soya/almond milk**
(**NB you don't need to use this - I used coconut milk last time as I had a carton open and have had success with other things such as soya single cream)

I’ve tweaked this recipe slightly after trying it out myself. While cooling the cake, prepare the frosting by beating together all ingredients (except the icing sugar) using an electric hand whisk if possible, until light and fluffy. Add the sieved sugar in small amounts until you reach your desired consistency and sweetness - I prefer a little less icing sugar than recommended in the above recipe. If it becomes too thick, add more vegan milk. If it's too thin, add more cocoa powder or sugar.

Once the cake is cooled, frost generously with butter cream frosting, adding a thick layer between the top and bottom layers (if doing a 2-layer cake). Alternatively, omit the frosting and dust with cocoa powder. 

FILLINGS  
Although the above recipe is good for a filling I've had some success using different fillings and my most recent version had a filling of cooked prunes which is very easy to make and relies less heavily on sugar. You will need:

75gms pitted prunes (stones prunes can also be used but make sure to take the stones out once cooked)

enough orange juice to cover

Place the prunes in a small bowl and cover with orange juice – leave to soak overnight if possible or for several hours. Place the prunes and juice in a small saucepan and add enough water to cover the fruit. Place on a low heat, cover and allow the fruit to come to the boil slowly – leave to simmer until the fruit is cooked. Check from time to time that there is enough liquid. Once cooked strain any remaining juice and blitz the fruit or mash till soft with a fork. Allow to cool completely - you can use the remaining juice to drizzle over the cake after pricking each layer a few times with a toothpick or skewer. Before icing the cake spread some apricot jam over the bottom layer of the cake -then  spread the cooked prunes over the entire surface. Leave the prunes to sink into the cake for a while before placing the upper layer on top.