Cake can fix all your woes, specially if it is CHOCOLATE! Who doesn’t love some good old chocolate right?
Okay guys. Real talk. I am seriously saying if you make anything from this blog, ANYTHING. Make this Chocolate cake. Please. IT IS THE BEST. I am sorry if I sound self-obsessive but I just couldn’t stop eating this cake I just can’t! can’t! I swear. I’ll stop blabbering and get to the point. So I had this can of coconut cream in my fridge and I was thinking of making my Balsamic strawberry ice-cream but I was in two minds. Then I decided to make something chocolatey and I was thinking I’ll make my chocolate cake. Then I remembered that a lot of you guys have been writing to me and commenting on my posts for more egg-less and vegan recipes and guess what? This cake, you will never ever be able to make out that it has no butter or eggs. I cannot tell you how fast this cake disappeared and how many people were in denial when I revealed to them that it was dairy free and vegan. In a nutshell, I’d date this cake if it were human and this is now my favourite recipe from the blog. Period.
This cake needs very less prep, one large bowl, one handy-dandy whisk and some patience (to not lick the bowl). Also before you ask, I promise, you nobody will be able to guess that this cake is vegan.
*Callebaut’s pack mentions it is vegan but I request you to please check before buying
Enough of talking now we gotta eat cake!
Ingredients breakdown:
Plain flour: This is your regular all-purpose flour or maida as we call it. I use what I buy locally.
Caster sugar: This is just regular sugar but it is finer in texture. This helps it to dissolve in the batter so you don’t get a batter that is grainy. It leads to an even texture in the baked cake.
Note: You can use regular sugar available at home, however, if the granules are bigger, you should grind it to a fine powder. This will help it to dissolve in the batter.
Cocoa powder: Use any cocoa powder that you like. I however, do recommend reading the label of your cocoa powder pack. I like to use 100% Cocoa without any other additives. Anything else tastes bad in my opinion and maybe that’s just me. But I had to say it. Dutch process cocoa is just darker in colour and has a very slight flavour difference, which is not noticeable unless you eat two cakes made Dutch & regular cocoa each side by side. BUT, the 99% cocoa and 100% cocoa powder taste is very noticeably different.
Coconut milk: I love using a full fat coconut milk without any additives or thickeners or artificial flavours. You don’t have to use coconut milk, you can use any other vegan milk of choice. Unsweetened of course.
Apple Cider Vinegar: I somehow always use this but you can use plain vinegar or even lemon juice, without any other additives like – chilli vinegar or sweetened lemon juice.
Vegetable oil: I use refined sunflower oil. You can use any flavourless refined oil of your choice that you know has no strong taste.
Vanilla: No harm in using extract, essence, the real bean, paste, etc. whatever you have and already use is fine.
Instant coffee: This is a wild card ingredient that I always urge people to not skip. You will never taste the coffee but this takes any chocolate recipe to the next level. I use Nescafe or Bru or any instant coffee that you have and like to use is good enough. Please try it, I promise you, you won’t taste the coffee in the cake.
Coconut cream: This can be bought from amazon, I love using the Real Thai coconut cream as it has the most amount of coconut in the ingredients. I have not enjoyed other brands as much.
Vegan Chocolate: This one is also easily available on Amazon.
Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 315 gram all-purpose flour
- 280 gram granulated sugar or caster sugar
- 65 gram unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
Wet Ingredients:
- 375 millilitre vegan milk
- 1 tablespoon vinegar or fresh lemon juice
- 140 millilitre sunflower oil or any neutral flavoured oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla Extract
- 1 ½ teaspoon instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
For the frosting/ganache
- 100 ml Coconut Cream
- 150 g Vegan chocolate
Instructions
CAKE:
- Preheat your oven to 175C, grease and line a cake pan, I used an 8×11 pan.
- In a bowl, add vegan milk and instant coffee, stir to dissolve. Now add the oil, vanilla and vinegar, whisk really well. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add the sugar, stir to combine.
- Now make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the liquids that we mixed earlier into it.
- Mix gently, with a whisk just until it is combined. Do not over mix your batter. A few lumps are okay.
- Pour this batter into your prepared baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. The baking time varies depending on your oven heating. When a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean, the cake is ready.
Make the frosting:
- Heat the coconut cream in a saucepan or in a microwave till it just reaches a simmer (do not boil)
- Add chopped vegan chocolate into this hot coconut cream and let it sit covered on the counter for 4-5 minutes. After that, stir to combine till it becomes smooth and all the chocolate melts.
- If the chocolate has not melted completely then you can heat the ganache in the microwave (BUT ONLY 10 SECONDS AT A TIME) and keep stirring till it melts.
- Let the ganache cool down for a while (depending on how hot it is where you live). It will thicken as it cools.
Assembling:
- Once the cake is baked, let it cool completely, then spread the frosting on the cake and decorate with fresh fruits or sprinkles! Enjoy! I recommend you keep the cake covered and refrigerated if you live in a hot country. It should last a good 4-5 days but mine disappeared fast.
So… Until next time!
Love,
Bakesalotlady ❤
Bakesalotlady™ 