This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
Dairy and egg-free chocolate cake
Ingredients: 1 x 23cm sponge cake
For the cake:
280g self-raising flour
3 tbspns cocoa powder
1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
300ml soya milk
175g brown sugar
80ml vegetable oil
3 tbspns golden syrup
½ tspn vanilla extract
For the buttercream:
200g StorkⓇ melted
320g icing sugar
220g dark chocolate, melted in a bain-marie
110g cocoa powder
How to prepare:
For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 180℃/Gas 4. Grease a 23cm round cake tin.
Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl. Mix the bicarb with 1 tbspn of soya milk then add to the flour and cocoa mixture.
Add the sugar along with the remaining soya milk, oil, golden syrup and vanilla extract. Beat with a fork or hand whisk until the mixture is smooth. (I used a Kenwood mixer). Transfer to the prepared tin.
Bake in the preheated overn for 30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. If the centre of the cake is not fully cooked then leave the cake in the oven for another 5 – 15 mins, but cover the top of the cake with tin foil so it does not burn. Remove the cake from the oven.
Leave the cake to cool for at least 20 minutes and then place in the fridge for one hour before applying the buttercream.
For the buttercream:
Mix the melted StorkⓇ to the icing sugar and mix well with a fork. Add the melted chocolate and cocoa powder and beat well until smooth.. If the mixture looks too dry then add a tablespoon of milk at a time.
Cover the completely cooled cake with layers of buttercream until you are satisfied with the look of it and place back in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
Remove from the fridge, slice and serve!