I’m not a vegan and I’m suuuuuure as hell not a baker but one thing’s for certain, I do like a challenge. So, with Easter – the glorious season of chocolate – coming up, what better time to have a crack at a big ol’ chocolate cake, made from scratch, with a vegan* twist and some cute springtime decor?
I’ve got to credit the foundations of this recipe to none other than the fantastic guys over at Tasty – their recipe for The Most Decadent Vegan Chocolate Cake gave me a great starting point on how to go about making a vegan cake as a total novice!
Of course, I made some devilishly delicious tweaks to create something I consider perfect for this particular occasion, including sweet mashed banana and my nan’s recipe for AMAZING buttercream icing (made with dairy-free spread!).
I’m not including supermarket prices or calorie content for this one – sorry guys, but this cake is made for celebrating. Treat yo’self! It’s something indulgent to share with family and friends over a cup of tea (or glass of prosecco!) after your Easter Sunday roast. It’s not something for the cash / calorie conscious.
So, this is how I did it…
(Serves 8-10)
1. Sieve the flour, caster sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl and whisk together (if you don’t instantly get it everywhere you’ve already done better than me).
2. Add everything else – the salt, baking powder, coconut oil, honey, almond milk, banana and vanilla extract – slowly. Stir together with a wooden spoon until well-combined. And lick the spoon, of course 🥄
3. Pour the mixture between two cake sandwich tins and bake for 25 minutes at 200 degrees. Stick a knife or skewer into the cake once the time is up – if it comes out clear, it’s cooked. If bits of cake stick to the knife, it needs a little longer.
4. Remove the cakes from their tins and leave to cool completely on a rack. It took about 45 minutes for mine to get to a room temperature kinda feel.
5. While the cakes cool, whip up the icing. Simply chuck the icing sugar, cocoa powder and “butter” into a bowl and stir together. Add a teeny tiny drop of water to make the mixture a little less stodgy and thick, nothing more than a teaspoon otherwise it’ll get far too runny. Keep stirring until smooth (or your arm falls off. Whichever comes first).
6. Once the cakes are cool, use a knife to make the bottom half even so your cake has a nice, level base. Spread the icing across it before topping with the second layer. Coat the top of the cake with more icing and decorate – I bought some Mini Eggs (soz vegan buddies) and wafer flowers and dotted them about to make it look all pretty and Easter-y.
INGREDIENTS
CAKE
2 mugs of self-raising flour
1 1/2 mugs of caster sugar
1/2 mug of cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1tbsp baking powder
1/4 mug of coconut oil
3 tbsp of runny honey
1 mug of almond milk
1 banana, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
ICING
1 mug of icing sugar
1 mug of cocoa powder
3 tbsp vegan-friendly butter
1 tsp water
* The Mini Eggs are optional and the only non-vegan part, I promise!
