Vegan very chocolate cake

Difficulty:
Serves: 12

Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins

Dietary guidance: v v 

Tags: cake · chocolate ·

Ingredients

Cake:
200g plain flour (I used wholemeal)
100g margarine
100g sugar (I used unrefined granulated)
~150ml soya milk
1/2 tsp sodium bicarbonate
1 tsp tartaric acid
2 tbsp cocoa powder (more or less depending on how chocolatey you want it; I used Green & Blacks)

Icing: (approximate because I didn't weight them!)
50g chocolate (I used Green & Blacks dark chocolate; lighter chocolate will give a sweeter icing)
15g margarine
1 tbsp barley malt syrup
Granulated sugar for sprinkling

Obviously all the ingredients need to be vegan to make a vegan cake. Not all margarine/chocolate/cocoa is vegan.

Method

Cake:
1. Bung all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix thoroughly. It's a good idea to start by only putting about 125ml soya milk in, then adding slowly until you achieve a fairly thick batter consistency. If you make it too runny, add more flour.
2. Put mixture into cupcake cases/a well-greased tin
3. Cook at ~170C for ~30 mins, or until a skewer/sharp knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.
4. Leave in the tin to cool for at least 30 mins before removing. Egg-free cakes seem to take a while to "set" after cooking. Make sure the cake has cooled for at least 30 mins before icing.

Icing:
1. Melt the ingredients together in a saucepan on a hob. You should get a thick pouring consistency. If not, never mind, because it's unlikely to taste bad!
2. Pour the mixture onto the cake.
3. Scrape the dregs out of the pan and onto the cake.
4. Spread the mixture evenly over the surface of the cake. (May be easier after a couple of minutes of cooling)
5. Scrape out the last of the mixture from the pan and eat.
6. After a few minutes of cooling, sprinkle some granulated sugar on top of the icing.
7. Leave to cool fully before eating, if you can.