Vegan Chocolate Cake
This is a rich, moist, fudgy, double layer vegan chocolate cake, perfect for a birthday cake.
The liquid used in this cake is a mixture of grape juice, lemon juice, and sunflower oil. The grape juice and lemon add depth to the chocolate giving it much more flavour than if I had used soymilk. But there is no grape or lemon after taste. Just the full flavour you might get in a commercial cake, but without any of the artificial additives used for flavouring.
The juices also combine with the baking soda to create bubbles that make it rise. Sunflower oil is light and it is a healthy way to make the cake nice and moist.
Don't be tempted to use a mix. This is not a difficult cake to make and is so delicious you will be very pleased you tried it!
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and position your rack at the bottom third of the oven.
Grease two 9 inch round cake pans with vegan butter and dust evenly with flour.
The Dry Ingredients
- 3 cups unbleached flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl making sure to get any lumps out of the cocoa powder. Combine thoroughly.
In a large measuring cup or smaller bowl combine the liquid ingredients.
The Liquid Ingredients
- 2 cups grape juice
- 2/3 cup sunflower seed oil
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 2 tbsp. vanilla
Pour the liquid ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Use a whisk to combine them but do not over do it or you will lose the bubbles that make the cake light.
If you don't have a whisk just use a large spoon. Combine until most of the lumps have dissolved but don't try to get all of them. The small lumps will dissolve while cooking.
Pour the batter into the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a fork comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
Let the cakes cool for about ten minutes on cooking racks. Then carefully remove each cake from the pan by going around the sides with a knife and lifting slightly to loosen them from the bottom of the pan.
Place a cooling rack on the top of each cake tin, turn upside down and tap the bottom of the pan firmly until the cake releases onto the rack. Cool thoroughly while you prepare your icing.
Quick Chocolate Fudge Icing
- 4 cups icing sugar (confectioner's sugar/powdered sugar)
- 6 tbsp. cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 1/4 cup vegan butter (Earth Balance)
- 1 to 3 tbsp. lemon juice (as needed)
- 2 tbsp. vanilla
Place the vegan butter in a food processor, sift in the cocoa, add the icing sugar, vanilla and 1 tbsp. of lemon juice. Blend until smooth only adding more lemon juice if the icing is not yet spreadable. Be very careful not to add too much liquid because then it is hard to fix.
If you don't have a food processor it's easy to make in a bowl with a hand blender. Just cream the vegan butter, add the dry ingredients, then the liquid a little bit at a time until you have a good consistency for spreading.
Line a cake plate with wax paper around the edges so you can keep it clean while you ice the cake. Carefully place one cake on the center of the plate. Spread with icing, then add the second cake.
Spread the icing evenly across the top and around the sides with an icing spreader.
Garnishing the cake beautifully is always much appreciated. Fresh strawberries make an easy, delicious, healthy, and gorgeous decoration!
Of course if you want to be really decadent- and why not- serve also with a scoop of vegan ice-cream.
