Vegan Chocolate Cake - recipe

Hello webby friends,

This blog entry is a favour for the current People Of Leeds twitter user. Jon, a vegan, was talking on Twitter about where to find good vegan cakes. I mentioned I had a nice recipe and promised to share it, so here goes.

Jay's Vegan Chocolate Cake
Sift the following ingredients into a large bowl:

• 300g caster sugar
• 380g plain flour
• 50g cocoa
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 1tsp baking powder

In a jug, combine the following wet ingredients:

• 250ml strong black coffee
• 125ml vegetable oil
• a good splash of vanilla

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well. It's a stiff batter and you need to make sure it is thoroughly combined. spread it out into two 20cm (8 inch) round tins and bake at 180 degrees C (350F) for about 25 minutes.

When the cakes have cooled, sift 300g of icing sugar and 30g of cocoa together and stir in enough coffee to make a thick glaze. Pour it over the first cake, put the second on top and coat that one as well. Leave to set.

Why use coffee?

A lot of the richness in cake comes from the eggs and butter. Without these, the flavours can lack some of the deeper notes - like listening to music with much of the bass missing. Coffee adds depth to the cocoa and gives it a richness it otherwise lacks. You don't get a coffee flavour, just a fuller chocolatey one. If you really don't like the idea, add hot water instead. 

Of course the short answer to "why use coffee?" is "Because it's coffee!" I love coffee very, very much indeed.

I probably also ought to admit I only make this for vegans rather than for everyone as my standard chocolate cake recipe. It's not that it isn't good - it is, I promise - and it's also very cheap to make. But I do love butter and eggs.