Vegan chocolate cake

Make our easy vegan chocolate sponge cake for a special occasion using dairy substitutes. It's finished with luscious 'buttercream' and seasonal fruits

• Preparation and cooking time
  • Prep:35 mins
  • Cook:20 mins
• Easy
• Serves 10 – 12

• Dairy-free
• Egg-free
• Vegan
• Vegetarian

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Make this best ever vegan chocolate cake for a birthday party or afternoon tea, then check out more easy vegan bakes.

Ingredients

• 150g dairy-free spread, plus extra for the tins
• 300ml dairy-free milk, we used oat milk
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 300g self-raising flour
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

For the buttercream

• 100g dairy-free dark chocolate
• 200g dairy-free spread
• 400g icing sugar
• 5 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp dairy-free milk, such as oat milk

To decorate

• handful of fresh, seasonal fruits such as cherries, blackberries or figs

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Method

• STEP 1

  Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Grease the base and sides of 2 x 20cm sandwich tins with dairy-free spread, then line the bases with baking parchment.

• STEP 2

  Put the dairy-free milk in a jug and add the vinegar – it will split but don’t worry. Put all of the other cake ingredients into a large bowl, pour over the milk mixture and beat well until smooth. Divide the mixture between the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 mins or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out cleanly. Leave to cool in the tins for 10mins then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

• STEP 3

  To make the buttercream, put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and melt in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Leave the melted chocolate to cool for 5 minutes. Beat the dairy-free spread and icing sugar together with a wooden spoon then sift in the cocoa powder with a pinch of salt. Pour in the melted chocolate and dairy-free milk and keep mixing until smooth.

• STEP 4

  Sandwich the two cooled sponges together with half of the buttercream then pile the rest on top and down the sides. Decorate with the fresh fruit.