Vegan chocolate cake recipe

No – we know that this vegan chocolate cake recipe isn’t strictly Spanish… but it’s too good not to include! Right – over to our guest chef, Andrew…

This is an oil-based cake recipe, it’s vegan so has no dairy in it at all. This doesn’t stop it being one of the easiest and most moist chocolate cake recipes I know of, and it can all be made and baked in one dish if you want.

Don’t be concerned about the cup measurements in this recipe. When I make it I literally just use any cup and keep the ingredients in the same proportion to each other. There are conversion charts online if this method doesn’t suit you, I have found this recipe difficult/impossible to mess up.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

• Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add all the wet ingredients and beat by hand, until a smooth batter is formed.
• Pour into a standard round sponge tin (usually 9 inches in old money) and bake at 175 degrees C for 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Top tips:

• Wait for the cake to cool down for at least 10-15mins after removing from the oven, this gives time for the cake to set and usually ensures it comes out of the tin cleanly.
• This cake gets more moist if you leave it overnight (I know, silly idea) in a sealed plastic container, it becomes more like a brownie/sticky consistency.
• I usually make one cake and slice it in half to make a filled and, sometimes iced sandwich cake.This can be seen in the photograph above (with blueberry jam)
• Favourite filling is lots of blueberry or strawberry jam. I have also replaced the vanilla essence with orange flavouring – also a winning combination!

Andrew Harris

Andrew’s background is in Anthropology (a mature student, in the application process to write a PhD based in Andalucia) but since moving to Spain he has been editing and writing vegan recipes (for a cookery book published in 2015) as well as writing historical documents for a website based in Bath, UK. His current studies make him an avid reader on a very wide variety of subjects, all of which he is happy to report on.