Emily’s chocolate cake…so so easy, with simple ingredients too!

I’ve had my fair share of vegan chocolate cakes, and let me be honest…not a single one surprised me, in a good way anyway. Usually the recipes I see have ingredients I simply don’t keep around, and the cakes that I’ve had from various places have been either rubbery, have a really overwhelming chemically taste in my mouth, or are overly moist to compensate for the lack of, well…butter and eggs I suppose. So. I wasn’t expecting great things with this recipe I got from Emily, but it looked so simple, and I had all the ingredients, that I figured it couldn’t be that bad to try. And if there’s a cake that lends well to being vegan, it really is chocolate cakes – many mudcakes use oil over butter, and don’t have that many eggs in them.

When I first poured my icing over, there was a little disaster:

I’d been too hasty…and well…you know what happens when you pour icing over a still-warm cake… Fortunately, I was still rather eager to try some, so out came the knife:

I have to say… I was rather impressed. In hindsight (because I had some the next day), I prefer the cake cold, the next day (it tastes a lot more chocolatey). Thankfully this is a cake that also lasts well for more than a day… the effort to reward ratio is pretty favourable really! I made a simple Tia Maria glaze, but you could just use normal vanilla icing (recipe below)

Emily’s vegan chocolate cake

recipe adapted to make one 8″ cake

1 1/2 c plain flour
1 c sugar (pref. raw or a mixture of light brown + white)
1/4 c cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/8c vegetable oil
1 Tbs lemon juice or white vinegar
1c room temp. water, weak coffee or tea
1 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting (I didn’t use this one Emily provided as I didn’t have the marg or soy milk, but feel free to if you do have them.)
1/2 c margarine
2 c icing sugar or caster sugar
1 Tbs vanilla extract
2 Tbs soy milk
1/4 c cocoa
dash salt

Tia Maria glaze
1 c icing sugar
2 Tbs Tia Maria or desired liqueuer, or 1 Tbs vanilla extract
several Tbs water to reach desired consistency

Cake instructions:
-Preheat oven to 170˚C (350˚F).
-Mix the dry ingredients together in large mixing bowl.  With a spoon, make three indentations in dry mixture; 1 small, 1 medium, and 1 large.
-Pour oil into large indentation, vinegar into medium, and vanilla into small.
– Add the water and mix (do not over beat).
-Pour mixture into cake pan, or if you want to make cupcakes, makes about 12 cupcakes.
-Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.

Chocolate Frosting:
-Use margarine at room temperature
-Place margarine in a bowl and blend until soft and creamy
-Add rest of ingredients and blend
-Spread on cooled cake

Tia Maria Glaze:
Wait until cake is cold. Mix icing sugar and Tia Maria together, until it forms a thick paste. Add 1 Tbs water at a time, mixing at each addition to get your personal desired consistency. I like more of a glaze (picture below to illustrate). You can add about a teaspoon of cooking oil to keep it from forming a “crust” as quickly, if you’re making the icing in advance, but generally, don’t leave it in a bowl for more than an hour.