Moist Egg and Dairy Free Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
Cake
- 1 1/2 cups Self-raising flour
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1/2 cup dark, good-quality baking cocoa
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp caramelised classic balsamic
- 3 tsp pure vanilla essence
- 1 1/4 cups cooled coffee (replace with water if preferred)
Chocolate Icing
- 150g chopped dark chocolate (50-60% cocoa, use dairy free if needed)
- 150ml coconut cream
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 20cm cake tin and dust all over with cocoa. (Don’t use a tin any bigger than this)
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine evenly. Make a large well in the centre.
Pour the olive oil, Lirah caramelised classic balsamic, vanilla and water into the well. Using the whisk, start in the middle and stir the mixture in a circular motion until combined to a smooth batter. Don’t worry if there are a few small lumps, these will disappear in the oven.
Bake just below the centre of the oven for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven.
For a delicious pudding, dust with icing sugar and serve straight hot, straight from the tin, with ice cream.
Chocolate Icing
If you want to make chocolate icing then let the cake cool and place the chopped chocolate and coconut cream in a heatproof bowl, then set over a saucepan of simmering water (don’t let the water touch the bowl). Stir until melted, then remove the bowl from the saucepan and stir in the olive oil.
Leave to cool at room temperature until it’s thick enough to spread on the cake. If you try and speed it up by putting it in the fridge, keep an eye on it as it will need stirring often.