This makes a lovely moist cake which you can fill with vanilla icing and a chocolate top. Or why not try our variations for chocolate orange, chocolate raspberry and chocolate blueberry at the end?
Vegan Double Chocolate Cake by Fairfoods
Ingredients
Cake - 8 oz (225g) caster sugar
4 tsps cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
9 oz (255g) plain white flour
3 oz (85g) plain wholemeal flour
1 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
6 fl oz (170 ml) vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla essence
4 tsp vinegar
2/3 pint (350ml) cold water
Filling - 1 1/2oz (45g) vegan margarine
4 oz (115g) icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
soya milk
Topping - 5 oz (140g) vegan plain chocolate
Decoration - A few squares of vegan plain chocolate
Method
1. Sieve the sugar, cocoa, salt, flours and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and mix well.2. Add the oil, vanilla essence, vinegar and (cold) water. Combine well with a fork or spoon, but do not beat.
3. Pour into two greased sandwich tins. Cook at 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 for 30 minutes or until the cake springs back lightly when pressed. Cool thoroughly.
4. To make the filling mash the margarine and vanilla essence into the sugar with a fork. Add enough soya milk to get your desired consistency - add a tiny bit at a time though! Refrigerate until use and when the cakes are cool use it to sandwich them together.
5. Make the topping by melting the chocolate in a double saucepan*.
6. Smooth the chocolate icing on the top, then decorate with flakes of chocolate (grate the chocolate and/or cut it really finely with a sharp knife).
Variations - for chocolate orange cake use vegan orange-flavoured chocolate to ice the top. For chocolate blueberry or raspberry cake, put a layer of blueberry/raspberry jam in the middle of the cake along with the icing.
*If you don't have a double-saucepan, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl suspended over a saucepan of simmering water. Make sure that the bowl does not come into contact with the water.
You can enjoy more delicious dishes from Fairfoods at The West Midlands Vegan Festival, which takes place on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th October 2016 from 10am to 6pm both days, at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, North Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1RQ. Admission is just £1 (under 16's free), payable at the door. Visit www.midlandsveganfestival.org.uk for more information.