Another “cake club” recipe, this vegan cake was a lot more challenging than the sultana and orange traybake. My intention was to make a chocolate traybake, but it came out just a little too crumbly and, well, “cocoa-ey” for my tastes, so I added a cherry jam layer and a sweeter chocolate topping. I broadly followed this recipe, and this for the topping, but I was afraid of the warnings that the main cake would be too sweet (so reduced the sugar) and too oily (so reduced the oil). The consistency I ended up with was perfect for a pudding, but not that practical for a working cake session! Still, I think it tasted pretty good. Perhaps a little more oil would be wise.
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 175g plain flour
- 200g Demerara sugar
- 50g cocoa powder
- 2/3 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 150ml water
- 100ml vegetable oil
- 2/3 tsp vanilla extract
For the filling and topping:
- Cherry jam (for the filling)
- 100g sugar
- 3 tablespoons corn starch
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 75ml water
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius, grease a 9×9 inch (23x23cm) traybake tin and line with greaseproof paper
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Pour in water, vegetable oil and vanilla; mix until well blended.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer/knife comes out clean. Wait for the cake to cool.
- Slice in half, generously smother one half with jam, and place the second half on top of the jam.
- To make the frosting, Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cocoa in a medium sauce pan, add the water slowly. Heat over medium until it gets thick and starts to boil. Boil for 1-2 minutes. (“Make sure you don’t boil too long, or it will set like taffy”.) Remove from heat and stir in oil and vanilla.
Notes:
The frosting was a pain. I added just a little too much water and had to boil it a little longer; still, it did not set like frosting but was slightly gooey (in a good way!). Obviously this is a very delicate thing to do, and if you have vegan margarine/vegan buttermilk substitutes there are easier frosting recipes out there!
Who made it: Dan
Recipe: Modified from this recipe, and this for the topping.
