1 year Blogiversary - Rich Chocolate Vegan Cake

On Friday I celebrated my 1 year blogiversary! Over the past year it really has been such a pleasure to blog about the things that I love. Been such a great way to channel two of my passions. Hope I can continue that for as long as possible. I'm really glad I have followed through with something that I wanted to do for so long. Hope you've enjoyed it along the way.

Now for that delicious looking cake. I recently started fasting for lent. As part of being orthodox it means being a vegan. In order to celebrate this momentous occasion I searched for a vegan cake. What great timing when I received my daily email from my subcription to Not Quite Nigella with this Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe. Delicious! You definitely could not notice there was no egg, no dairy products. It was rich, luscious and very moist. My mum loved it. She couldn't believe it was vegan.

.

Recipe from Not Quite Nigella

.

Cake

.

1.5 cups plain flour

1.5 cups brown sugar

6 tablespoons cocoa, sifted

1.5 teaspoons bi carbonate of soda

1 teaspoon salt

1.5 cups water

1/2 cup mild flavoured vegetable oil (I used canola oil)

3 tablespoons white vinegar

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

75g dark chocolate (dairy free), finely chopped (I'm too lazy. I wizzed in the food processor)

Chocolate syrup or icing

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 teaspoon cocoa

100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Line a 20cm round baking tin with baking paper. In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients. Mix the oil, vanilla, water and vinegar together. In the liquid mixture stir in the chocolate and then pour into the cake tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes. To make sure it's ready insert a skewer and ensure it's clean.

2. Now time for the syrup/icing. While the cake is baking, heat the water, icing sugar and cocoa in a saucepan until boiling and syrup-like. As it thickens, whisk to remove the lumps. Add the chocolate to melt. 

3. Remove the cake from the oven when it is ready. Poke little holes into the cake with a skewer. If you want to pour the syrup as is then gently pour it over the cake while it's warm. Allow it to cool completely before removing it from the tin. If you would like icing then allow the syrup to partially set. If you are not quick enough with the syrup it will set. As you can see mine set and became lovely icing.