Very Chocolatey Chocolate Cake

Mmm, chocolate. One of the great wonders of the world. Many people think that if you go vegan, you can’t have chocolate anymore, but thankfully that is not true at all! If you know me, you’ll certainly know chocolate is not off the cards. Chocolate is one of my favourite foods, and so for this month’s MiniMoFo I’m sharing my favourite recipe for chocolate cake.

Rich, melt in your mouth cake is generously coated in a smooth, sweet chocolate buttercream, giving you a delicious treat worth remembering. I have made this cake for so many special occasions – it’s great as it is, or served with a scoop of ice cream, but you can also use the base cake recipe and ice it however you fancy! I’ve decorated it with oreos, honeycomb, and even strawberries before.

The cake is made extra chocolatey by having both cocoa powder and melted vegan dark chocolate in the batter. Lots of dark chocolate is vegan – I get mine from Lidl – but check the ingredients to make sure there’s no sneaky milk in there!

The icing also has melted chocolate in it, which means it’ll set up firmer than regular buttercream, so make sure you spread it once you’ve made it – if you put it in the fridge it’ll harden up and, whilst it’ll be tasty, it won’t spread on your cake.

Vegan Chocolate Cake

• Servings: Makes a 2-layer 9-inch sponge
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Ingredients

For the Cake
• 420g plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 60g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 500ml dairy-free milk (I use oat milk)
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 130ml sunflower oil
• 210g sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g vegan dark chocolate, melted

For the Icing

• 100g vegan butter
• 600g icing sugar
• 15g cocoa powder
• 100ml dairy-free milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 180g vegan dark chocolate, melted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 170C/350F
1. First, make the cake. Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda, and salt into a large bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl, mix together the milk and the cider vinegar. Leave for a minute to thicken.
3. Into the milk mixture, add the oil, sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk with a fork until well combined.
4. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry until well mixed through.
5. Next, add the melted chocolate to the cake batter and stir thoroughly.
6. Pour the cake batter evenly into 2 lined cake tins, and place in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7. Leave to cool in the tins for ten minutes, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.
8. Once the cakes are completely cool, make the icing.
9. Begin by combining the butter, cocoa, and a third (200g) of the icing sugar in a large bowl. You can use an electric whisk, or just mix it really well by hand.
10. Add in another third of the icing sugar, mix well again.
11. Add in the final third, the milk, and vanilla, and beat until completely combined.
12. Finally, mix through the melted chocolate, beating until the icing is light and fluffy. If it’s too thick for your liking, add a little more milk, if it’s too thin, a little more icing sugar.
13. Spread icing on the top of one of your cooled cakes, and place the second cake on top of it.
14. Place a large spoonful of icing on top of the top cake, and spread it around the top and sides of the cake. Repeat until the icing is used up and/or the cake is covered to your liking!

Perfect Roasted Sweet Potatoes

This month’s MiniMofo is all about favourites. I had to think long and hard about this, because it’s surprisingly difficult to narrow down your favourite food. Eventually I decided on my favourite vegetable: sweet potatoes! And I combined that with my husband’s favourite food: roast potatoes!

Now, if you’re British, no doubt you’ve had roast potatoes a fair bit. Part of Sunday dinner, or Christmas dinner, right? Perfect morsels of deliciousness – crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside – yum! Usually, of course, you use white potatoes for roasties, but I wanted to be a bit different…

These are done in pretty much the same way as regular roasties, but incase you haven’t made those, I put together a little pictorial.

First, peel your potatoes, and cut them into chunks – about an inch and a half in size. Not too big, but not small either. They don’t have to be super even, that’s part of the fun.

Next, put them in a large pot of boiling water, and boil for 5 minutes. Then drain them immediately – you don’t want them to cook too long!

Once they’re drained, pop them back in the saucepan, put the lid on, and give it a good shake. Hold the lid down well, or you’ll get flying potatoes everywhere. You want them to be all roughed up on the edges, this helps them get that nice crispy roasted outer.

Finally, place them in a roasting dish, toss with salt, pepper, and vegan butter or oil, and put in an oven preheated to 210C/410F for 40-45 minutes. And that’s it – you’re done!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

• Servings: 2-3
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Ingredients

• 600g sweet potatoes, peeled
• 2 tbsp vegan butter, melted, or sub oil of choice
• Salt + Pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 210C/410F
1. Chop your potatoes into chunks about an inch and a half in size.
2. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Once boiling, carefully add your chopped potatoes.
3. Place the lid on the pot, and boil covered for 5 minutes, then drain immediately.
4. Return the drained potatoes to the pot (off the heat), put the lid on, and give it a good shake. You want the potatoes to be roughed up at the edges.
5. Next, tip your potatoes into a roasting dish, and toss with salt, pepper, and your butter/oil.
6. Place the roasting dish in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, until golden and crispy, tossing once halfway through.
7. Serve however you like!

You can make these into garlic roast potatoes easily – add 5 cloves of garlic (whole) to the roasting dish at step 5 – it’s delicious!