Vegan Chocolate Fudge Cake

This fabulously fudgelike chocolate cake is adapted from Anna Jones for the UK Guardian;  here is a link to the original article
(https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/09/anna-jones-chocolate-cake-recipes)

This is such an easy cake to make: no creaming, no sifting.  Be sure to use a tight-fitting cake tin as the batter is quite wet and will run out if there are any gaps.

Prep takes 15 minutes, cook time is 45 minutes, and 30 minutes to cool;  this quantity serves eight, depending!

Ingredients:

For the cake:
225g (1 cup) plain or light spelt flour
1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 generous pinch salt – I like to use Kosher salt rather than table salt
75g (¾ cup) cocoa
250g (1¼ cup) dark muscovado sugar
75g (½ cup) coconut oil
1½ tsp vinegar (I use cider vinegar)
350g just-boiled water

For the ganache:
75g (½ cup) coconut oil
50g (¼ cup) dark muscovado sugar
1½ tbsp cocoa
150g (6 oz) dark chocolate (70% cacao or better), finely chopped
60g cold water

Method:

Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F.  Grease an 20cm/8” springform cake tin with oil or Pam spray, and line the base with baking parchment.

Make the ganache first:  put the coconut oil, dark brown sugar, and cocoa in a pan with 60ml (¼ cup) cold water.  Heat until the coconut oil is melted, just to the simmer, then turn off the heat, add the chocolate and leave it to sit.  After about a minute, whisk until you have a dark glossy icing and set aside.  It should be cool and thick by the time the cake has baked and cooled.

For the cake, whisk the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cocoa together in a bowl.  Make sure there are no lumps of bicarbonate of soda.

In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, 350ml (scant 1½ cups) of just-boiled water, the coconut oil and the vinegar.  When the coconut oil has melted, stir into the dry ingredients, then pour into the prepared tin.

Bake for 35-40 minutes.  When it is ready, the cake should come away from the edges of the tin and a skewer inserted into the center will come out clean.  Cool for 30 minutes in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Pour over the ganache and decorate as you wish – chopped nuts and/or grated chocolate are favorites.

This cake stays fresh for about two days if you keep it well wrapped;  in my experience, storage is not a problem!

Here is the printable .pdf for Vegan Chocolate Cake — quick, easy, and delicious!