Vegan Chocolate Birthday Cake

 

Back after a hiatus! A lot has changed, but now I'm set in my vegan ways, I've finally started to love baking again :) 

This is the cake I made for my 30th birthday, the cake turned out really moist and the buttercream was to die for. I used Flora vegan butter, but any stick butter should work well.

Completely vegan, so dairy and egg-free. Also nut and soy-free for other allergy sufferers :) 

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 250ml oat milk
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 250g plain flour
• 350g caster sugar
• 65g cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 110g vegetable oil
• 165g apple sauce
• 235g boiling water

For the buttercream:

• 50g cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 300g icing sugar
• 150g vegan butter, softened
• 3-4 tbsp oat milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180c (160c fan)/gas mark 4/350F. Grease and dust the base of two 20cm round cake tins with oil and flour. (Alternatively, grease the base and line with baking parchment).

2. Pour the oat milk into a bowl of a stand mixer (with the balloon whisk attachment). Add the vinegar. Stir and wait for 5 minutes.

3. Sift into the bowl the flour, cocoa and baking powder. Pour over the remaining cake ingredients and whisk until well combined (until you see no more flour/cocoa speckles).

4. Pour into the prepared cake tins and bake for around 40 minutes, until the top is springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.

5. Meanwhile, make the butter cream. Cut the butter into small chunks and place it in the bowl of a stand mixer with the balloon whisk attachment. Add the cinnamon, ginger, cocoa powder and half of the icing sugar. Pour over the milk and vanilla, and begin whisking. Once the icing sugar has been absorbed (it will be very loose at this stage), add the other half of the icing sugar and whisk for 5 minutes. If the buttercream is very stiff, add some more milk, if too loose, add a little more icing sugar. It will become very fluffy. Cover until ready to use.

6. Once the cake is fully cool, place one of the cakes onto your serving dish. If domed significantly, level the top of the cake. Cover with around a third of your buttercream. Top with the other cake layer.

7. Lightly spread a thin layer of buttercream around the top and sides of your cake using a palette knife if possible (if not, a butter knife will work, it will just be a bit messier). Once all of the cake has been lightly covered, place it in the fridge for 10 minutes to set slightly. This helps trap in the cake crumbs to give a cleaner result.

8. Spread another layer of buttercream over the top and sides of the cake. Leave 4-5 tablespoons of mixture to pipe on the top of the cake.

9. Fit a piping bag with the 1B flower tip (or the open star tip, anything that makes pretty spirals!). Pipe rosettes over the top of the cake as desired.

10. Enjoy!

This cake will keep in the fridge for up to a week.