Dairy free chocolate fudge cake with whipped chocolate ganache

 

This recipe needs to be remembered. I baked this for my manager, who doesn't get celebrated enough, and he and the team really enjoyed it. I made it dairy free given I can't taste test anything with dairy, and despite a broken fridge, it turned out great. 

Ingredients:

For the cake:

60g cocoa powder (Tesco)

150ml boiling water

150ml light in colour olive oil (Filippo Berio)

150g no-added sugar soya yoghurt (Alpro)

50ml oat milk

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 large eggs

2 tsp soy sauce

200g plain flour (sifted)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

280g light soft brown sugar

A few salt flakes

For the ganache:

435g 55% dark chocolate (Morrisons basic)

500ml arla plant-based double cream

Sprinkle of salt

To finish:

50g dark chocolate (Morrisons basic)

Gold lustre dust

Specific equipment needed:

2 x 20cm round springform cake tins

Baking parchment

Piping bag

Star nozzle

Method:

1. In a measuring jug, pour the cocoa powder, followed by the boiling water. Leave to cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan. Grease and line the base of two springform 20cm cake tins.

3. In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil, yoghurt, oat milk, vinegar, eggs and soy sauce (tick them off one by one to make sure you don’t miss an ingredient), until smooth. 

4. Pour in the cooled liquid cocoa mixture and whisk until smooth.

5. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, and sugar and whisk until you have a smooth cake batter that easily falls off the spoon. 

6. Pour into the prepared cake tins and bake for around 25 minutes, until springy to the touch and a skewer comes out.

7. To make the ganache, chop the dark chocolate into small (0.5cm or so pieces). Tip into a bowl.

8. Heat the double cream in a pan until bubbling. Pour over the dark chocolate. Wait for a minute and then stir to melt. Once smooth, refrigerate to firm up. This will probably take at least an hour, check regularly that it doesn’t over-set.

9. Use a small amount of the ganache to add a splodge to a the cake plate/presentation board. This will be the glue that holds the cake in place (you can also use spare melted chocolate).

10. Use an electric whisk to whip the ganache, it will change from a dark brown to a light mousse-like brown. 

11. Place one of the cakes on the cake plate/board, making sure you have removed the baking parchment. Dollop on ganache and smooth over the top and sides of the cake.

12. Add the second layer of cake and cover the cake in a layer of ganache like a crumb coat. Chill.

13. Cover the cake with more ganache to smooth out the design. I used a piping bag with a star nozzle, and piped little rosettes around the top and bottom, which worked well I think. Add a few flicks of gold lustre dust to the top using a food-safe brush.

14. Use a vegetable peeler to drag across a bar of dark chocolate to create curls. Pour these in a pile in the centre of the cake, leaving a 2cm border to the outside. 

Devour.