There is no denying my love for chocolate and cakes. And I love butter, really butter. But many people around me (friends and family) have recently become Vegan, and it’s just so hard to see that there isn’t really anything out there that really tickles my tastebuds when it comes to vegan desserts. So that is why I went on the mission (because you don’t have to) to find the ultimate moist yet super chocolatey cake topped with a delicious frosting. And the combination of flavours – coffee and chocolate of course! The cake turned out amazing, and honestly i ate most of it! HAHA!

Here’s how you bake it!

INGREDIENTS :  

For the Chocolate Cake – 

• 480 ml almond milk
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 420 g  flour (you can sue gluten free flour if you like)
• 490 g light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp cacao powder
• 2 tbsp strong coffee powder (just use instant coffee and crush it a bit to make a powder)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp coarse salt (sea salt)
• 120 g coconut oil (melted)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Espresso Frosting – 

• 230 g vegan butter
• 300-400 g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp of coffee (chilled, – I use instant coffee)
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp almond milk

METHOD : 

For the Cake –  

1. Preheat your oven to 180C and line a baking tray with baking paper. I used a large tray that fits from side to side in my oven.
2. In a bowl, combine the almond milk with the apple cider vinegar, mix until combined. Let it sit for 5 min until it curdles – this is your home made vegan buttermilk.
3. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, sugar, cacao powder, coffee powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix until thoroughly combined.
4. Then add the coconut oil and vanilla to your vegan buttermilk mixture and whisk until combined.
5. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix to combine. Don’t over mix, otherwise the cake wont fluff up nicely, just mix so that everything is well combined.
6. Pour into you prepared tray. Bake in the oven at 175C for 28-30 minutes. Every oven is different so just check if its done by putting a cake tester/knife in and it come sout clean – the cake should be ‘springy’ when you touch it. Place the cake on a cooling rack and allow to cool fully.

For the Chocolate Espresso Frosting –

1. In a bowl or stand mixer, cream the vegan butter on high then add in the vanilla extract, coffee, cocoa powder and 300g icing sugar. Mix until combined – give it a taste, if you feel you want it more sweet then add the remaining 100g icing sugar. Then add in the almond milk and mix until fluffy. Add more if you need it to be more fluffy.

Assembly –  

Place the frosting all over the cooled cake, and then slice the cake in squares. to decorate, add a coffee bean on each square. And Voila! You’re Vegan Chocolate Espresso Cake is done!

ENJOY!