Make our easy vegan chocolate sponge for a special occasion using dairy substitutes. It's finished with luscious 'buttercream' and seasonal fruits
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:35 mins
- Cook:20 mins
- Easy
- Serves 10 – 12
- Dairy-free
- Egg-free
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 150g dairy-free spread, plus extra for the tins
- 300ml dairy-free milk, we used oat milk
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar
- 300g self-raising flour
- 200g golden caster sugar
- 4 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
For the buttercream
- 100g dairy-free dark chocolate
- 200g dairy-free spread
- 400g icing sugar
- 5 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp dairy-free milk, such as oat milk
To decorate
- handful of fresh, seasonal fruits such as cherries, blackberries or figs
Method
- STEP 1
Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Grease the base and sides of 2 x 20cm sandwich tins with dairy-free spread, then line the bases with baking parchment.
- STEP 2
Put the dairy-free milk in a jug and add the vinegar – it will split but don’t worry. Put all of the other cake ingredients into a large bowl, pour over the milk mixture and beat well until smooth. Divide the mixture between the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 mins or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out cleanly. Leave to cool in the tins for 10mins then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
- STEP 3
To make the buttercream, put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and melt in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Leave the melted chocolate to cool for 5 minutes. Beat the dairy-free spread and icing sugar together with a wooden spoon then sift in the cocoa powder with a pinch of salt. Pour in the melted chocolate and dairy-free milk and keep mixing until smooth.
- STEP 4
Sandwich the two cooled sponges together with half of the buttercream then pile the rest on top and down the sides. Decorate with the fresh fruit.
