Simple Vegan Chocolate Cake

I have a KitchenAid mixer which I adore. It's an absolute treasure and a gift from husband. I love it and I use it almost every day. In fact, I don't think I could live without it. But on days when all I want to do is some gentle stirring, I make cakes like this one. It only requires a couple of mixing bowls and a saucepan and I get to have my cake and eat it too.

Simple Vegan Chocolate Cake
slightly adapted from here

For the Frosting:
60ml cold water
75g coconut butter (not coconut oil)
50g dark brown sugar
1½ teaspoons instant espresso powder
1½ tablespooons cocoa powder
150g dairy free dark chocolate, chopped

For the Cake:

225g plain four

1½ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1½ teaspoon instant espresso powder

75g cocoa powder

300g dark brown sugar

375ml hot water

75g coconut oil

1½ teaspoons cider vinegar

Make the Frosting:

Put all the frosting ingredients except the chopped chocolate into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once everything has dissolved turn off the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Leave for a minutes, then give it a stir. It will be smooth and shiny. Set aside to cool.

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 180C and slide a baking sheet in to heat up.

Line the bottom of a 20cm round springform cake pan with baking paper. Set aside.

Put the flour, baking soda, salt and espresso powder into a mixing bowl and stir to mix.

In a separate bowl, stir the sugar, water, coconut oil and vinegar until the oil has melted. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 minutes or until the cake comes away from the sides of the pan.

Remove from the oven and leave the cake in its tin to cool on a wire rack.

Frost the Cake:
Give the frosting a stir. It should be a good spreading consistency buy now. Spread the frosting over the unmoulded cake and use a offset palette knife to ease it to the edges. Leave the cake in its tin for 30 minutes for the frosting to set before unmoulding and slicing.