This vegan chocolate fudge cake with walnut whip frosting owes more than a little to a rich chocolate cake in the Angelica Home Kitchen cookbook.
The recipe for the sponge cake is modified only slightly from the Angelica original, but the walnut frosting is a new addition.
It’s a cake you could claim is free from sugar, but you would really need to qualify that by adding that it contains a shameless quantity of maple syrup instead.
What’s impressive about the Angelica chocolate cake, apart from the fact that it is a practically perfect chocolate sponge, is the way that the super-runny uncooked mixture transforms into a well-risen cake with a soft, gateau texture.
Because of all that syrup, this is probably a cake for special occasions. The time and effort that goes into turning forty litres of maple sap into a litre of syrup always gives me a sense of moral anxiety when I’m using lavish amounts like this – but once in a while perhaps it’s okay…
Using 50% wholemeal flour, apart from upping the fibre content, gives the cake a slightly firmer, more granular but still moist crumb which works really well. If you use 100% white flour, the result is really soft and fudgy like a café-style layered chocolate cake.
The walnuts bring a special flavour and texture to the frosting, along with their superfood credentials.
Chocolate fudge cake with walnut whip frosting…
Ingredients
- 300 g plain flour (ideally a 50/50 mix of white and wholemeal)
- 60 g cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 110 ml light olive (or other mild-tasting) oil
- 340 ml maple syrup
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 230 ml water
for the walnut whip frosting
- 120 g walnuts, plus 8-12 walnut halves for decoration
- 100 ml maple syrup
- 2 tbsp oat (or other non-dairy) milk
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 180 g dark non-dairy chocolate
method
- Set the oven to 180°C/360°F and oil and line two 7 or 8 inch diameter cake tins. The pictured cake was actually made in 6″ diameter tins using two thirds of the ingredients, which still produces enough for 8 good-sized servings. The full size cake provides 10 to 12 servings.
- Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl and whisk to mix thoroughly.
- In a separate bowl or large jug, whisk together the oil, syrup, vinegar and vanilla, before adding the water and whisking some more.
- Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients, stirring lightly as you go until it’s well combined. Don’t over-mix.
- Divide the mixture equally between the two tins and bake for around thirty-five minutes until they are well-risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean. (Be sure not to open the oven too early as this is a very liquid mixture that might collapse if it’s not cooked through.)
- Allow the cakes to cool completely before removing from the tins and frosting.
- While they are cooling, make the frosting by soaking the walnuts in boiling water for at least half an hour, until the water is fairly cool. (If you can be bothered, toast the walnuts first for a few minutes while the oven is still hot, to bring out their flavour.)
- Drain the walnuts and blitz in a food processor or grinder together with the maple syrup until smooth.
- Add the milk and vanilla and blend some more.
- Melt the chocolate and drizzle into the food processor, or put both chocolate and walnut mixture in a bowl and whisk with a hand blender until you have a thick glossy ganache-style frosting.
- Once the frosting has cooled a bit and is just holding its shape (so it won’t all drip down the sides of the cake), spread about one quarter over one of the sponges and then place the second sponge on top. Spoon the remaining frosting on top and gradually, using a smooth-edged kitchen knife or palette knife, spread it across the top and round the sides of the cake. Decorate with the walnut halves (based on one per portion).
- Allow the icing to set before cutting. If the room is at all warm, it may be best to put it in the fridge for an hour or two.
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