Vegan chocolate cake

Make our easy vegan chocolate sponge for a special occasion using dairy substitutes. It's finished with luscious 'buttercream' and seasonal fruits

Ingredients

• 150 g dairy-free spread, plus extra for the tins
• 300 ml dairy-free milk, we used oat milk
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 300 g self-raising flour
• 200 g golden caster sugar
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 0.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 100 g dairy-free dark chocolate
• 200 g dairy-free spread
• 400 g icing sugar
• 5 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp dairy-free milk, such as oat milk
• handful of fresh, seasonal fruits such as cherries, blackberries or figs

Steps

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.
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.
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.
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.