Some vegan recipes are a bit complex, or use a few too many ingredients for more liking. I wanted to see what would happen if I paired a chocolate cake recipe down to almost nothing. Result- a really nice sponge cake made without specialist ingredients and easy for a baking beginner. for my party piece I scribble the recipe down on a paper napkin to share with others.
This should make 8 generous portions, and can be ready to eat, warm from the oven, in little over an hour. It's been extensively tested on the good people of Hastings, UK, and half of them have no idea it's vegan! haha!
3 cups white self rising flour
2 cups of white granulated sugar*
1 cup of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup of light vegetable oil
2 cups of water
some jam/ jelly for the filling- strawberry is nice
1)
Preheat your oven to 340F (170C). Lightly oil 2 round 8" cake tins.
2)
Pour the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and baking powder into a bowl (you won't need to sieve unless you have been using your bag of flour as a foot rest).
3)
Mix the vegetable oil and water together, stir quickly into the dry ingredients.
4)
Divide the batter between the 2 cake tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Test with a thin knife to see if cooked, the inserted knife will come out clean.
5)
Rest on wire racks for 25 minutes. Use a knife to carefully ease the cakes from the tins.
6)
Spread jam over one half, and pop the other half on top. Dust with cocoa or icing sugar if you feel like it. The one in the picture is decorated by a simple frosting and topped with strawberries, but you really don't need to go to that kind of effort.
