Chocolate Midnight Cake. Vegan baking has been hit and miss for me with vegan margarine sometimes letting the side down. Nigella uses coconut butter and coconut oil instead and this cake is a triumph for it.
The online version of the recipe has been updated to offer vegan margarine and vegetable oil as substitutes but I’m done with using margarine in cakes*. Vegetable oil is A-OK though and coconut butter is a revelation. A quick thing - coconut butter is used in the icing and it dries solid so use a good, sharp knife to slice through it or you’ll squish the cake underneath.
This isn’t just “good for a vegan cake”, it’s a fantastic cake and wonderfully similar in taste and texture to Samin’s Chocolate Midnight Cake.
Both recipes have a very liquid batter. I use my 20cm springform tin from Lakeland and it hasn’t leaked on me yet. Something I do that’s not mentioned in either recipe is to sieve the batter before pouring it into the tin. Combining the wet and dry ingredients always results in loads of lumps and I think this step is important. I sacrifice a little of the batter but it’s a small price to pay for a smooth and uniform cake.
The same goes for greasing the tin. I’ve stopped thinking “this is a good tin, it’ll be fine”. I’ve ruined too many cakes at the last hurdle so I grease generously and replace my tins as soon as they look tired.
* Unless it’s a 50/50 blend of Stork and butter. I’m fine with that.
The cake can be stored for up to 5 days in an airtight container. It freezes well too.
I buy coconut butter and espresso powder from Ocado.
Make sure that your dark chocolate is vegan - some aren't. I use Dr. Oetker's Extra Dark Chocolate, which conveniently comes in a 150g bar.
Simply Nigella (affiliate link) by Nigella Lawson.
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