Ginger Chocolate Cake

Better than non-vegan chocolate cake. I swear on my next meal.

First I mixed the dry ingredients: 1 and a half cups of flour, a third of a cup of sugar (white makes a lighter cake, brown makes a tastier one), a teaspoon of baking powder and a third of a cup of cocoa.

While I was doing this, my willing helper grated three inches of fat ginger stem using the fine side of the grater. He then picked up the solid mulch, squeezed it hard in his man hands and threw it away. Other ways to do this include using a muslin cloth to strain off the liquid, but I prefer my way.

Adding water to the ginger juice, I brought its volume up to a cup and added that to the dry mixture. Next were a third of a cup of sunflower oil and a tablespoon of cider vinegar. Yes, vinegar. Don’t diss it till you’ve tried it.

This was baked in a greased pie dish (in the absence of a cake tin) in a medium heat oven for about half an hour – until a knife came out clean.

After cooling it I covered it in organic dark chocolate and left it on the side to be discovered with delight.

Chocolate Sponge Cake

Birthday Cakes :-)

Never have I boasted about my baking skills - I've always been a bit scared of making cakes and the like, as I was under the impression that ingredients always needed to be measured precisely, in order to be in the right proportions.

Well, this cake proves me wrong - I guessed at all the ingredients, and guessed at how much of each thing to use. So, the moral of the story is: go ahead and experiment with baking cakes.

This one contained about a cup and a half of flour (mostly self-raising, some plain when it ran out), about the same amount of hot chocolate powder (the type that is just cocoa and sugar), 5 teaspoons of baking powder, all mixed up. To this I added some golden syrup melted into sunflower margarine and mixed with hemp milk and a bit of sunflower oil. I stirred it all up and it seemed to be a cake mixture consistency, so I poured it into a greased baking tray and baked it for about 20 minutes.

Omnivore friends loved it. Score!

The first cake was an experiment to prepare for these birthday cakes. In case you can't work it out, I made one big one and a load of cupcakes. The decorating is a bought 'chocolate fudge icing' (surprisingly vegan friendly) and some fruit flakes, which are basically condensed fruit juice and taste like jelly fruit.

For these I used 2 cups self raising flour, 1 cup cocoa, 1 cup sugar, 7 teaspoons of baking soda, about a cup of sunflower margarine, 5 desert spoons of golden syrup and a splash of soya milk. Again, I mixed all the dry ingredients then added the melted fat and golden syrup with enough soya milk to bring it to the right consistency.

It's important not to open the oven as they are cooking or the cake with fall in on itself. Let them cool before decorating them or the icing will melt. Enjoy!