Chocolate Guinness Cake

Indulgent, rich and velvety, the bitterness from the creamy Guinness perfectly compliments the chocolate.

Ingredients

-1 slices+

Metric

Method

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to 180°C fan / 400°F. Then grease two 18cm (7”) round cake tins with vegan margarine and line the bases with baking paper.

   
2. 2

   Put the soya milk into a medium-sized mixing bowl and stir in the apple cider vinegar. Set to one side for a few minutes until the milk curdles, then add the sugar and stir until fully dissolved. Leave the bowl to one side.

   
3. 3

   Sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl.

   
4. 4

   Melt the margarine, either in a saucepan or in the microwave, and add it to the flour mix along with the Guinness, vanilla extract and the sugar-milk mixture. Gently fold until fully combined.

   
5. 5

   Pour half the cake mixture into each cake tin and bake for 40–45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

   
6. 6

   Once the cakes are ready, leave them to cool in the tins for 10 minutes. Then run a knife around the edges of the tins and turn the cakes out on to a cooling rack, bottom side down. Leave to fully cool.

   
7. 7

   Meanwhile prepare the icing by combining all the ingredients either in a food processor or by hand until silky smooth. Transfer a third of the icing to a small bowl to use for the crumb coat later.

   
8. 8

   Once the cakes have cooled completely, use a serrated knife to trim and discard the dome tops so the top of the cakes are flat. You can use the discarded cake to make cake pops!

   
9. 9

   Place one of the cakes on a serving dish and use half of the icing that you transferred to a small bowl earlier to add a thin crumb coat on top of the cake (this 'crumb coat' traps the crumbs to create a smooth layer for the remaining icing). Then wipe down your spatula / palette knife, and use half of the the icing in the other container to ice the top of the cake fully.

   
10. 10

    Place the second cake on top and repeat step 9. And voilà, all done!