Chocolate Fudge Cake

This recipe is adapted from a vegan chocolate fudge cake recipe in Demuths first cook book - Postively Vegetarian Recipes For Life.

We'd eaten at the restaurant in Bath a couple of times, loved it the first time, but found it to be really expensive & full of snobby city folk second time around, but the books are good.

Some friends bought us Demuths first book when it was first published 15 years ago...

The cake is so easy to make...

As you can see - we've used this recipe a lot.

Sal & I can just whip it up in no time.

We have tweaked it over the years & have served it up on many a birthday or special occasion.

Here is the original recipe & below is my latest version without oil or margarine, though there is still a huge amount of sugar...

Vegan Chocolate Fudge Cake (Serves 8)

Ingredients

Cake

300g self raising whole wheat flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

50g cocoa 

250g dark brown sugar 

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

9 tablespoons apple purée (health shops sell it in jars)

175ml orange juice

175ml water

Topping

100g chopped dates

1 tablespoon carob

50g apple purée  

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Approx 50ml water + extra if needed

 Method

Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas5/375F.

Line a 20cm cake tin with greaseproof paper.

Put the flour, baking powder and cocoa into a large mixing bowl.

Add the sugar, vanilla extract, apple purée, orange juice and water.

Whisk to a batter like consistency. Pour into the prepared tin.

Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for approximately 40 minutes or until a skewer when inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Topping

Put all the ingredients in a small pan

Bring to the boil & simmer for 10 minutes

Whizz with a hand blender

Spread the warm topping over the cake and leave to harden.

But this time, I replaced the cocoa with carob & added ground ginger instead of vanilla...

And because we love a gingery cake - I also added a good handful of crystallised ginger.

You could also use milk instead of water in the icing, for a creamy fudge topping.

Served up with some vanilla Swedish Glace...

Delicious!

Kay :)