Rich, brownie-like chocolate cake with no eggs in sight – fudgy, decadent, and perfect for birthday celebrations, vegan-ish or not.
I don’t know when it happened but a few years ago I stopped making birthday cakes for the daughterlings. There. I said it!
I think it was around the time they turned 14 or 15 and they became proper teenagers. They stopped having parties and started “hanging out with their friends”. We started going out to restaurants for their birthday – their choice of venue of course, and the decorated cakes just stopped.
Roll on a few years and they’re 19 and 22 and I now make them celebration cakes – when they’re here! Darcey has been away at Scout camps for more birthdays than I can remember.
Beau’s now at Uni – in London, so we still get to see her. She lives away from home with her boyfriend, and the restaurant birthday celebrations continue. As a HUGE Taylor Swift fan (I don’t know about you but I’m feeling 22) her plans for her 22nd birthday were to meet the family for lunch and then have a party at her flat. I wanted to surprise her with what has now become her favourite cake – vegan(ish) chocolate cake. I say “ish” because I didn’t have vegan yoghurt, so I used my Greek yoghurt, which gave it a completely different taste – all good.
Travelling with the birthday cake in London
We were meeting for lunch at Bills in Covent Garden (it’s fantastic by the way. I highly recommend it) I wanted to make a cake that I could carry. Our journey into Covent Garden consists of two buses, a train and two tubes. I may have been a little overambitious about how long I could hold a cake flat for with all that commuting.
The cake decorations
The buttercream on this cake was made with oil-based margarine, which is basically like a slick and one jolt could see the whole top layer skidding off the bottom. The Flora one tastes great by the way.
My thinking was to pipe icing on the bottom cake, layer the second tier and then pipe around the outside edge of the top tier. That worked out well. I had some chocolate sprinkles (possibly not vegan but we’re turning a blind eye here), and then I added a few sprinkles to the top edge. Then I made a big mistake.
The big mistake with decorating this cake
Instead of piping buttercream in the middle, I sieved cocoa powder. It looked great, but then I wanted to add a number 22.
I used a freezer bag to pipe the number 22 and placed it in the freezer to firm up. After 20 minutes, I removed the numbers and used edible gold shimmer dust to coat. I then carefully picked up the numbers with a small palette knife and positioned them in the centre of the cake. One broke, and they both just skidded on the cocoa powder. I thought that if I was really careful, the cake decorations would survive!
Carrying the cake
I recently bought a bundle of vintage Tupperware containers, including a big round cake one. It has a tray-style base so I put the cake on a round cakeboard with some crumpled up tin foil- so it wouldn’t move around inside the box. I added the lid and put the whole thing in a big shopper that could keep it flat – and hoped for the best.
After all the travelling, the ’22’ topper on the cake was basically mush, but the outer piped decoration had held up well.
The surprise
Beau didn’t know I was making her a cake and she was so happy when I pointed to the bag and told her what was inside. After lunch, she was going to go shopping for her party, and a birthday cake was on the list.
She bought some red sprinkles – as her party was red themed- as in Taylor Swifties, and some raspberries, which completely disguised the mush. She said it tasted good and that’s all that counts really. Don’t you think?
This isn’t strictly Vegan but you can make it so…
Since this cake isn’t fully vegan, you can swap out the Greek yoghurt for a vegan version (we like the Alpro Vanilla one) and use an alternative to sprinkles. I’d probably go for grated chocolate or crushed chocolate buttons. The raspberries were a good idea too.
Egg-Free Double Chocolate Birthday Cake
Rich, fudgy and full of flavour – with no eggs in sight!
- 200g / ¾ cup + 2 tbsp vegan margarine, softened
- 300g / 1½ cups caster sugar (or superfine sugar)
- 200g / ¾ cup Greek yoghurt (or a thick non-dairy yoghurt for vegan option)
- 200ml / ¾ cup + 1 tbsp oat milk (or other plant-based milk)
- 2 tsp / 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 240g / 2 cups self-raising flour
- 110g / 1 cup ground almonds
- 50g / ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp / 2 tsp baking powder
For the Chocolate Buttercream
- 110g / ½ cup vegan margarine
- 150g / 1¼ cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- 50g / ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp / 1 tsp vanilla extract
To Make the Cake
- Preheat your oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan) / 350ºF (325ºF fan).
- Lightly grease and line two 8-inch (20cm) round cake tins with baking or silicone paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the margarine and caster sugar together until pale and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, mix the Greek yoghurt, oat milk, and vanilla extract until well combined.
- In another bowl, sift together the self-raising flour, ground almonds, cocoa powder, and baking powder.
- Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar, then pour in the yoghurt mixture.
- Stir everything together until fully combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and smooth the tops with the back of a spoon.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 25–30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To Make the Buttercream
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the margarine, icing sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract together until smooth and fluffy.
- Use a spatula to spread the buttercream between the cooled cakes, or transfer it to a piping bag if you prefer to pipe the filling and decorate the top.
More Cakes You May Enjoy
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How To Make Boozy, Gooey, Raisin, Choc-chip, Oat Cookies
Deliciously Vegan: How to Make Digestive Biscuits That Taste Just Like the Real Thing
Sweet & Simple: Cherry Almond Slice Recipe You’ll Love
