I don’t actually know who Dana was, but she makes an amazing chocolate cake! This recipe is great because it’s so simple – just tip all the ingredients into your mixing bowl, mix until combined, then pour into the cake tin and bake for an hour or so. This has always been my family’s go-to birthday cake recipe, and it converts extremely well to gluten/dairy free.

 

Ingredients

1 2/3 C flour (I use Edmonds Gluten Free Plain Flour)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 C white sugar
1/2 – 2/3 C cocoa powder (depending on if you’re using Dutch process cocoa, which is much darker, richer, and more delicious! But you don’t need as much of it as other cocoa powders).
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 C soy milk
100g margarine, melted
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Heat oven to 180°C and grease a 22cm cake tin.

2. Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix until smooth and colour lightens (2-3 minutes).

3. Pour into prepared tin and bake for approximately 1 hour. Test with a skewer to see when cake is done.

4. While cake is still warm, slice in half horizontally and spread with your choice of filling (my favourite is strawberry jam, but chocolate icing works well too!). This will create an extra fudgy moist cake.

5. When cake has cooled completely, top with your favourite icing.

6. Makes 16 mid-sized slices, or 12 doorstop-sized slices.

Recipe adapted from Destitute Gourmet by Sophie Gray