Vegan Chocolate Snack Cake
Author -Yields: 9 servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour (120g)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (15g; substitute additional all-purpose flour)
- 1/2 cup sifted Dutch process cocoa powder (40g)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 cup avocado oil (80ml; substitute another neutral tasting vegetable oil)
- 3/4 cup cane sugar (150g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup water (240ml)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, or distilled white vinegar
- 1/2 batch vegan chocolate frosting (cut the recipe in half, or freeze half of the chocolate frosting for a future cake!)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Line the bottom of an 8-inch/20cm square baking pan with parchment paper. Lightly oil the sides if the pan is non-stick.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, vanilla, water, and apple cider vinegar for a full minute, until the wet ingredients are well combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix the batter fully. Some small clumps are fine, but there should be no large clumps or streaks of flour in the batter. This is a relatively loose/wet batter for cake—that's how it should be!
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake the cake for 40 minutes, or until the top of the cake is domed and set.
- Allow the cake to cool on a wire cooling rack for at least 1 hour before removing the cake from its pan. Continue cooling the cake for 2-3 hours, or until it's entirely cool.
- Before frosting the cake, prepare the half batch of chocolate buttercream frosting. Use an invert spatula to spread the frosting in a thin, even, smooth later over the top of the square cake. Decorate with a dash of sprinkles, if you like. Cut the cake into 9 squares and enjoy.
Notes
The cake can be enjoyed without frosting for something more plain.