A fabulous vegan and gluten free chocolate cake. Wonderfully moist with the addition of courgette – it is the perfect healthy treat for the family. The frosting is quite rich with the addition of nut butter – for a lighter option simply use melted dairy free chocolate with a little coconut oil. Using xylitol or erythritol helps keep the overall sugar content low. Watch our video to show how easy it is to make this cake.

Vegan, Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

Overview

Difficulty – Easy

Time – 15 minutes preparation, 40 minutes cooking time

Makes 1 cake / serves 12

What’s good about it?

Adding courgettes to a cake recipe provides plenty of fibre and moisture. Courgettes are also rich in vitamin K, vitamin C and potassium. Using olive oil in cake recipes with the flaxseed helps bind the ingredients together without the need for eggs.

  1. Lightly grease and line two 6inch (18cm) cake tins. Preheat the oven to 180C, gas mark 4.
  2. Place all the dry ingredients for the cake in a food processor and mix well.
  3. Add the grated courgette, dairy free milk and vanilla extract. Beat well to create a thick batter.
  4. Divide the batter between the two cake tins
  5. Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until firm to touch and when a skewer is inserted into the centre it comes out clean.
  6. Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack.
  7. Cool completely before icing.
  8. To make the icing simply beat all the frosting ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Add sufficient dairy free milk to create a thick but spreadable icing.
  9. Spread a little of the icing on one cake then top with the other cake and spread the remaining icing on the top. Decorate with raspberries to serve.

 

 

Did You Know?

The frosting is very rich – you can reduce the amount of nut butter if wished or make up a ganache using dairy free chocolate with a little coconut oil melted

250g gluten free self raising flour

100g xylitol

2tbsp ground flaxseed

60g desiccated coconut

60g cocoa powder

2tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

150g courgette grated

300ml Dairy free milk

50ml light olive oil

1tsp vanilla extract

 

Frosting

1 cooked sweet potato about 200g

150g nut butter

30g cocoa powder

3tbsp Maple syrup

Little dairy free milk to blend

2tsp vanilla extract

 

Fresh berries to decorate