Super Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake

Bite of chocolaty goodness

Post baby me is a bit of a Chocoholic.  I'm sure there's some sort of science there - but for the time being, let's suffice it to say that I love the stuff.  I felt like baking up some sort of yummy treat today, and then realized I had no eggs, and the baby was sleeping..... so the search for eggless chocolate cake began.

This is what I came up with - and whaaaaat? It's VEGAN.  I am not vegan - I'm not even vegetarian, but this is just how things ended up! Since the cake is relatively light, I added a glaze to go on top while hot to make it a bit moister and ooey-gooey-yummier. I made the glaze with oh-so-yummy animal derived dairy products, but you could easily sub these out and keep the entire recipe vegan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a mixing bowl, combine:

• 1 1/3 cups cake flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk dry ingredients together and then add:

• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup hot coffee
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup olive oil (a little better for you, and the earthiness of the oil goes great with chocolate!)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Whisk ingredients just till combined. Butter and flour an 8x8" glass baking dish, and pour the batter in.  Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While baking, prep the glaze. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, and then add all the other ingredients.

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons half and half (substitute soy milk for Vegan version)
• 4 tablespoons melted butter (substitute margarine for Vegan version)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder

Stir well to get the lumps out. Bring the mixture JUST to a boil, then remove it from the heat.  Set aside while cake finishes.

When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and poke all over the surface of the cake with a toothpick to make some holes for the glaze to ooze into.  Pour the glaze over the top, and let rest.  Serve once it's cooled to room temperature (if you can wait that long!).

Enjoy!