Vegan Chocolate Loaf Cake
This Vegan Chocolate Loaf Cake is rich and decadent, full of bittersweet chocolate flavour. The chocolate ganache finishes the cake off perfectly. Get the recipe below.
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A simple chocolate cake
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love chocolate cake and so I’ve posted many chocolate cake recipes over the years (some linked to below). But I didn’t have a simple chocolate loaf cake. I love loaf cakes because they are so easily made, sliced up and enjoyed with friends (or all to yourself!).
This vegan chocolate loaf cake is a simple recipe that has a really rich, decadent flavour made all the more delicious thanks to gooey melted chocolate chips throughout the cake. It gets that rich flavour from a mix of cocoa powder and coconut sugar. Although coconut sugar may not be a staple in your cupboards I recommend it for its caramel like flavour; something that makes this cake really unique.
How to line a loaf tin
Before we delve into the recipe I wanted to spend a few minutes explaining how I line my loaf tin.
You can buy loaf tin liners which work fine but you don’t get sharp edges as the liners themselves often have round corners.
Instead, I use a method which involves cutting two sheets of baking paper. This is how:
- First cut a sheet of baking paper the width of the long side of your loaf tin. It should be long enough to line both the sides and bottom of the cake tin with some overhanging the sides.
- Next cut another sheet of baking paper the width of the short side of the loaf tin. Again this should be long enough to line both the sides and bottom of the cake tin with some overhanging the sides.
- Take the first piece of baking paper and press it into the tin, marking where the baking paper meets the corners of the loaf tin. Remove the baking paper from the tin and fold crisp, neat edges where you marked that the baking paper met the corners of the loaf tin.
- Repeat the previous step with the second piece of baking paper.
- Place each sheet of baking paper into the tin and fold the overhanging baking paper over the sides of the tin.
- It’s now ready to fill with your delicious cake batter!
Top tips for making a vegan chocolate loaf cake
This recipe is very simple and you can find full instructions below but I wanted to take a little time to give you some tips for making the best vegan chocolate loaf cake you can. They are:
- Buy the best ingredients you can! That means get the fanciest cocoa powder and the fanciest dark chocolate chips as they will have a better flavour for a more decadent cake.
- Whilst you can use apple cider vinegar or lemon juice in place of the red wine vinegar, I recommend you use red wine vinegar as it has a deeper, richer flavour which works well with the chocolate.
- Let the milk and red wine vinegar sit for a while so it curdles. We essentially want it to turn into vegan buttermilk.
- Don’t skip sifting your cocoa powder into your flour. If you don’t have a sieve you can whisk the two together using a balloon whisk until there are no lumps.
- Work quickly. The acid in the vegan “buttermilk” will react with the raising agents creating bubbles. This is what gives your cake lift and makes sure it is light and fluffy. Make sure you get the fully mixed cake batter into the tin and then the oven as soon as possible.
- Don’t peek! If you open the oven too soon the cake might fall flat. We don’t want that to happen as it will be dense. Be patient and only open the oven in the last 10 minutes of the cooking time and only if you really have to.
- Let it cool before removing it from the loaf tin. If you try to peel off the baking paper and its still warm it might cause the cake to crumble.
And there you have it, now you know these top tips you’ll bake the perfect loaf cake every time.
How to make super smooth chocolate icing
The icing on top of this loaf cake can actually be better described as a ganache. Ganache is made using warm cream that is poured over chocolate until it melts. This is then stirred until you have a thick, glossy ganache. The thickness will depend on the ratio of cream to chocolate and it will get thicker as it cools.
The ganache we make here is the perfect consistency for spreading without setting too hard.
The recipe
Vegan Chocolate Loaf Cake
Equipment
- 1 Loaf tin
Ingredients
For the loaf cake
- 225 ml soy milk
- 1 tsp red wine vinegar
- 150 ml vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 200 g plain flour
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate soda
- 0.5 tsp baking powder
- 150 g coconut sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 75 g chocolate chips
For the decoration
- 180 g dark chocolate roughly chopped
- 50 ml vegan cream
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 160 C / 325 F / gas mark 3 and line your cake tin with baking paper.
- In a jug whisk together the soy milk, red wine vinegar, vegetable oil and vanilla paste. The vinegar might cause the milk to split or curdle but do not worry, this is supposed to happen. Leave this to one side while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- In a large bowl, sieve the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate soda, baking powder, coconut sugar and salt. Whisk them together to make sure they are well incorporated.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.
- Add in the chocolate chips and stir until well distributed.
- Pour the mixture into your cake tin and place in the oven for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Leave the cake to cool in the tin before transferring it onto a wire rack.
- To make the topping, add 150g of the roughly chopped dark chocolate to a bowl.
- Heat the cream until just below boiling point and pour it over the dark chocolate in the bowl.
- Let the chocolate melt in the hot cream, stirring to ensure any lumps melt.
- Once all the chocolate has melted, leave to cool until thick and spreadable.
- Spread over the top of the cake then sprinkle over the remaining 30g of chopped dark chocolate.
Nutrition
More loaf cakes (all vegan)
More chocolate cakes (all vegan)
Enjoy!