Perfect Chocolate Celebration Cake and Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients

For the cake

• 330 g self-raising flour
• 45 g or 5 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt
• 220 g caster sugar
• 290 ml dairy-free milk
• 100 g dairy-free margarine, melted
• 2 tablespoons dairy-free yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the buttercream

• 145 g dairy-free butter
• 250 g icing sugar, sifted
• 1-2 tablespoons dairy-free milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

For the cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease and line the base of two 20 cm cake tins.

Sift the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate, and salt together, then stir in the sugar.

In a separate bowl, combine milk, melted dairy-free margarine, yoghurt, and vanilla.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients and gradually combine until you have a lovely smooth batter.

Pour into the cake tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a knife comes out clean.

Cool in the tins for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. 

For the buttercream

Whisk the dairy-free butter until light and fluffy.

Add the icing sugar 100 g at a time with a splash of the milk and vanilla, mixing until fully combined and fluffy.

If you want to use fondant icing for the decorations, use 500 g to cover the cake and any offcuts for the decorations.

Variations: Turn this into a chocolate fudge cake by replacing 25g of the icing sugar in the buttercream with cocoa powder.