Easy vegan chocolate cake
This indulgent, fudgy vegan cake is topped with a rich frosting – you'd never guess that it's gluten-free and made without dairy, eggs, wheat or nuts
Vegan panettone
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:
- Cook:
- plus overnight fermenting, 2 hrs proving and cooling
- More effort
- Serves 10
Skip to ingredients
Ingredients
For the ferment
- 200g very strong Canadian white bread flour (available at many large supermarkets)
- ¼ tsp fast-action dried yeast
For the fruit mixture
- 150g mixed dried fruit (such as cranberries, cherries and sultanas)
- 1 orange, zested and juiced
- 3 tbsp amaretto (ensure vegan, if needed)
- 100g blanched almonds, chopped (optional)
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- 2 tsp orange extract
For the dough
- 200ml unsweetened vegan milk (such as hemp or soy)
- 1 tbsp vegetable glycerine
- 325g very strong Canadian white bread flour
- 25g cornflour
- 50g caster sugar
- 12g fast-action dried yeast
- 200g vegan block butter (at least 75% fat), softened, plus extra for the tin
- vegetable oil, for kneading
For the crunchy topping
- vegan milk, for brushing
- 25g pearl sugar, or roughly crushed brown sugar cubes
Method
- STEP 1
The day before, make the ferment. Mix the flour with the yeast and 100ml lukewarm water. Knead for 3-4 mins on a work surface until you have a rough dough. Put in a bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rest for 10-12 hrs. Meanwhile, warm all the mixed dried fruit gently in a pan with the orange zest and juice and the amaretto. Remove from the heat, stir in the nuts (if using), vanilla paste and orange extract, then cover and leave overnight.
- STEP 2
The next day, warm the vegan milk to body temperature, then stir in the glycerine and add this to the ferment along with the bread flour, cornflour, sugar, yeast and 10g salt. Mix into a rough dough by hand, then knead in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook on medium speed for 6 mins. With the motor running, gradually add the butter, a spoonful at a time, and mix until the dough is shiny and smooth. Cover and leave in a slightly cool place to prove for 1-2 hrs. If it’s too warm, the dough will be greasy.
- STEP 3
Butter an 18cm round cake tin (ours was 10cm deep) and line with a double layer of baking parchment that comes 10cm above the top of the tin. Or, line with a panettone case (see tip, below). Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and put a shelf in the bottom third of the oven so the panettone has space to rise.
- STEP 4
Knead the soaked fruit into the dough. Shape into a ball on a lightly oiled surface and put into the prepared tin. Cover and leave to prove for 1-2 hrs. Brush the top of the dough with a little milk and sprinkle over the pearl sugar. Bake for 50-60 mins until risen and golden. (The centre of the bread should read at least 85C on a probe thermometer.) Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then lift onto a wire rack to cool completely. Wrap in baking parchment. Will keep in an airtight tin for up to four days.
