Vegan Orange Chocolate Cake

I love chocolate cakes and I like veganizing cake recipes to make them healthier. Sometimes it’s really hard to control my sweet touth with all the mouthwatering cakes’ photos I collect in my Pinterest album. If I could I would bake everyday something sweet, something with cocoa or chocolate. There are so many wonderful recipes on fellow food bloggers’ sites. I found this one on Chinmayie blog. The cake’s recipe is the same but I made a different kind of frosting.

This was our Christmas Eve dessert. We loved it so much. The chickpea flower makes it a bit crunchy and if you buy a gluten-free oat flour the cake is gluten-free. The rich chocolate cream or frosting on top of the cake is so yum and makes the cake moist. The date syrup is thick, luxurious nectar taken from the fruit of the date palm tree and gives a kick to the cake. Don’t hesitate to try this recipe! 🙂

Vegan Orange Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

For the cake
– 1 cup chickpea flour
– 1 cup oat flour
– 1/2 cup unsweetend cocoa powder
– 1 teaspoon baking powder
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 cup date syrup (you can use honey or agave/maple syrup)
– 1/3 cup raw cane sugar
– 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
– 6 tablespoons water
– 1 orange’s zest
– 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
– 1/4 cup olive oil
– 1 tablespoon orange marmalade

For the frosting
– 3/4 cup coconut milk
– 1 cup chocolate (70-80% cocoa content)
– 1 tablespoon coconut oil
– 1 tablespoon honey
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded

Method

In a small bowl mix together flaxseed with water and set aside. It will get thick and gelatinous. (Using flaxseeds in place of eggs is a great vegan trick for baking. Flaxseeds are a nutritional powerhouse and sneaking some into baked goods is an easy way to get some of their wonderful nutrients into your diet.)

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

Sift all the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder) in a bowl and mix them together. In another bowl whisk together all the wet ingredients (date syrup, cane sugar orange juice, olive oil, marmalede, orange zest and the flaxseed mixture) then pour into dry and mix until combine. Line the bottom of a 22 cm (8.6″) round cake pan with parchment paper and pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes on 180C (350F) and 20 minutes on 170C (340F). Remove from the oven when a cocktail stick just comes out of the cake cleanly. Cool somewhat before removing from the pan.

To make the frosting in a saucepan, combine coconut milk and oil, honey and vanilla.  Whisk over low heat until they become just warm.  Remove pan from heat and stir in chocolate with spoon, continuing with the stir until all chocolate is melted and it becomes smooth.  Cool before use.

To assmely simply pour the frosting on top of the cake. Decorate it with orange slices.