My dad loves chocolate cakes so I decided to make him one for his birthday. But I also wanted to have some of it, so it had to be dairy-free. I made mysimple dairy-free chocolate recipeeven more easy but much more chocolatey. Both of us loved the result! Here is the recipe of my Dairy-free chocolate cake with chocolate ganache (the ganache is also dairy-free).

You’ll need:

• 3 medium eggs
• Self-raising flour (same weight as eggs)
• Muscovado sugar (same weight as eggs)
• Dairy-free spread, such as Pure (same weight as eggs)
• 50g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

How to make the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C degrees.
2. Weigh the eggs (see tips how to do this). My 3 eggs came to exactly 150g.  Lightly whisk the eggs.
3. Then measure out the amount of sugar, flour and  dairy-free butter.
4. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the eggs while keep beating.
5. Sift the cocoa powder, baking powder and flour into the bowl and combine.
6. Grease and line the base of a circular cake tin.
7. Tip the batter into the tin, letting the mixture to spread out evenly.
8. Put the tin in the oven and bake for 25-35 minutes until the cake is golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
9. Rest the cake in the tin for 5 minutes then turn it onto a wire rack to cool.

Whilst the cake is baking, make the chocolate ganache:

You’ll need:

• 100g high cocoa content dark chocolate (these are dairy-free normally). I used 85%.
• 50 g dairy-free spread ( I used Pure)
• 50-100g icing sugar (depending on how sweet you like the sauce)
• 3-4 tbsp almond or coconut milk
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

To make the ganache:

1. Melt the chocolate and margarine in a pan over a low heat.
2. When melted, take it off the heat and add the sugar and vanilla.
3. Mix well and add enough milk  create a thick, glossy sauce.
4. Let it cool before spreading it onto the cake.

How to finish off the cake

1. When the cake has completely cooled down, spread the ganache all over it using a spatula.
2. Top with sprinkles, chocolate shavings or seasonal fruits. I decorated it with strawberries.
3. Put the cake in the fridge for about an hour before slicing (the chocolate ganache will become hard and crunchy)

Tips

• The easiest way to weigh the eggs is to put a bowl on a scale, then set it to 0. Then break the eggs into the bowl.
• For the ganache you can use soya or oat milk too and coconut oil instead of of dairy-free spread.