Dairy-free Eggless Chocolate Sponge Cake

Who can resist a slice of chocolate cake, right? At least no one in my family can! What I love about this dairy-free eggless chocolate cake, is how easy it is to make. You can even get the kids involved as you don’t need to have any special baking skills. You just need two bowls to mix the dry and wet ingredients, and then you just combine them and let the oven do all the hard work.

It’s a vegan chocolate cake that everyone will enjoy, with a fluffy light chocolaty sponge and a chocolate glaze. If you decide to use a round cake tin instead of a bundt one, you could split the sponge in two and spread some jam for some extra flavor. So let’s get started!

Why you should try my recipe

• So easy to make, and no baking skills are required.
• Batter is ready in less than 15 minutes.
• Keeps well for up to 5 days on the kitchen counter.
• You could get the kids involved in baking it.
• Serving suggestions to elevate this easy to make chocolate sponge cake.

Ingredients & How-to

To make this dairy-free eggless chocolate sponge cake, I’m using all-purpose flour, cacao powder, sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, orange juice, vinegar, baking soda and a little bit of salt. You might find using vinegar in a cake quite strange, but it helps to get a nice and fluffy sponge since we are not using any butter or eggs. The quantity is so small that you can’t taste it all so trust the recipe!

I also like to use cacao powder instead of cocoa powder. Yes, there is a difference! For the cacao powder, the beans are processed at low temperature hence it is more nutritious, healthy and tastes more bitter compared to cocoa powder. But if you don’t have any, then feel free to use cocoa powder instead.

For the chocolate glazing, I’m using cacao powder, oil, powdered sugar and a little bit of water. The glazing is thin when you mix the ingredients but it gets thicker after about an hour. For full quantities check the recipe card down below.

01. To start, I mix in a bowl the dry ingredients, the flour, baking soda, cacao powder and salt. I don’t sift the ingredients as the batter will be thin and it’s easy to mix with a whisk but if you’d like you could sift the flour and cacao powder to get rid of any lumps.

02. In a different bowl, I add the oil, sugar and orange juice. I stir for 2-3 minutes to dissolve the sugar and then add the remaining ingredients. The vanilla, water and vinegar. You might find it strange to add vinegar to a cake batter but it helps get a light and fluffy sponge since we are not using any eggs or butter.

03. The next step is to combine the two bowls to make the batter for this egg-free chocolate sponge cake. You could use a whisk or a spatula to combine them. I like using the whisk as it helps to remove any lumps and it’s easier to combine the ingredients.

04. The batter should be thick but runny when it’s mixed. Since the chocolate cake is dairy-free and doesn’t have any butter in it, you will find that the texture of the batter is thinner than usual.

05. Before adding the batter to the cake pan, I add a little bit of oil with a brush so it’s easier to remove after baking. I’m using a 10-inch bundt cake pan but you could also use an 8-inch round cake pan. Whatever you prefer and have available at home.

06. Remember to preheat your oven before placing the cake pan in it. I’m setting the oven at convection mode and temperature at 350F / 180C and placing the pan in the middle rack. Once the cake is ready, after 45 minutes, I take it out and leave it to rest for 10 minutes before taking it out.

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07. I like to add a simple and easy chocolate glaze to my dairy-free eggless chocolate sponge cake for some extra chocolaty flavor. I sift the powdered sugar and cacao powder, then add the water, oil and vanilla extra to the bowl and mix until it’s all combined and creamy.

08. The glaze is quite runny when you make it and it thickens the longer it stays. Make sure the cake has cooled down completely before adding the glaze. Then I slowly pour the glaze all around. Don’t worry if it’s not fully covered and if you have any leftover glazing you can add it to a saucer and pour over each chocolate cake slice.

Tips

• If you like the orange flavor, you could also add the orange zest before getting the juice from the orange.
• Don’t forget to add some oil to the cake pan before adding the batter.
• Leave the cake to cool down for 10-15 minutes before trying to remove it from the pan.
• Add any remaining glaze to a saucer to pour it over the serving slices.

Serving suggestions

I usually make this chocolate sponge cake in a bundt cake pan and just add the chocolate glaze when it cools down. You could also make it in a round cake pan, cut it in half when it cools down and add some raspberry jam between the sponges or some vanilla frosting or some strawberries cut into cubes. We also like to serve it with some vanilla or raspberry ice cream on the side. So yummy!!

Storage

To prevent drying out, I recommend storing this dairy-free & egg-free chocolate cake on the counter covered. It can last up to 5 days when covered but we usually devoured it within a couple of days.