Christmas Wreath Cake: Dairy-free Vegan Bundt with Hot Chocolate Sauce

This was the final part of my Thanksgiving dinner - you may have seen my earlier posts on the turkey meatloaf, vegan lentil loaf, sweet potato with marshmallows, vegan pumpkin cheesecake and now this.

It's vegan but tastes like any chocolate cake - that is, any moist and delicious chocolate cake! I decorated it with royal icing and though I did it for Thanksgiving I think it looks a bit like a Christmas wreath so is very festive.

I served this simply as a cake after the meal, but as we had quite a lot left afterwards, I made a hot chocolate sauce which really made this cake into something else.

I based it on a recipe in Sweet Vegan by Emily Mainquist but I used caster sugar instead of evaporated cane juice (I couldn't get any but didn't need it, as in the UK the main brands of caster sugar are vegan) and I didn't make the chocolate ganache to decorate. I also made it into a bundt rather than a layer cake.

You need:
230g self-raising flour
300g caster sugar
75g cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
240ml strong coffee, cooled
120ml vegetable oil
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar mixed with 240ml soya milk
3 tsp egg replacer, mixed with 4 tbsp. warm water

Preheat oven to 180C and spray a bundt tin with Cake Release.
Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt with an electric mixer. In a separate jug, mix the cooled coffee, oil, soya milk and vinegar. Pour this gradually into the dry ingredients, folding in as you go. Add the prepared egg replacer and mix in until you have a smooth, fairly runny batter.

Pour into the bundt tin and bake for about 40-45 minutes, testing with a skewer to make sure it is cooked in the middle.

Allow to cool in the tin then turn out onto a wire rack.

Place on a serving plate

Decorate with royal icing, made up to pack instructions, and a sprig of holly or anything else seasonal, such as pomegranate seeds or cranberries.

I made a hot chocolate sauce to go with this. Melt 200g chocolate and 100g butter in a small pan then stir in 2 tbsp. golden syrup (you can use a vegan butter substitute if preferred). When the chocolate is melted and the sauce is smooth and glossy, pour over slices of the cake and enjoy.

I'm sharing this with Ness at Jibber Jabber UK for her Love Cake challenge as the theme this month is December treats and you can make this cake quite festive.

 I'm also sending this to Family Foodies, hosted by Vanesther at Bangers and Mash, and on alternate months Louisa at Eat Your Veg as the theme is festive food.