Chocolate Vegan Cake

You may think that a vegan cake would be unable to surpass a regular chocolate cake recipe, but those who have tried this agree that this vegan recipe certainly is a strong rival. This was made for a birthday, hence the giant-cupcake shape, but you can put it in a regular tin. We also doubled the recipe, and that worked out fine too. It's yummy and light, and quite possibly better than a normal chocolate cake. Test it for yourself, and tell me what you think of it!

Ingredients for Cake
1 1/2 cup plain flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 cup cold water
Ingredients for Icing
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated, nondairy butter, softened
3 cups icing sugar, sifted
1/3 cup cocoa, sifted
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 tablespoon water or nondairy milk

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 (fan-forced) and grease your desired tin, eg. bundt tin, round tin or customized shape. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cocoa in a bowl and mix until combined. Create a well in center of these dry ingredients and add the vanilla, oil, vinegar and water. Mix until just combined. Pour into pan and bake for 30 minutes and test with a skewer. To make the icing, cream the butter until smooth. Then on low speed, add the sugar and cream for about 2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and, on high speed, combine all the ingredients. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk/water if too dry. (The icing will keep in a fridge (in a covered container) for up to 2 weeks, but re-whip before using).

Note for chocolate cake : The richer your cocoa (eg. belgium cocoa powder) the better the end result for the cake. I don't recommend using 'cheap' or 'weak' cocoa for any chocolate recipe ie. hot chocolate powder is not equivalent to cocoa powder!!