This recipe is a paid partnership with Natures Charm.
This is the ultimate cake for any chocolate lover! 3 layers of rich chocolate cake stacked with a decadent chocolate buttercream, chocolate fudge sauce and chocolate chip cookies.
It’s 100% vegan, but you really wouldn’t be able to tell it is! The texture is super fudgey and moist, with a smooth, whipped buttercream, one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve tried in a long time!
It reminds me of the cake from Matilda, I just want to dig my hands right into it! Who needs a fork.. right? – Haha!
Happy International Chocolate Chip Cookie Day! I couldn’t not celebrate today without something absolutely spectacular.
Where do I begin with this cake. Every single part of it is delicious, to every last crumb.
You have seen my Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake ? I wanted to switch things up and add a triple chocolate twist. This cake doesn’t only feature cake and buttercream, but homemade double chocolate chip cookies.
These cookies are:
- Rich and fudgy
- Easy to make
- Pair perfectly with the cake
I am so excited to have partnered with my favourites, Natures Charm for this recipe! For more information about product placement and partnerships, check out my Disclosure Policy).
You’ll want two of their products to help create this cake:
- Chocolate Fudge Sauce (for the chocolate fudge core)
- Coconut Whipping cream (for the ganache)
I absolutely love Natures Charm. I use their products on the daily, they are just perfect! Their sauces are the best dessert sauces I’ve tried. They are a big hit in my house!
I used their ‘Chocolate Fudge Sauce’ to make the most delicious and decadent fudge filling for the middle of this cake. The sauce compliments the cake and overall CHOCOLATE OVERLOAD beautifully.
I also used the Natures Charm ‘Coconut Whipping Cream’ to make a thick and glossy chocolate ganache drip.
You can’t have an ‘over the top’ cookie cake without a drip, can you? This drip is absolutely delicious and uses only 2 ingredients- chocolate and cream!
The Coconut Whipping Cream is amazing. It’s super thick and creamy, which helps for making a glossy and easy to use ganache!
Check out my previous recipes with Natures Charm, including:
White Chocolate Polar Bear Tartlets
How is the frosting so shiny?
Oh my.. this frosting is PERFECT. It’s silky smooth, easy to pipe, not too sweet, creamy and packed full of chocolatey goodness, plus it spreads like an absolute dream.
The secret to this is dairy-free block butter and aquafaba.
I like to use dairy-free block butter as its much more stable when paired with the aquafaba. The aquafaba (chickpea brine) whips up the buttercream and creates a meringue like texture.
If you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend whipping up a batch of buttercream and grabbing a can of chickpeas, it’s magical!
Why do I use aquafaba (chickpea brine) in buttercream?
American buttercream is exceptionally sweet. Using aquafaba creates a vegan version of Swiss meringue buttercream.
Swiss meringue isn’t as sweet and allows the flavour of the chocolate to shine. It takes down the sweetness leaving you with a silky smooth, not too sweet buttercream. I always tell people its like eating a buttercream cloud- haha!
How to create a perfect glossy chocolate drip.
You”ll want to make a chocolate ganache. Ganache is super simple to make, you only need 2 ingredients – chocolate and cream.
The cream I use is Natures Charm Coconut Whipping Cream. Pour it over the top of the cake and watch the drips happen!
Looking for more cookie recipes? Look no further:
Vegan Chocolate Brownie Cookies
Vegan Homemade Chocolate Oreos
Gluten-free Vegan Brownie Cookies
Notes*
What is aquafaba?
Aquafaba is the water from a can/tin of Chickpeas.The Chickpea water or brine as its called, acts as an amazing egg substitute for cakes, meringue buttercreams etc. You can also buy it in a carton. Check it out here.
What vegan block butter to use?
As Swiss meringue uses liquid from the aquafaba, having a stiffer butter is key. I like the Naturli Vegan Block or Flora Plant Based Block Butter Alternative.
Preparation: 30 minutes
Baking time: 28-30 minutes
Serves: Approximately 10-12
Level: Medium
____________________________________________________________
Ingredients for the cake
- 480ml of dairy-free milk
- 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
- 420g of self-raising flour
- 30g of cocoa powder
- 470g of caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
- 120g of sunflower oil / coconut oil (melted)
- 50g of mini dairy-free dark chocolate chips
Ingredients for the buttercream
- 250g of dairy-free block butter (see notes*)
- 350g of icing sugar
- 200g of dairy-free dark chocolate
- 50ml of aquafaba (chickpea brine) see notes*
Ingredients for the chocolate ganache
- 150g of dairy-free dark chocolate
- 50g of Natures Charm Whipping Cream
+
- Natures Charm Chocolate Fudge Sauce (for the fudge core)
- Vegan Chocolate cookies (Add 2 tbs of cocoa powder into the dry mixture to make them chocolate cookies) Best bake the day before cake decorating.
____________________________________________________________
Method (cakes)
1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c fan, and line three, 6 inch cake tins with grease-proof paper.
2. In a bowl, combine the dairy-free milk with the apple cider vinegar and whisk until fully combined.
Set aside for 10 minutes to curdle. This creates a vegan ‘buttermilk’.
3. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
Mix well to combine.
4. Add the oil into the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.
5. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix.
6. Fold in the chocolate chips.
7. Pour equal amounts of batter into the lined cake tins.
Make sure to tap the tins on the worktop to remove any air bubbles.
Optional: Sprinkle more chocolate chips over the cakes before baking.
8. Pop the cakes into the centre of the preheated oven and bake for around 28-30 minutes.
You will know they are done when you put a knife or skewer in and it comes out clean and they are springy to the touch. If the knife / skewer is still wet, quickly place it back into the oven for 5 minutes at a time until it comes out clean.
9. Place the cakes on a cooling rack and allow to cool fully.
Once cool, pop them into a sealed container to keep them fresh before frosting.
Method (buttercream)
1. Create a bain-marie by filling a saucepan 1/4 full with water and place a heatproof bowl on top. Add in the chocolate and allow to melt. One melted, remove the bowl from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter and whip until creamy. I use a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment, a hand mixer will work great too.
3. Sift in the icing sugar. Whip on high speed for a couple of minutes to incorporate it.
4. Pour in the aquafaba and whip for 5 minutes until it turns light and creamy. Don’t over whip it or it can become too soft.
5. Drizzle in the chocolate and whip on high speed until fully combined. The buttercream should be rich, chocolaty and airy. If its too runny, add chunks of butter in at a time whilst its still whipping on high to get it to the perfect thick and creamy consistency.
6. Lay one of the cakes onto a turn table or cake stand, spread over some of the buttercream. Make a well in the middle by scooping out some of the buttercream and fill with some chocolate fudge sauce.
Place another cake layer on top. Repeat for the second later then place the third cake on top.
7. Crumb coat cake with a thin layer of buttercream, then pop the cake in the fridge for 15-20 minutes or freezer for 5-8 minutes to allow the fillings to set before coating.
8. When the crumb coat feels firm to the touch, add a thick layer of the chocolate buttercream all over the cake and using a smooth or textured cake scraper or large spatula, smooth out the buttercream.
9. While the buttercream is still soft, press the cookies around the bottom edge of the cake.
Get my cookie recipe here. Details to make them chocolaty in the ingredients list.
10. Press mini chocolate chips all over the cake into the buttercream, spreading them out (as seen in the photos).
Method (chocolate ganache)
1. Place the dairy-free Coconut Whipping Cream cream into a saucepan along with the chocolate. Gently heat until melted. Stir to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a new minutes.
2. Pour the ganache over the top of the cake, and use a spoon or off-set spatula to nudge it down the sides of the cake to create drips. As this cake is chilled, the ganache will set quite quickly.
3. Add left over buttercream into a piping bag with a large star tip nozzle (I use a Wilton 2D tip) and pipe high swirls around the top edge of the cake.
4. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips over the buttercream swirls.
5. Place 2 cookies on top of the cake.
To help them stand up, place 2 tooth picked into the top of the cake and lean the cookies on the picks.
Just make sure you remive the tooth picks before serving!
To store:
Serve fresh or store in a sealed container in the fridge, the buttercream will firm up at room temperature.
Best eaten within a few days!
Shop the whole ‘Natures Charm’ range here.
A huge thank you to Natures Charm for collabing on this recipe with me!
Discover Natures Charm on social media
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/naturescharm/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/naturescharmvegan/
Make sure you follow me on my social media
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/thelittleblogofvegan/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/littleblogofvegan/
Pinterest- https://www.pinterest.co.uk/blogofvegan/
Twitter- https://twitter.com/BlogofVegan
The Little Blog Of Veganⓒ All Rights Reserved. 2020
Just finished making this cake for my birthday- looks amazing!! I made it double layer with the gluten free chocolate cake recipe from Beaming Baker (I haven’t had luck making gluten free triple layer cakes- they always crumble and fall apart). I just substituted oat flour for the ap flour in your cookies recipe and everything turned out great! A beautiful, gluten free cake that tastes amazing! Thanks for the recipes, keep it up:)