Crazy Italian Chocolate Cake (Egg Free)

The amazing egg-free chocolate cake that’s also dairy-free and takes under 10 minutes.

This incredible cake defies belief. It’s based on a recipe I was served up by an Italian family for my birthday dinner when I was in Tuscany – I fell in love! It’s one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve ever had – made with gorgeous Italian olive oil and balsamic vinegar (don’t worry, you can’t taste it). It’s sensationally decadent, moist and fudgy. The cake is egg free, dairy-free and takes under 10 minutes to prepare. It’s my go-to when I need something delicious, on the double.

The icing I’ve made here uses butter, but I’ve included options for a dairy-free version (you will find with some brands their 50% cocoa dark chocolate is dairy-free). I’ve also tried making the cake with plain gluten-free flour mix and it’s still lovely.

And it’s also beautiful as a dessert, served warm straight from the tin with lashings of ice cream. For a larger ‘special occasion’ cake, make two cakes with two lots of the mixture and sandwich them together with extra icing.

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 50 minutes

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups standard flour (or gluten-free flour mix without raising agent)
• 1 cup caster sugar
• ½ cup dark, good-quality baking cocoa (look for ‘dark’ on the label for best results)
• 1 ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¾ tsp salt
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil (or rice bran, grape seed, or sunflower oil)
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (or white, malt or apple cider vinegar)
• 2-3 tsp pure vanilla essence
• 1 ½ cups water (or cooled coffee)

Chocolate Icing

• 150g chopped dark chocolate (50% cocoa solids – use dairy-free if needed)
• 125g butter (or 150ml coconut cream)
• 1 tbsp olive oil, grape seed oil or rice bran oil

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C regular bake.
2. Grease a 20-22cm cake tin and dust with cocoa or line with baking paper.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine evenly. Make a well in the centre.
4. Pour olive oil, vinegar, vanilla and water into the well. Whisk gently in a circular motion until smooth batter forms (small lumps are okay).
5. Bake just below the centre of the oven for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Remove the cake and cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack.
7. Dust with icing sugar to serve, or ice when cool (see below).
8. For pudding, serve warm from the tin with ice cream.
9. Store cake in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Chocolate Icing

1. Place chopped chocolate and butter (or coconut cream) in a heatproof bowl over simmering water (don’t let water touch the bowl).
2. Stir until melted, then remove from heat and stir in oil.
3. Leave to cool at room temperature until thick enough to spread. If refrigerating, stir often to maintain spreadable consistency.
4. Spread over cooled cake.