Cake

• 120g plain flour
• 150g cocoa powder
• 11/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250mt maple syrup
• 350ml plant-based milk
• dairy-free butter, for greasing

Chocolate Icing

• 150g cocoa powder
• 200g icing sugar
• 60g dairy-free butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 65ml plant-based milk

Method

Lay the cake tins on the parchment paper and draw circles around the bases, then cut out the circles Grease the inside of the tins with dairy-free butter and lay the paper circles in the bottom Grease with more dairy-free butter

To make the cake

• Put the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, vanilla extract, maple syrup and plant-based milk into the food processor and whizz to a batter (or put in a bowl and whisk with the electric beater for 1 -2 minutes)
• Pour half the cake batter into each tin, making sure it is divided equally
• Put the tins in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for 25 minutes.  Don’t worry if the tops of the cakes crack a little while baking, this will all be covered in icing later.
• Take the cakes out of the oven and let them cool to room temperature in the tins.  The sponges will be quite fragile, so carefully turn them out of the tins on to the cooling rack and put the rack in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (this will make the icing process easier)

To make the icing

• Put the cocoa powder, icing sugar, dairy-free butter, vanilla extract and plant-based milk into the food processor and whizz to a really thick, smooth icing (or put them in a bowl and whisk with the electric beater)
• Take one layer of the cake and put it on a large plate and cover the top with a third of the chocolate icing Lay the second cake on top  and cover the whole cake with the rest of the icing Put the cake in the fridge for 1 hour to firm up
• Remove the cake from the fridge, cut it into slices and serve