Help with vegan choc cake

Vegan_Shopping

VeganClaire wrote: »

When making vegan cakes I find using a fan oven makes them sink. Use normal oven if possible. Also, if I'm adapting a non-vegan recepie reducing the temperature slightly makes the cakes rise better.

Hope this helps

This is interesting. We've often had less success with a fan-assisted oven compared to a normal oven so it makes sense. The previous comment about using vinegar is also correct. Most of the best and most moist vegan chocolate cakes I have sampled have been made using vinegar of some sort in them.

arkonite_babe

I'll move this thread over to the Old Style Board to see if you can all get some more advice there
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thriftlady_2

I think it is to do with the cocoa.

Cocoa is actually quite an acidic ingredient (so I've read) and therefore if you add it to eggless cakes you need to give it an extra shot of alkali in order for the chemical reaction (between the acid and alkali) to take place which produces the gas which causes the rise.

Baking powder does this by itself because it is a mixture of acid and alkali, but if you add more acid in the form of cocoa, yogurt, citrus etc then you need to add a bit of bicarbonate of soda too. Adding vinegar won't help as you'll be adding more acid.

So, to cut a long answer short -add a tsp of bicarb;)

Penelope Penguin will know, she's got a Phd (I think) in chemistry.

By the way FemmeAuFoyer- Je suis femme au foyer aussi. J'apprends le français. Etes vous française ou anglaise?