Vegan Chocolate Sponge Cake

This is always a hit, due to its richness. I like to garnish it with slices of lime as a tart foil to the extreme sweetness of the cake, and I sometimes sprinkle vegan chocolate chips in to the cake mixture also (President's Choice Decadent Chocolate Chips are vegan! Yay!). The recipe is from the first vegetarian cookbook I ever owned (The Complete Vegetarian Cuisine - Rose Elliott), and still one of my favourites.

Instructions:

Cake:
2 cups self-rising flour or 85% whole-wheat self-rising flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/3 cups superfine sugar or vanilla sugar
9 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 1/2 cups water
vegan margarine or crisco vegetable shortening

Fudge Icing:
4 tablespoons vegan margarine or vegetable shortening
3 tablespoons water
1 2/3 cups confectioner's sugar (icing sugar)
a few drops of vanilla extract

Instructions:

Cake Instructions:
Preheat Oven to 325° F.
Grease two 8 - 8 1/2 inch shallow cake pans and line the base of each with a circle of greased wax paper.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a bowl. Add the sugar, oil and water. Mix well to a batter-like consistency.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pans and bake for about 40 minutes, until the cakes spring back to a light touch in the centre.
Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack and strip off the wax paper. Allow to cool completely.
Sandwich the cakes together with half the fudge Icing and coat the top with the rest. Garnish with either some grated chocolate, some chocolate chips, confectioner's sugar or slices of lime (my favourite).

Fudge Icing Instructions:
Heat the margarine/shortening in a saucepan until melted. Add water and mix for a moment.
Remove from heat.
Sift in the confectioner's sugar.
Add vanilla and beat well. The icing will thicken up as it cools.