What exactly is it that makes chocolate fudge cake fudgy?

[SilentBoob]

I need to make a dairy free chocolate fudge cake.

I can find recipes online, but they don't seem very different from regular (dairy free) chocolate cake recipes.

I need to know what makes it fudgy so I can decide what to eliminate or replace to make it dairy free.

Any top notch bakers around to advise?

Is it the brown sugar, rather than caster sugar?

I was going to say soured cream but then not all the recipes I've seen include that.

I would say it is in the icing rather than the cake - make choclate buttercream with a dairy free spread (use about 4oz for enough to do middle and top and loosen with a couple of tablespoons of soya milk) and then keep adding icing sugar until it is really, really stiff.

fudgy usually comes from the density....so a flourless cake with ground almonds?

Or an adapted recipe like a Ciambellone, oil based italian lemon cake??

Soured cream is also good for giving that heavy texture.

I have a gorgeous choc cake recipe that involves mayonnaise, I've never tried a dairy free mayo but I guess it would work....you can PM me if you'd like the recipe.

I'd say it was the brown sugar that made it fudgy. Something to do with the molasses i think. Hmmm Chocolate Fudge Cake

A high proportion of sugar to flour. The sugar binds the proteins of flour so that there are less "free" proteins around to set into the lattice structure a cake usually has & so the centre tends to be more gooey.

Using some icing sugar increases how much flour proteins are bonded & brown sugar brings out the fudgeiness of chocolate.

Try googling for Shirley Corriher's tunnel of fudge cake or, agree with shrinkingnora, a recipe for dairy-free ganache as the icing.

It's mostly the icing that makes it a fudge cake. Unfortunately the recipe I use has evaporated milk as one of the ingredients - may be tricky to find a dairy free alternative to that. Basically, it involved making caramel mix with milk and sugar and adding chocolate and margarine.

Dairy free alternatives (eg mayonnaise or evap milk) are not available where I live () so will have to stick to a more basic route.

I have a foolproof and delicious dairy free choc cake that I make often. How about if I make it with brown instead of white sugar, but add a little extra sugar than normal, and then... hmm... the icing. Dairy free spread is such horrid stuff I find it depressing to put it on a cake.

Is there anything I can add to dark chocolate to make a fudgy topping? Brown sugar and heat?

Thanks for all replies btw.

what about an old style american frosting....icing sugar, dairy free spread does that stuff even melt? and cocoa or chocolate

one here

or Nigellas....fairly similar tbh

Ive made butter cream with dairy free spread (is it Pure? Pura? Something like that) and it didn't taste any different to ordinary butter cream. Probably because of all the sugar and chocolate :)

Yes Soupy (if I may call you that) - Pure dairy free sunflower spread is the nearest thing to nice spread. soya ones don't tend to be so good.

try this, the top is sticky and soft and the cake itself just melts. Many a non veggie has wolfed this down. :

www.instructables.com/id/The-BEST-chococlate-cake-ever...that-happens-to-be/

I make buttercream with dairy free spread then add melted (and slightly cooled) plain chocolate - Bournville is now dairy free and makes a lovely rich icing.