Easy Egg-free Chocolate Cake (& vegan option)

Hello strangers, it's been awhile...again, I know, but I'm back and here to help you in this time of need when I think we all need a bit of cheering up with being stuck indoors at the moment, with CAKE OF COURSE!!! 

Who doesn't love a bit of choccy cake, it's a crowd pleaser in most households and such an easy fail safe recipe which you could get the kids involved with, as I'm sure many of you have already resorted to baking to pass the time of day away and keep them entertained, well that goes for adults and children alike. All you need are scales (or american cup measurements if you have it), a bowl, cake tins or make them into cupcakes (just bake for less time), and a wooden spoon so there really is no fancy cooking equipment here. 
Apparently the price of eggs has been surging since everyone started to panic buy, and in some areas of the country you're lucky to even get your hands on any! This chocolate cake is just as light, moist and fluffy like any other cake with eggs should be...and the secret, something you probably wouldn't associate with baking sweet things - vinegar! The vinegar reacts with the milk and bicarbonate of soda and becomes the helping hand of raising the cake. Don't worry you can't taste it as you only need a tiny amount. 

Vegan bakers will probably already be familiar with this egg substitute method and so I've provided the other subs in the ingredients list below, if you wish for it to be completely vegan. 
So, you can have your cake and eat it without eggs, and since making this recipe for the first time, I've been able to get eggs (wooo), but I actually now prefer this to my usual chocolate cake recipe. I think I'll be carrying on with this from now on. 

Easy Chocolate Cake (egg-free + vegan option)

Serves 10-12 slices

Ingredients

Cake: 150g (2/3 cup) butter/margarine, plus extra for greasing tins (vegan: dairy-free spread) 300ml milk (vegan: dairy-free milk) 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar/white wine vinegar 300g (2 cups) self-raising flour 200g (1 cup) caster sugar 4 tbsp cocoa powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda ½ tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate fudge frosting: 150g (3/4 cups choc chips) dark chocolate (vegan: ensure dairy free) 75g (1/3 cup) unsalted butter, softened (vegan: dairy-free spread) 50g (1/3 cup) icing sugar 1 heaped tbsp cocoa powder Milk as needed (vegan: dairy-free milk)
Optional - decorate with crumbled biscuits of your choice, lotus biscoff biscuits are great and are perfect for vegans too. 

Method

Heat oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Grease the base and sides of 2 x 20cm (8 inch) sandwich tins with butter/margarine, then line the bases with baking parchment.
Put the milk in a jug and add the vinegar – it will split but don’t worry. Put all of the other cake ingredients into a large bowl, pour over the milk mixture and beat well with a wooden spoon or with an electric mixer until smooth. 
Divide the mixture between the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 mins or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out cleanly. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 mins then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
While the cakes are cooling, prepare the fudge frosting by melting the dark chocolate with the butter  in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Meanwhile, sieve together the icing sugar and cocoa powder in a separate bowl.
Once melted, add the icing sugar and cocoa powder gradually to the chocolate mix and beat with an electric mixer or wooden spoon. Add a touch of milk if a thinner consistency is desired. Allow to cool and thicken before using. Spread half sandwiched between the cake layers and spread the rest on top, decorate if desired with some crumbled biscuits of your choice. 
Store in an air-tight container, this cake will keep for up to 5 days. 
Recipe loosely adapted from BBC Good Food.