Pain au Chococake Cake

Pain au Chococake Cake

Right, we have to talk about this one because it genuinely blew our minds when we first made it. It's a loaf cake with whole dairy-free pain au chocolat pastries baked right into the middle, so every slice has this incredible flaky, chocolate-filled pastry running through it. The cake itself is soft and tender, the pastry goes slightly caramelised around the edges, and the chocolate inside gets all gooey and melty. Honestly, it looks like something from a fancy patisserie but you can make it at home in about an hour. Make this on a lazy weekend and watch everyone lose their minds.

Cook: 60 min
Serves 6

Before You Start

  • Preheat oven to 180°C
  • Food processor
  • Loaf tin greased
  • Wooden skewer
  • Tin foil

Ingredients

  • 5 plant-based Pain au Chocolat pastries uncooked
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 5 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 175ml water
  • 50g cocoa powder
  • plant-based cream
  • blueberries

Method

1

Make the cake mix

  • Put all the cake mix ingredients in a food processor and whizz them up into a smooth, creamy cake batter
2

Prepare the cake

  • Grease a loaf tin, stand the uncooked, dairy-free pain au chocolat pastries upright down the middle of the tin and pour the cake batter down the sides
  • At this point, to make sure the pastries stay upright, push a wooden skewer through the top of the pastries to make sure they don't fall over when baking (the pastries should look like they're being spit roasted from the top)
3

Bake the cake

  • At 180°C for 45 minutes
  • Make sure the cake is covered in tin foil for the first 30 minutes so it doesn't burn
4

Time to serve

  • Take the cake out of the oven, let it cool to room temperature and carefully remove it from the cake tin
  • Cut into slices and serve with dairy free cream and blueberries

Tips & Variations

  • Keep the pastries upright: Don't skip the skewer step. We learned the hard way that the pastries will lean over mid-bake and you'll lose that beautiful cross-section. One wooden skewer through the top holds everything in place perfectly.
  • Use good pastries: The better your dairy-free pain au chocolat, the better the final cake. Look for ones with a decent amount of chocolate inside so you get that gooey centre in every slice.
  • Serve it slightly warm: We love this cake about 15 minutes out of the oven when the chocolate inside is still a little melty. If you're making it ahead, a quick 10 seconds in the microwave brings it right back to life.

Why This Works

The trick here is standing the pastries upright and using the skewer to keep them in place while everything bakes together. The cake batter fills in around them and sort of hugs the pastries as it rises, which means you get that gorgeous layered reveal when you slice into it. It's all about that contrast between the soft crumb and the flaky, chocolatey pastry centre.