vegan chocolate orange cake with orange 'buttercream' icing

Ingredients
1 1/2 c wholemeal flour
1 c unbleached sugar
1 tsp bicarb of soda (baking soda for left-pondians)
4 tbls unsweetened cocoa powder
2 clementines or mandarin oranges, used for zest and juice

2 tsp vegetarian orange extract
5 tbls vegetable oil
1 c orange juice/water (juice 1 and 1/2 oranges and top up to 1 c with the water)

1 tbls cider vinegar

Method
Preheat the oven to 350*F/170*C.

Zest the oranges separately (zest from one goes into the batter and from the other goes into the frosting). Chop the zest finely. Juice one and a half oranges for the batter, as listed in the ingredients.

Mix together the dry ingredients, including the orange zest. Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients (except for the vinegar). Mix together to make a thick batter. I just used a fork, but you can use an electric whisk. Add the vinegar and mix again. Pour immediately into a greased and floured 8 inch/22cm round, 4"/10cm high cake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven. Mine takes about 35 minutes. Or just test it after 35 minutes to see whether a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. If it does, voila. You have a cake.

Let the cake cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn out to finish cooling on a wire rack.

For the frosting:
1 c vegan shortening (try not to use vegan margarine, as it's got a lot of water in it. If you do, though, just go easy with the wet ingredients below.)
2 cups icing/powdered sugar - or more, depending upon consistency
1 teaspoon orange extract
juice from 1/2 an orange from above
zest of an orange, finely chopped

Cream together the shortening, orange extract and 1 cup of the icing sugar with an electric whisk, adding the sugar slowly after you've started whisking the shortening. Add 1 tbls orange juice and whisk again. Add 1/2 c sugar and whisk. Add another tbls orange juice and another 1/2 c sugar. Then, if the mixture is too thin, add a little more sugar (1/2 or 1/4 c at a time, depending on your inclination) or if it's too thick, more orange juice by the teaspoonful. When you get a good consistency, whisk for about 3-5 minutes and then fold in the orange zest (don't use your electric whisk for the zest, because it will catch in the beaters and you'll just end up having to scrape it off and fold it in anyway).

You can either slice the cake in half to create two layers and frost each layer with half the frosting mixture (leaving the sides bare) or just frost the whole cake as is. I usually save back a couple of long curls of zest for garnish, but you don't have to. I'd love to know if anyone else makes this and enjoys it as much as I do.