The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake- A quick and easy recipe, made in 1 bowl! This really is the best chocolate cake ever, vegan or otherwise. It’s super moist, rich and full of chocolate.
My birthday was a few weeks ago, so what did I do? I asked my mom to watch all 3 kids for a few hours so I could create and photograph the BEST EVER Vegan Chocolate Cake. Pretty great birthday if you ask me! 😉
For some reason, every time I get a vegan piece of cake out (such as at Whole Foods or elsewhere), I am disappointed. The frosting is usually yummy, but the cake part is either 1. strange tasting OR 2. super dry, not moist at all. Seriously disappointing.
I’ve also made a few of the vegan chocolate cake recipes out there, but even those weren’t quite moist enough or perfect enough for my taste. So I did a little thinking and experimenting and I finally came up with the best, most perfectly moist and delicious vegan chocolate cake recipe!
The frosting is a mouthwatering, ultra rich chocolate buttercream. I recommend using earth balance vegan buttery sticks, I haven’t found another brand that tastes quite as good.
If you are looking for a lighter alternative, check out this Chocolate Cake with Cashew Vanilla Frosting. There is nothing “light” about this Chocolate Cake! It is a full on indulgent recipe. And I’m okay with that.
What is the secret to a super moist vegan chocolate cake?
A couple of things make this cake super moist. The applesauce helps (don’t worry, you can’t taste it). But the BIG secret is to add a cup of boiling hot water to the cake batter right before baking. It makes such a difference!
The batter will appear runny when you add it, but don’t worry, that is completely correct and exactly what it should be like. It results in the most moist, delicious chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted!
If you are craving a chocolate fix about now, or are new to being vegan and miss good tasting cake, give this recipe a try! It’s easy to make and hard to mess it up.
OR if you are wanting to try something other than chocolate, give this Vegan Lemon Cake a go! It’s one of my most popular dessert recipes, and impresses people every time I make it.
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Recipe inspired by Add A Pinch.
The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup canola oil OR melted coconut oil
- 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups vegan butter, softened baking sticks preferred
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4-1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
For the Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease two 9-inch cake pans. I also line them with parchment rounds and lightly flour for easy removal of the cakes later.
- Measure 1 cup unsweetened almond milk and add the tablespoon of vinegar to it. Stir slightly and set aside to curdle.
- In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk well to combine.
- Now add the oil, applesauce, vanilla and almond milk/vinegar mixture. Mix on medium speed with a hand mixer (or stand mixer with the paddle attachment) until well combined.
- Lower the speed and carefully pour in the boiling water, continuing to mix into the cake batter until combined. The batter will seem very runny at this point; that is how it should be, trust me!
- Divide the batter evenly between your cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. After 10 minutes of cooling in the pan, carefully remove the cakes from the pans and let cool completely before frosting.
For the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Add the cocoa powder to a large bowl (I just wipe out the cake bowl and use it for the frosting). Whisk well to remove any clumps.
- Add the softened vegan butter and mix with a hand mixer until creamed and well combined.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and half of the almond milk, and mix until combined. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Mix starting on low, and turn to high. Mix until fluffy and combined.
- If the frosting seems too dry, add more milk, a tablespoon or two at a time. If the frosting seems too wet and doesn't hold it's shape, add more powdered sugar until it thickens up.
- Frost the cake using an icing spatula or just a butter knife.
Video
Notes
- For cupcakes, fill liners half full and bake for 20-25 minutes. The whole recipe will yield approximately 24 cupcakes.
- Double the recipe to make a 4 layer cake, or cut in half to make a 1 layer round cake. You can also make a bundt cake, simply bake for 45 minutes. Or a 9 x 13 inch cake, baking for about 35-40 minutes.
- Don't like a lot of frosting? Cut the frosting ingredients in half. The recipe as written makes enough for thick layers of frosting.
- Nut allergy? You may substitute soy milk or another milk for the almond milk, any non-dairy milk will work here.
- No applesauce? Substitute 2 flax eggs (2 tbs ground flax + 5 tbs water), whipped aquafaba or another egg replacer such as Bob's Red Mill (2 eggs worth).
I needed a vegan dessert for our community Christmas dinner. I checked out many recipes and decided to make a black forest trifle. This is hands down the BEST chocolate cake I have ever made. There is no way anyone could tell this was vegan and we had many sceptics test this theory. Moist, tender and flavorful with many, many requests for the recipe. More than 1 person thought I was kidding when I said it was vegan. I can’t wait to make this with gluten free flour and see if that works as well. I took the recipes for vegan chocolate mousse and coconut whipped cream from another site which were the perfect foil for a heavenly trifle. So, the layers were cake, frozen cherries, chocolate mousse the whipped cream x 2 layers. Trifle perfection achieved. The leftover cake awaits your yummy buttercream to grace the top. I will honestly not use another recipe for chocolate cake. Thank you for the hard work it is to create, test and deliver such a masterpiece.
Wow, the treat you made sounds amazing! Thanks for the great comment!
Can this cake me made gluten free? I’m making a birthday cake for a crowd that includes both. If so, do you have any suggestions regarding flour or other changes? Thanks much.
Yes, it can be made gluten free by using a gluten free flour mix, I have heard good things about Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour. Thanks!
do i need to refrigerate this?
You do not need to, no.
Can I use cacao powder instead of cocoa powder?
Yes, that is fine. I use them both.
Is oat milk OK?
Yes.
Hello can I use soy milk?
Yes.
Can I substitute the apple sauce?
I haven’t tried it without it, but maybe flax eggs. It substitutes about 3 eggs, so maybe use 3 tablespoons ground flaxseeds mixed with 7.5 tablespoons water.
This truly is the BEST vegan chocolate cake. A couple months ago I ended up making it like 3 weeks in a row due to requests! And I am making it again per request by my brother in law that completed his juice fast a couple of weeks ago. The tip about the boiling water was enlightening and the delicious frosting puts a bow on it! Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes! I always look to support people who put their wonderful recipes out on the internet for those to use by buying their cookbooks and your e-book does not disappoint!
Wow, thanks so much for the wonderful comment! I’m glad the cake is such a hit!
Hi,
I gave this beauty a try yesterday and it turned out beyond great.
I am vegan for a year and my husband isn’t. He told me that this is the best cake I have ever cooked so far including old non-vegan ones.
I baked this cake for my vegan sister’s birthday. For the frosting, I would prefer something lighter because I am from Turkey and us are used lighter creams in the birthday cakes. I prepared a chocolate ganache additionally to the cake.
Today I will combine the ganache and the cake, with whipped cream from aquafaba, chocolate chips, almonds and berries (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, and blackberries) to create black forest gateau since it is her favorite cake.
Long story short, I think they would be great all together. Thank you so much for the delicious recipe.
You’re so welcome! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it. Thanks for the comment!
Thank you for this recipe. You are an angel sent from cake heaven. I cannot bake and I never could. However, this cake is so easy that even I can’t mess it up ❤! brought it to work and people I don’t even know were coming asking me for some because theyd heard how could it was! 🙂
Wow! That’s so great to hear. Thanks for sharing!
Hi!, I’d like to make this cake for my friend but i’m wondering it is okay to freeze it. How do you think which way would be great if i want to freeze the cake with frosting or without frosting? Thanks!
Yes, the cake does freeze well. You could do it either way. I would probably prefer to freeze just the cakes and then make the frosting when ready to serve it, but it will work to frost the cake and freeze it. I often freeze leftover cake. Thanks!
This cake is amazing! Made it twice but this go I need it to be gf – will it taste the same if I swap the all purpose flour for gf alternative? Any suggestions for best gf flour to use?
Thanks!
Sure! I’ve heard of successes using Bob’s 1:1 Gluten Free Flour, as well as Pillsbury GF flour and more. You could read through the comments and see what other’s have said. I’d love to hear how it turns out!
This recipe looks delicious I was wondering if you can use Sugar substitute for a Vegan diabetic?
I’m sure you could if needed, though I am quite unfamiliar with sugar substitutes. If you know of one you like, feel free to use it. A powdered sugar type substitute would be best for the frosting.
Planning to make this for my son’s birthday in a couple of weeks. He loves coffee flavor with chocolate. I’m considering subbing boiling coffee for the boiling water. How do you think that would work out?
Yes, that would work perfectly well!
How many days in advance can I make this cake? Should I refrigerate it if I’m serving it the next day or it can sit out on the counter for a day or 2?
It can sit on the counter for a day or two, but if it’s going to be longer than that I would refrigerate it. I usually refrigerate it anyways, but you don’t have to.
I Love this!!!
Thanks!
My husband is allergic to chicken eggs and cows milk so it’s very hard to make a cake for him, this recipe is awesome, it
came out perfect, he said it is the best chocolate cake he has ever have! Thank you❤
Wow, thanks for the wonderful comment! I’m glad he loved the cake!
I’ve made this cake a few time and it’s amazing! However, each time, it sinks in the the middle when I take it out of the oven. I know it’s done, it taste just fine but I’m wondering why this happens and it’s never happened with other recipes I’ve made?
I’m so glad you like the cake! I’m not sure why your cake sinks each time. Occasionally mine will sink a little but not too much and it doesn’t affect the taste of the cake. It has a lot of moisture so that’s probably why. Make sure you are measuring everything correctly and hopefully you won’t have this problem!
This recipe is better than any non-vegan cake I have ever made! It was gobbled up!! Thank you.
I’m so glad to hear that, wow! Thank you so much.
This. Cake. Was. So. Good.
Literally everyone at the party I made it for was astounded. I did make one alteration, which I highly recommend: 2t of almond extract in the frosting in addition to the vanilla.
Thanks Hazel, I’m so happy everyone was astounded by the cake!
I baked it with a banana I didn’t have apple sauce , I used Unsweetened vanilla Milkademia milk . It took 35 minutes to cook . I iced it with a cashew dates cocoa powder icing . The cake is so moist so good . Next time I won’t use coffee I will use more milk . Super !!
So glad it came out good!
Made this recipe for my birthday today. It is absolutely delicious. Will never use another recipe.
Happy Birthday! So glad it was delicious!
I made these cupcake style for a Christmas party for my vegan gluten-free daughter. She loved them! They were perfectly moist and chocolatey. She said they were so good that they left you wanting more, but not too rich that you couldn’t eat ten of them at once.
What a great review. Thank you!
What kind of sugar did you use since white sugar is not vegan?
Thank you
I use organic sugar, which is always vegan.
I made this for a women at work who was vegan – I had never made anything vegan. We had bought a store cake for non-vegans. Needless to say no one ate the store boughten cake. Now I’m the official vegan cake maker. It is a wonderful moist cake
What a wonderful comment! I’m glad it turned out great for you. 🙂
This cake recipe is what my vegan friend uses to win many people over. I am not a big cake person but this is my absolute fav because it isn’t dry!
Thanks for the great comment!
Ya’ll. This cake is magnificent. It takes a great deal of effort for me to not just dive straight into the whole thing with a fork.
I’ve made it in multiple different contexts – sheet cake, layer cake, and cupcakes and it’s always so moist and tasty. I’ve even had multiple people in my office come up to me asking for the recipe – one of them even began her request for it by saying she normally hates all icing. The only adjustment I’ve made is adding a heaping teaspoon of espresso powder to the batter to intensify the chocolate even more (and sometimes to the icing as well if I want it to be a bit more mocha-flavored). Great recipe!
Make it and invite friends over so you don’t eat the whole thing by yourself, haha.
Wow, thank you for such a wonderful comment!
Can I freeze this recipe?
Yes, the cake can be frozen.
For someone with nut allergies, what kind of milk can be substituted for the almondmilk?
Soy is a great option, but any other milk will work.