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).
Hi Nora,
Would this cake work as a sheet cake as well, or would it be too crumbly to cut it in smaller pieces? I would like to make this cake for a large party (50 people or so), so it would be a lot easier to serve as squares.
Thank you,
Cristina
Yes, it works as a sheet cake. See my sheet cake recipe, it’s nearly the same. You can use whatever frosting you like.
Simply amazing. Even the dairy-loving carnivores in my household raved about it. Made it tonight as a belated birthday cake for my son’s girlfriend who is vegan. I reduced the powdered sugar in the frosting to 3 cups because it was all I had available – it was perfect and no need to add more. Thank you Nora for an outstanding recipe…best chocolate cake I’ve ever made and received requests to make this for Christmas ❤️
Can you use vegetable oil in place of canola?
Yes, vegetable oil can be substituted. Enjoy!
Has anyone tried an agave substitute or more of a natural sugar before for this? I love this recipe, have been making it for a while (always a hit!) but wanted to try a version with less refined sugar. Thought I’d ask here first if there were any horror stories with that 😅
Hi Anna. Liquid agave will not work in this recipe, as it will throw off the balance of wet & dry ingredients. You could replace it with coconut sugar. This will affect the flavor, but if you don’t mind that, it should work. I have received comments that using monk sugar also works well. I hope this helps!
Best chocolate EVER. My go to anytime I have to make a cake.
Quick question, would oatly whipped cream work? I ran out of applesauce/flaxseed. Thank you 🫶🏻
Best vegan chocolate cake by far.
Thanks for your stellar review and feedback!
Hello! Can you replace the sugar with something else for a no sugar cake? Thank you!
Hi Ingrid. t’s a very indulgent chocolate cake, nothing sugar free about it! I don’t know of any replacement but it you are familiar with sugar free baking you could try what you like. You could cut back a bit but I wouldn’t too much or it will affect the outcome.
Can I make cupcakes instead?
You can use this recipe for cupcakes! Fill liners 1/2 full and bake for 18-22 minutes. Happy baking!
Can we use coconut milk in place of almond
Yes, you can substitute any plant based milk. Enjoy!
Hi, I’m from the UK, is ‘all purpose flour’ plain or self-raising please?
Hi Fiona. All purpose flour is plain. I hope this helps.
Delicious! Everyone loved it! Planning to make it again for a birthday next week.
How far in advance can the cake layers be made for both refrigerated and/or frozen?
Thank you!
Hi Paris. I’m thrilled the cake was a hit! If you are going to make it longer than 2 days in advance I would freeze the cakes separately. Otherwise, it will start to get dry. Thank you for sharing your awesome review! Happy baking!
I really wanted to like this cake, but it’s way too sweet for my taste unfortunately. Texture was great though and if you like really sweet chocolate cakes then I would say go for it!
You are always free to reduce the sugar.
This cake was absolutely the best chocolate cake I have ever tested! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I have been a cake decorator for 30 years and this is honestly better than my most popular and loved chocolate cake. It’s so rich and moist and I will be making this as part of my standard options!
How awesome, Kerri! Thanks for sharing this wonderful review and feedback! How great to add in a vegan option! Wishing you lots of happy baking!
I’ve tried baking this cake with coconut oil and it dries out a bit compared to canola oil. Would olive oil be an appropriate substitute? Thanks!
Coconut oil is not my favorite these days, you could use avocado oil but olive oil might work okay.
Can this be made in 8” round pans instead of 9”?
I’ve always l preferred the look of the height of 8” layers but not sure how to scale the cook time…
Yes, actually I use either 8 or 9 inch pans for this recipe, often 8 inch these days. The cakes just need a bit more time in the oven, perhaps an extra 10 minutes, when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Hope that helps!
Can I freeze the layers for a few weeks before using? I want to make this ahead…
Sure!
Nora is my go to for 90% of my recipes and I’ve made this chocolate cake a few times. It’s delicious!!
Hi Nora,
A friend made this cake for my birthday and it is the most the delicious chocolate cake ever. In turn I made it for a friend’s birthday and I think I frosted it too soon before the cake had fully cooled down. It ended up looking like a messy melted lava cake. We refrigerated it quickly, thus able to “save it”. We had a good laugh, and nonetheless tremendously enjoyed my sad messy cake. I do not want to feel defeated any longer and I wish make this cake again today for my grandmas birthday….. how long should I reasonably wait before frosting? Can it be overnight?
Thank you Nora!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it even though it got messy! 🙂 You really do need the cake to be fully cooled, at room temperature I find it takes a few hours really. Sometimes I stick the cakes in the fridge to cool more quickly! You can leave the cakes overnight and frost in the morning as well. You just don’t want them to feel warm to the touch at all when you frost. Thank you!!
Is Earth Balance still the recommended butter sticks?
I recently tried the tub version for the first time and it was AWFUL. Wondering if they’ve changed their formula or if the sticks are better?
I use a variety of vegan butter these days, but ALWAYS use sticks for baking. I still love Earth Balance (not the tub, it’s greasy and different) but I also use Country Crock, Miyoko’s Trader Joe’s brand and so on.
Can I use Soy milk instead of Almond?
Yes, soy milk works, as does oat milk, coconut milk and so on.
WOW! This cake was amazingly moist, mine looked exactly like the photos. A family member has an apple intolerance, so I used vegan yogurt in place of the applesauce and that worked out just fine. Everyone, vegan and not, agreed this was the best chocolate cake ever. Thank you so much!
Super delicious with easy accessible ingredients and good swap recommendations. My coworkers loved this, even the non vegans. 🙂
The best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. I’m curious if the cake would work well as a Yule Log if I cooked it in a shallow baking tray. I’m not sure if this cake recipe counts as a “sponge cake” or whether it would roll up okay, I’d love to get your thoughts!
I think it would work but I haven’t tried it. That’s what should be on my list to make this Christmas season!
Is it safe to leave the frosted cake out of fridge for 3 days?
Yes, that is fine.
Hello!
Just double checking as I’m making this cake the night before I want to surprise someone with. Once it’s cooled down and frosted, should just leave it out or put it in the fridge overnight and take it out in the morning (to hide it😅)
Hi Mike. How fun! It can be stored on the counter or in the refrigerator. My favorite way to store it is in the refrigerator, and yes, that’s a good way to hide it! Also, the cake will last a bit longer when stored in the refrigerator. Have fun baking!
Can I use cake flour in place of all purpose?
It’s too delicate for this particular recipe, the cake will actually come out rather dense and flat. So I would not recommend it.
Can I make this gluten free or will it not hold up well?
It works quite well, but for best results go make this version: Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Cake.
Can I make the batter ahead of time (1 or 2 hours) or does it need to be backed immediately?
I would bake it immediately after mixing for best results. If you really need to, I think it may work okay but I’m not sure.