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).
Can I do olive oil instead of canola/ coconut oil ?? Super excited to try !!!
I think so, though you might be able to taste the olive oil, I’m not sure. I hope you love it!
I agree that this is probably the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. I made it at Thanksgiving and everyone loved it and I’m the only person who doesn’t eat dairy. Has anyone tried using alternate sugars? Date sugar would be my first choice to try – or coconut sugar? I try to stay away from refined sugar and date sugar is just ground dates. TIA.
Hi Andrea. I’m so glad the cake is a hit! I have never tried making this cake with date sugar, however, I think it would work. Others have reported good results using date sugar. Thanks for sharing your glowing review and feedback! Wishing you happy cooking!
Hi, I baked this today as a test run for a baby shower cake. My eyes popped when I saw the recipe called for almost 2 cups of sugar, wow! I cut it down to 1 cup and to me, it is definitely still sufficiently sweet. However, the cake came out a little wet, like a very fudgey brownie – which is fine for taste or just for my family, but for the shower I need more of a cake crumb. How would you suggest tweaking the other ingredients to account for the decreased sugar? Thank you very much 🙂
Hi April – for best results, follow the recipe exactly. Cutting the sugar down can change the outcome, though some have reported success. You can try using 1/2 the water or something, but I can’t vouch for that, only the recipe as written.
I agree with others – calling this “the best” is not an understatement. Vegan or not, it is the best chocolate cake both I and my family have ever had. Everyone raved about how moist and delicious it is. The fact that it is so easy to make may be dangerous! Well done, Nora!
Loved this but would recommend starting the frosting with only about 2Tbsp almond milk. I started with 1/4 and ended up having to add about 7 cups of powdered sugar (aka icing sugar in Canada and the UK) in order for it to firm up enough to spread. Outstanding flavour and texture yum yum yum!!!
I made this cake for my vegan son’s birthday. The chocolate cake was so delicious and moist. I will become my to go recipe for chocolate cake. Now admittedly, I messed up on the icing (I slipped with the almond milk and didn’t have enough confectioner’s sugar to dry it up), so next time I will try Nora’s German Chocolate cake frosting instead.
I’ve had vegan cakes before that were dry and tasteless. This is hands down the best chocolate cake cake I’ve ever had, let alone vegan. I don’t even like chocolate cake, but made this for my family who are vegan. Everyone raved about it! This recipe belongs in the baking hall of fame.