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).
My mom made this today for my birthday, first vegan cake ever! Love it! My 10 year old son requested it for his birthday after he ate his! Does it need to be refrigerated?
Thank you so much Lana! It does not need to be refrigerated, but I often do anyhow because I like how it tastes cold. 🙂
This has been my go to chocolate cake recipe for months now! On Thanksgiving my family devoured the cake! I was so proud. Needless to say, making it today for no reason at all. Thanks for a great go to! Especially for the non vegans! They love love love this cake and now we can actually share something with the same opinion about it lol.
That’s so great! Thanks for the comment!
Made this for my birthday cake tonight & it was phenomenal. Extremely moist & delicious. Can’t recommend highly enough!
That’s so great! Happy Birthday!
This cake was great, I made it for my mom’s birthday and my family of 4 is on track to finish it in 3 days. The texture of the sponge was perfect, I had to use a sub for baking soda but it turned out alright, I also added coffee instead of water, not sure how much of a difference that made. It could have been a bit more flavorful, but bites with icing are perfectly balanced. I kind of eyeballed the icing as I usually end up with too much when I follow recipes, but I wish I hadn’t–my cake could have used a bit more. tl;dr: this cake is damn good
So easy thanks Nora I can’t wait to dig in!
You’re welcome!
Nora, why did you teach us this recipe… it’s too good. I used mint extract in the cake instead of vanilla. Oh my! Being stuck in the house does not help the nibbling.
Haha I know all I’m doing is baking and cooking and eating!
love this recipe… made it for my daughter’s 4th birthday. nice and easy, fluffy and moist! thanks for the recipe
You’re welcome! Glad it was good!
Have allergy can you use different milk nut allergy and whole milk allergy
You can use soy, coconut or even oat milk with no problem.
Would avacodo oil work? That is all I have besides olive oil.
Yes that will work.
Amazing cake. When they came out the oven they looked quite flat but once we cut into the cake it looked perfect. Taste was THE BEST! Super moist cake and frosting tastes great. I even got to share your receipe with the guests who are not on any diet at all. They all loved it so much.
That’s so great! I’m glad it was well liked.
This is truly the best chocolate cake. I’ve made this cake now 4 times and everyone loves it including the non-vegans. Thank you Nora for all your fantastic recipes!
Thank you Mina! This means a lot to me, and I’m so happy you love the cake!
I made this cake but didn’t make the frosting, as vegan butter is hard to come by, and super-duper out of my price range (we live in Asia). I made a pouring sauce with dates, raw chocolate and coconut oil instead. It was really tasty, I love this recipe!
I’m so glad you love it!
Hi Nora,
Thanks for the recipe, it looks absolutely delicious ?. I want to bake this for my friend and her fiancé and I really want it to be perfect. Are there any specific brands you use for the cake or frosting? Specifically, the almond milk, flour, and vanilla. Also do you use refrigerated or shelf stable almond milk. Sorry for all of the questions.
I hope they love the cake! I use a variety actually, so nothing specific. I have made it countless times with different brands and types of non-dairy milk. I usually use refrigerated almond or soy milk, but I have used shelf stable as well, it shouldn’t make any difference. Thank you!
This truly was the best chocolate cake ever – and I am including the cakes I’ve eaten that were non-vegan. Everyone who tried the cake absolutely loved it! I made it exactly as the recipe called for and I also made the icing. Sublime!! If I could post a picture of it, I would!
That’s so wonderful to hear! Thanks so much!
This was my first vegan birthday cake and it was absolutely perfect. It will definitely be my go to chocolate cake. I substituted strong hot coffee for the water because my old recipe had coffee in it. I made 2/3 of the frosting and it was the perfect amount.
That’s so great!
Can we make this today for a birthday tomorrow? How should it be stored if so? Thanks!
Yes, you can. You can store it on the countertop or on the refrigerator. If it is frosted whole, no need to cover it. Thanks!
I actually had to hack the baking powder after realizing I had none. Besides that, I subbed hot coffee for 1/4 cup hot water and sprinkled sea salt on top. Loved by vegans and carnivores! My future go-to! Thank you Nora!
You’re welcome! So glad it came out great!
Is it ok to use oat milk instead of almond?
Yes.
This truly is the best cake! Not just the best vegan cake, but just the best cake over all. I made this recipe for my family and everyone loved it. I look forward to making it again!
That’s so great to hear! Thanks so much.
Anyone make this with Gluten Free flour? If so, did it turn out and what flour did you use please? We are GF and DF and I’d love to make this fabulous looking cake for may nephew’s birthday (poor kiddos misses out on all the treats!)
Amazing! Reminds me of Texas Sheet Cake, but even more moist. I had to use 8 inch cake pans and was worried halfway through baking that I really screwed it up, but they turned out great. I will be using this chocolate cake recipe from now on. My family never would have guessed it was Vegan. Thanks!!
You’re so welcome! Glad it turned out great.
We have made this cake for every birthday party for the last 2 years. I’m so happy that two of my non-vegan friends enjoyed it so much that they have replaced their chocolate cake recipe with this one and are more open to exploring vegan recipes. Every one of your recipes that we have made has turned out wonderfully.
We hope you know you are an inspiration and are helping our world more than you realize through your dedication to creating recipes that are delicious, easy enough to make and cruelty free and our family is very grateful!
Wow, thank you so much for this wonderful comment! It means so much to me.
I would love to make this!
Can I make it the day before? Can I assemble the cake the day before or do I keep te cake in a sealed bag without air and the frosting in a pipingbag in the fridge? If assembled the day before do I put it in the fridge?
Thanks ?
You can make it the day before. You can frost it the day before or the day of, it doesn’t much matter. It can be frosted and left at room temperature for a few days. Or you can refrigerate it, but it’s not necessary.
????This recipe made it’s way to Australia as my eldest daughter made this for her sister’s 16th in Feb. Absolutely our new fave choc cake! Her school friends are/were skeptical with ‘vegan’ food, we didn’t tell them until they were enjoying it!
Making it again today, but am cutting back on sugar by 1/2 cup, and making a coffee choc frosting instead.
That’s so great! Thanks for letting me know!
Thanks! Amazing recipe. Hands down the best chocolate cake. Ive got non vegan family asking for more. Since making this cake I’ve made more of your recipes and I have to say this made my vegan transition a lot easier.
I’m so glad to hear that! That’s my favorite kind of comment.
Hi! I have a quick question regarding the structure of the cake and the frosting. Will this cake hold up to decorating and adding fondant? Also, will this buttercream crust/harden?
Thank you so much! I look forward to reading it out
It holds up for decorating, yes and you could add fondant, though I have never tried it. Eventually, the frosting will harden a little bit on the very outside, yes. Thank you!