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).
Wow, this is a really incredible recipe. I made this for a friend as their birthday cake and he loved it, everyone loved it. The cake is incredibly moist, the frosting is rich and delicious.
Thank you coming up with and sharing this recipe!
Thank you Amy!! So happy you enjoyed the cake so much. It is so moist, unlike some very dry vegan cakes I’ve had in the past!
Do you have a preference as to whether you like to use coconut or canola oil?
Thanks!
I almost always use canola oil, unless I run out. So canola oil is my preference. 🙂
Absolutely FABULOUS! I took a risk and tried your recipe for my son’s birthday instead of my usual chocolate cake recipe. The gamble paid off and I now have a NEW go-to chocolate cake recipe! Thank you Nora for another “keeper”!
Yay!!! I’m so happy you enjoyed the chocolate cake and it’s your new go-to recipe!
Hi!
Can I use corn oil instead of canola oil?
I think that should work fine, yes.
Loved this cake.my two grandchildren have food allergies,dairy, egg,nut and more.they Don’t have much variety in threats, this cake was best. MY daughter ASKED to make her a vanilla cake. Can I use chocolate cake recipe and just omit the chocolate?
I’m so glad you loved the chocolate cake! I actually have a Vanilla Cake as well, so I’d recommend that one instead of omitting the chocolate in this one, I don’t think that would work well.
Looking for chocolate cake recipes and stumbled on this one. Not really looking for a vegan option in particular, but I gotta say, that is one of the most spoingiest, most appetizing cakes I’ve ever seen. I will definitely try it, and I really hope it tastes just as good as it looks.
This cake is awesome – so very chocolatey! Made the cake for my daughter’s 17th birthday – she eats a plant-based diet (i.e., she’s a vegan) – and she LOVED it. I used Ghirardelli cocoa powder and put Trader Joe’s raspberry jam between the cake layers instead of frosting – have leftover frosting as a result, but there’s nothing bad about that.
So glad your daughter and you enjoyed the chocolate cake! I love the idea of raspberry jam in between the layers, I’ll have to try that sometime soon.
This looks wonderful! do you think this recipe is a make ahead, freeze, and serve say about 2 days later?
Thank you! I wouldn’t recommend freezing it whole. If you are going to make it and serve it just 2 days later you can just refrigerate the cake until you are ready to serve it. It will save best if covered, so a cake carrier would come in handy, or plastic wrap. It might dry out if you don’t cover it. Hope that helps!
this cake is absolutely amazing, seriously the best cake i’ve ever had. this was my first time baking something vegan and i was worried it would be difficult to make the switch but it’s just as easy to bake vegan and SO DELICIOUS!!!!! everyone who tried it was amazed. yes. thank you !!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it so much!! It really is the best chocolate cake ever!!
I have been bitterly disappointed by vegan cakes, this one was remarkable, I can’t thank you enough. I adore baking but have done so much less of it since my daughter became vegan as the recipes just didn’t have the same texture and left me feeling frustrated. This will be our new family birthday cake, best wishes and sincere thanks.
Thank you so much! I love baking and I totally understand your frustrations. I often felt that way when I first went vegan and started trying recipes; they just weren’t the same. That’s why it is seriously my goal to come up with all the best vegan dessert recipes! 🙂 So glad you enjoyed the chocolate cake.
Hi Nora. Thank you so much for such an incredible recipe. I’ve spent at least a decade half heartedly looking for a chocolate cake recipe that’s actually nice! I’ve made it 3 times now. The first two times it came out perfect, but the third time it has come out more dense and brownie-like. I think I followed the recipe correctly. Do you know what could have caused it/did you have any problems like that when you were working on it? I am wondering if the temperature of my oven wasn’t quite right or something… Thanks!
I’m glad you enjoy the chocolate cake! A few things could have happened that third time that made your cake dense instead of fluffy. 1. Your baking powder or baking soda could have been bad. 2. Is it possible you didn’t measure correctly and added too much flour? I would recommend using a spoon and scooping flour in a measuring cup, then level off any excess with a knife. Don’t just dip your measuring cup into the flour container, that can result in too much flour, which can make the cake dense. 3. It could be the temperature of your oven, though if you made it successfully twice before, it probably wasn’t that. 🙂 Hope that helps!!
Hi nora, I made this cake last night and it was delicious and moist. Everybody was amazed of how delicious it was, I’m definitely making this again
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it, thank you!
I would love love love to make this cake, but the frosting has so much oil with the vegan butter. We can’t use oil as it inflames our joints immediately! Any ideas at all as to what could be substituted? It looks SO amazing! Thank you!
I’m sorry to hear that Nancy! You should check out this Oil Free Chocolate Cake with Cashew Vanilla Frosting. I think that would be a better choice rather than trying to substitute something for vegan butter and oil in this recipe. Thank you!
Thanks Nora.. just now seeing our reply? Anyway, I’ve looked at the cake you suggested and compared to this one, it looks really blah!! Hmmmm, ok, I’ll have to figure out something… thanks so much.
Hi Nora!!
Thank you for giving “birth” to this chocolate cake recipe !!
This is definitely the most amazingly tasty chocolate cake I have ever had !! It’s a DREAM! the flavors are perfect and absolutely amazing! this is going to be my forever go-to-recipe! <3
~thank you for sharing, Nora!!
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you!! I’m happy you LOVE this chocolate cake as much as I do! I love developing the most delicious dessert recipes, that are also vegan!
Another question. I have Hershey‘s cocoa. It says 100% cacao, but it also says it’s as a blend of natural and Dutch Cocoas. Will that work?
It should work, but the cake and the frosting will be darker, and it may change the flavor quite a bit. It tastes the best with natural cocoa powder, without any dutch processed.
I have a question about the butter. How many ounces of these Earth balance sticks are needed. Six?
Each stick is 4 ounces, so 12 ounces total.
I made this with a chunky peanut butter frosting filing (chunky PB was all I had!) and I think it’s the best tasting thing I’ve ever made in my entire life.
That sounds incredible!!!
Hi Nora, I was hoping to use the recipe on a giant cupcake mould. Do you think it would work and for how long would I need to cook it for?
Yes that would work! I would say probably about 20-25 minutes, but just keep checking after 20 minutes. They will be done when a toothpick comes out clean and they look set on top.
Could/have you substituted 2 eggs instead of the 2/3 cup of apple sauce?
I think that would work.
My grown daughter is a vegan and I decided to bake this cake for Sunday Dinner, the other 7 adults in our family aren’t vegan. We all agreed that this is the best chocolate cake that we have ever eaten. So moist, not too sweet and great icing. I only used 4 cups of icing sugar. My daughter was so happy that I made it and that everyone loved it. Thanks for a great recipe.
This was the first time I baked a cake (that too Vegan!!). The cake turned out to be wonderful. My girlfriend is Vegan and I wanted to bake her something special. This recipe helped me to bake her the most delicious Chocolate Cake. I then brought the cake to office and my colleagues loved it. Thank you Nora!
I’m so thrilled that you enjoyed the cake so much! Thank you!
I made this tonight… OMG! It was so good!!! Thank you!
The frosting i just made does not look that color and does not have the same consistency even tho every ingredient I used is exactly the same as the ones in your instructions. I’ve been batting this thing for 5 minutes straight and it doesn’t change. Your pictured frosting has all the looks of having an added ingredient in your recipe that is not listed. I am using a kitchen aid mixer, so it couldn’t possibly be human error batting. Its super dark and runny tho I added extra powder sugar… ideas? I used almond flour for the batter instead, we will see how that turns out, so far it made it smell terrible! hoping it changes in the baking process 😉
Hmm well many people have made this cake (and the frosting) with no problems, so there is something going on there. A couple of things could have gone wrong. I wonder if you used natural cocoa powder, or dutch processed? Dutch processed cocoa would make the frosting look different than mine, and I wouldn’t recommend it. If it’s runny, your vegan butter was either melted or close to melted. That will result in runny frosting, not what you want at all. I’ve made it many, many times and I promise I follow it to a “T”, and many others have done the same. I don’t think almond flour is going to result in a very good cake, it’s very dense and doesn’t absorb liquid the same way regular flour does. Sorry your are having trouble! Without being in the kitchen with you, it’s hard to know what went wrong.
It looks so yummy. best thing is that it is made of chocolate. Nice and thanks
Thanks for your help!
Can I use only one pane and cut it in the middle after baking?
Thanks!
Yes, you could do that. Thanks! Hope you enjoy the cake!