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).
This is the recipe that caused me to subscribe to your site. Anyone who can create a cake as delicious as this is someone I will follow to the ends of the earth! 🙂 Absolutely fantastic. My whole family absolutely fell off their chairs when they took their first bite. THANK YOU! I look forward to trying your many other recipes; they look fabulous!
Thanks for the great comment!
Hi there, I have so many over ripe bananas right now. I was wondering if I could substitute banana puree for the applesauce? And how might it affect the taste and texture? Thank you.
You could, but your cake may taste like banana. Not a problem if you don’t mind that!
The cake came out great! It’s for a birthday tomorrow. How should I store it overnight?
I prefer to store it in the refrigerator, but you don’t need to. Countertop is fine unless your house is very warm or it’s the middle of summer.
THANK YOU FOR THIS PERFECT CAKE!!! I can’t get over how ideal both the crumb and the flavor are. I have never made or bought a better vegan cake. Like you, I usually find them terribly disappointing. I thought it just couldn’t be done well without eggs. You proved that wrong! The cake is fluffy and moist without being oily. It’s heaven. I used a whipped ganache icing instead of buttercream. Best cake I’ve ever made.
Thanks for the wonderful comment!
I am completely in love with this cake! It is truly the BEST! Thank you for creating this .
You’re welcome!
Can i use regular butter instead of vegan one because i dont have it. ,?? If thats ok , will be same amount??
And can i use almond coconut milk ?? I dont have only almond milk !!
Thanks
Same amount should work fine, and yes coconut milk works. Thanks!
Hi!
Just wondering, does this work with a deeper cake tin and then cut in half?
I’ve never tried this, so I’m not sure. I don’t know if it will fully bake through if you do this.
Yes, I can definitely confirm this is a great cake, Just had a piece with a cup of tea. I’m looking forward to trying some of your other recipes too. Thanks
You’re welcome!
This cake was so amazing and perfect! Anyone who loves chocolate need to try this! My daughter, who is 6, is allergic to eggs and dairy, she had so much fun making it. Thankyou !
You’re welcome! I’m glad you liked it!
Hi, Nora!!! I’ve only got sweetened applesauce and a toasted coconut almond milk. Do you think these will ruin the flavor? Should I cut back on sugar?
I don’t think they will ruin the flavor, no. You could cut back a little bit on sugar, or not, it should be fine.
Only cut back on the sugar…. THIS CAME OUT AMAZING. THANK YOU!!!!!
You’re welcome!
Hi I LOVE this recipe but it would be incredibly helpful to know how many calories the cake has without the butter cream. XO
Made this twice. First following the instructions to a tee (except for using slightly different sized cake tins due to limitations) and second time adding a small amount of coffee to the icing.
Both times were delicious, the cake is very moist and soft, and the icing is lovely.
The amount of icing made from the instructions seemed much larger than the amount needed (though this may be down to the size of the cake tins used) and had to be chilled for a while to get to a point where it was the thickness that I prefer.
Overall, very good, very simple to make, and very easy to put together during lockdown with no ability to buy any of the wierder ingredients some vegan cakes suggest.
So glad it was good!
Hi Nora, the cake turned out amazing. I baked for my birthday (:-)). Only problem , the cake cracked. Could it be because of baking soda? I followed the recipe to the tee. Just no apple sauce.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake! Usually a cake cracks from over baking, so that could have been the problem. Or perhaps leaving the applesauce out caused it, I’m not totally sure. I’ve never had the cake crack myself, but next time try to bake it for less, checking with a toothpick in the middle to make sure it’s done.
Hi, so I guess I should have asked first before making my cake but I substituted the sugar for maple syrup and my cake is too liquidity. I also used almond flour. I think I messed up, lol but I just took it out the oven but I can’t see it coming together. Sad face
Yes, both of those things will definitely cause the cake to not work out! You added liquid, and used almond flour which does not absorb liquid the way other flours do, a recipe for disaster! Next time try it as written. 🙂
Hi Nora. Im going to try and make this cake for my daughter’s 5th birthday next month . Being in lockdown don’t think I’ll be able to order her a cake ( so wish me luck ?) how much aquafaba Shd I use instead of the apple sauce . I don’t have any apple sauce at home but I have chickpea tins . Thank you
Sounds great, I hope you all enjoy it! I would whip the aquafaba until foamy and white, either with a whisk or hand mixer, then measure out 2/3 cup, just like the applesauce. Hope that helps!
Hi! Is there a way to make this gluten free?
Your best bet is to use an all purpose gluten free flour, like Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Flour. It works quite well!
I made this cake for Easter dessert. I used oat milk instead of almond milk and I used coconut oil instead of canola oil. The vegan butter I used for the frosting was Earth Balance soy free vegan butter. I cut the frosting recipe in half and only frosted between the two layers and on the top of the cake.
This cake is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten. It was so moist and flavorful. My husband, who usually doesn’t have much of sweet tooth – inhaled this cake – it was such a high compliment to me!!
You have a masterpiece of a recipe here and I thank you so much for publishing it!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hi there. This looks amazing. Just wondering what I can swap for apple sauce. We have multiple allergies here so recipes are often a guideline but I want this to be awesome for my hubby’s birthday. Any ideas? Thank you !
You could sub a couple of flax eggs (2 tbs flax, 5 tbs water) or whipped aquafaba. Another egg replacer would work as well. Thanks, hope you enjoy it!
Hello?
Can you tell me the correspondence/analogy of cups in grams and ml (for dry and liquid ingredients)? Thank you
If you look right under the ingredients list, there is a “metric” tab you can press to find these amounts. Hope that helps!
Oo thank you so much ??
I cant believe its taken me so long to make this. I think it’s seriously the best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten. Its somehow even better after being chilled in the fridge overnight. I halved the frosting recipie as well and it’s just perfect.
I’m so glad you like it!
I don’t have any vegan butter at the moment. Is there anything I can substitute or a different version I can make? I have coconut oil, coconut milk, aquafaba, etc. Thanks!
The frosting is going to be a bit tricky without vegan butter. You could try coconut oil that is just barely soft, and don’t use any milk or it will get too runny. Just don’t over mix the frosting, and store the cake in the refrigerator, like immediately so it doesn’t melt and fall apart. Hopefully that helps!
I just made these as cupcakes but they barely rose. They’re still hot out of the oven so I haven’t gotten to taste them, but I’m a little disappointed they don’t have round tops.
This cake is very moist, and so it will not make rounded tops. Still delicious though! For taller cupcakes, try my Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes recipe.
Can I use cacao powder instead of cocoa powder?
Yes, that is fine.
Made this for my son’s birthday yesterday and it was a huge hit! I used cacao instead of cocoa powder (just used a tiny bit less since cacao has such a strong flavor), and I used King Arthur cake flour. I didn’t have any powdered sugar in the house so I made a different vegan frosting but honestly, this cake was so incredible without the frosting I might just eat it without next time I make it. Can’t wait to share it with non-vegans when I make it again. I love proving to people how delicious vegan food can be! Thanks for helping to make my son’s “isolation birthday” a little more special this amazing recipe!
Aw I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you!
Made this for my birthday yesterday and it was a hit with my family! They could not believe it was vegan. We made the cakes one day and assembled it the next. Halved the frosting recipe as well. It was perfect!
Perfect! I’m happy everyone enjoyed it!
After making this recipe for a dessert, it has now been requested constantly! I can’t get applesauce here in Bali but I used reduced aquafaba with great results and no impact on the flavour. This is such a great recipe and Im so glad to have stumbled onto it, thank you so much!!
I’m glad to hear you are enjoying the recipe and that it works with aquafaba, thank you!
I made this for my son’s birthday last week as he is a vegan….the whole family loved it. It was just as you said, very moist. I had a lot of frosting left so I made cupcakes for Easter to use it. Can’t wait to make the Vanilla Cake next. THANK YOU so much!!
You’re welcome!