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).
The best Chocolate cake ever! It is even better than a normal one! My friends also loved!
Many tanks!
Now I would like to make with oats or rice flour!
Regards
Carla from Panamá!!!!
I made this cake a couple of days ago. Best chocolate cake ever. I only made half the icing and it was plenty as only filled middle and top. This was for my son’s birthday turned vegetarian start of the year but I’m vegan and he eats vegan 99% of the time anyhow. He loved it. This is definitely going to be a family favourite. Thank you so much
So glad everyone enjoyed it, thank you!
I made this cake for twins 4th birthday few days and I must say it’s incredible. My son can only eat vegan cakes due to multiple allergies and it this one didn’t taste compromised. It was so delicious. Everyone enjoyed it including non-vegan friends. Thank you for posting this recipe. It’s a gem.
You’re so welcome! Happy Birthday to your twins!
Delicious cake. Made this for tea in the garden during lockdown. Easy to make and so light and fluffy. Everyone loved it.
I cannot recommend this enough! It turned out perfectly, and ill definitely be making this again!
Made this last week for a friend who is vegan, she said it’s the best cake she ever had! So easy to make. ??
Hi,
Thank you for sharing the recipe. I just tried it, its super tasty and easy but my cake sank in the middle? what could be the reason? I used flax eggs. Please help!
I have never tried using flax eggs here, so I suppose that could have caused it to sink. You also may have just not baked it long enough if it sank in the middle.
So good and so easy. I’ve been vegan for a year now and haven’t had a cake this good in a looong time. Thank you for sharing!
Could I make this a German Chocolate cake by adding the melted baking bar in at the end?
I haven’t tried it, so I’m not sure! But you could probably turn it into a German Chocolate Cake!
Turned out awesome! So good!
Would it taste better is I replaced the coconut oil with vegan butter? Or canola oil cause my cake broke many times as it sat out
I usually use canola oil in this cake, but coconut oil works for me as well. I’m not sure why your cake broke, unless maybe you heavily frosted it while it was still a little warm? That might cause it to break.
Amazing! I bake a lot and I think I’m pretty good at it. But… I’m not a vegan and I have never attempted to bake anything without eggs and butter. However, my housemate is and I wanted to do something nice for their birthday, so hey! Try new things.
I didn’t want to clean two springforms, so I made a bundt – cooked at 325* for 45 minutes and it turned out perfect.
Beautiful. Bouncy. Hydrated. And fricken DELICIOUS. My vegan roommate loved it and I unlocked baking achievement. Thank you!!!
You’re welcome!! So glad it was good!
Planning to make this cake for my son’s birthday. What is the best way to store leftovers? Counter or refrigerate? Thank you!
I have done both, either is fine. I love how it tastes cold from the fridge so I usually do that, but it won’t fall apart on the counter either. 🙂
Trust Nora. Make this cake! Made this for my husband’s birthday with a layer of strawberries in the middle. Big hit with the whole family. I used half the buttercream. And will do the same next time.
Thank you so much!
I made this today for my birthday and it was perfect. I reduced the sugar in the frosting and spread a jar of raspberry preserves between the layers. I’ll definitely make this again!
This cake is actually my favorite chocolate cake PERIOD… and it’s just a huge bonus that it’s vegan! Even my husband who is a huge chocolate cake lover LOVES it. I cannot sing enough praises. You would never know it’s vegan. I’ve also made it with King Arthur measure-for-measure gluten free flour and it was still amazing! It is so moist and just the perfect level of sweetness. I do make the frosting with a touch less sugar. I’ve made this cake 3 times now and will likely not ever make another chocolate cake recipe!
Thanks so much!!
Is there a way i can make this cake gluten free as well?
Yes, you can use a gluten free flour mix. It works pretty well!
I made this today as a birthday cake for my son. I followed the recipe exactly. It was so easy although it took a little longer to cook than you said but that could be my oven. OMG though it was absolutely delicious. Really moist and chocolate.. And the frosting was just to die for. My son said, and I quote – I took the cake to dinner and not a crumb left. Everyone said how amazing it was and couldn’t believe it was vegan. Thank you so much for a real winner. Will absolutely be making this again x
That’s so great to hear!
Hi, I love the taste of the cake! However I am having difficulties with the texture. I have baked the recipe a couple of times and I seem to get a gooey bottom every time. The rest of the cake is great, do you know what the problem could be? Thank you in advance!
Thank you! There are multiple reasons this could happen. Your oven’s temperature could be off, maybe you are opening the door to check on the cake throughout baking, which would cool down the oven and cause it not to bake completely. Or your measurements were off slightly. Try to follow the recipe exactly, bake it in the center rack of the oven and don’t open the door at all in the middle of baking. Hope that helps!
I think I’ve already commented on how amazing this recipe was. Maybe it’s the boiled water? I’m not sure but now I’m wondering if I could make this into a non-chocolate version?? I am looking to make a vanilla or lemon cake . Could I just omit the coco powder?
Thanks!!
Thank you! It actually doesn’t work well without the chocolate, I have tried and it was weird lol.
This recipe is great, thank you! I made the following modifications:
– Halved the recipe
– Halved the sugar
– Slightly increased applesauce to 1/2 cup – I use single serving applesauce cups for baking
– Made 12 cupcakes
It made super fluffy dark chocolate cupcakes.
I completely forgot to add the almond milk/vinegar with the dry ingredients and added it after the hot water. I was wondering why it was so thick at first. 🙁 Do you think this will affect then rising? I made this as a test before and it was great. Did a half cake. For this I made cupcakes for a birthday.
I have never done that but I hope not and I hope they worked out! I hate it when I forget a step like that, sorry!
Both the cake and frosting turned out great…only change I made was reduce sugar to 1.5 cup for cake and I had halved the frosting so I used 1.5 cup sugar and 1/2 cup chocolate powder in 1 cup vegan butter.
Thanks for this awesome vegan recipe….had made it for my daughters bday, all the guests loved it and asked me for the recipe. 🙂
That’s great to hear!
Ive tried to make this cake a few times and it keeps coming out blobby on the bottom. Im not sure what im doing wrong! Its turned out perfectly once but I can’t get it right again!
Do you know what might be causing this?
Hmm it’s hard to say what’s going on, but it could have something to do with your oven cooking unevenly. Make sure you are cooking the cakes in the center rack of the oven. And you might want to check that your oven’s temperature is accurate, because if not it could be burning on top and never get cooked all the way through.
Best cake I’ve ever had, bar none!! Everyone’s begging me to make it again!