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).
I made this cake for my birthday and everyone loved it! I didn’t say it was vegan and I even got comments that it was the best chocolate cake they had ever tasted. I am definitely going to make this again, thanks for making such an amazing recipe
Just made for my best friend’s birthday. 1.5x the recipe to make 3 layers, turned out moist and DELICIOUS!! I’m confident my non-vegan friends will love it 🙂
So happy the cake was a hit! Triple layer sounds incredible!
This is seriously the best chocolate cake. I made it or a family birthday and everyone was raving over it. The only difference I found is that I needed to cook a bit longer in my oven.
Thanks Robyn! So glad everyone enjoyed the cake.
This is the most amazing chocolate cake! Delicious!
This is the best chocolate cake recipe ever! They are so moist and tasty, people would never guess they are vegan. I made mine into cupcakes and used a salted buttercream frosting. Thanks, Nora!
Yay! Sounds yummy with that frosting!
Will using homemade apple sauce compared to store bought make a difference ?
I don’t think it would matter, as long as the applesauce is smooth, not chunky.
OMG THIS IS THE BEST CAKE IVE LITERALLY EVER MADE. Before becoming vegan any cake recipe I made always came out dry and frankly flavorless, but this cake was moist, and sweet but with depth. I had to use more oil because I was out of applesauce and I’m not a fan of frosting but it was super good anyway! Definitely make this cake my entire non-vegan family loved it and so did I.
Came out soooooooo delicious! Thanks for a great recipe!
Tried this recipe twice now, as a one layer cake and as cupcakes. both DELICIOUS. Put some freeze dried strawberry pieces on the cupcakes too, really struggling not to eat them all myself. Thank you so much for the recipe!
I’ve been searching for a chocolate cake recipe and I love vegan chocolate cake. Have you ever used hot coffee in place of the boiling water on this recipe? I find the coffee often really brings out the chocolate, but I haven’t tried it with a vegan recipe yet.
Thanks!
I haven’t tried it myself, but a few people have reported doing this and said it turned out great! I’ll be trying it one of these days for sure. 🙂
Made it for my husband’s birthday, it was a hit! Next time I’d reduce the amount of frosting a bit as it’s very sweet. I think the taste of cake + frosting will then be perfect for me. Thanks for the recipe!
Hiya, will the cake freeze, do you know? If you froze the cake without icing it
Yes, you can freeze the cake, unfrosted. You can actually freeze it with the frosting, too, but I prefer to make the frosting fresh. Thanks!
Hi Nora
Thank you for your recipe. I have just baked it, followed the recipe precisely and when I took the cakes out of the tin, they just cracked into many pieces. I took one out of the tin about 10 minutes after coming out of the oven and when that cracked, I left the other one in until it had cooled completely but the same thing happened. I am in the UK so I followed the recipe using the cups we have here, which I don’t think are much different. I used a block of baking butter which is made out of vegetable fats and everything else is the same as the recipe states.
Have you got any ideas as to what could have gone wrong? The cake and icing together taste amazing but unfortunately I haven’t managed to get an iced cake out of it, just a few rough bits that I’ve saved from the broken bits!
Thanks
Hi Charlie! Hmmm that is a really strange result! I have never heard of that happening. Do you happen to be at high altitude, I know that can affect baking? Maybe the measurements were off somewhere? And the cake itself calls for either canola oil or melted coconut oil. Did you melt the block of vegan baking butter and then measure out 1/2 cup? That is what I would recommend, but having not used that myself I don’t know if it could be the problem. Did you use 8 inch round cake pans, 2 of them? There are a lot of things that could have gone wrong if you went off the recipe a little bit, but it’s hard to know exactly what without more details. Sorry you had this problem, it’s a beloved cake recipe and I hope we can figure it out for you!
We absolutely love your chocolae cake!! I want to make it for a birthday cake which is called a Turtle Cake. It requires me to make the batter and using a 9×13 pan I bake haft the batter for about 20 minutes then pour caramel sauce on it then pour the rest of the batter on topped with chocolate chips and chopped pecans and bake it another 20-25 minutes . We. Love this cake and I usually use a chocolate Duncan Hinds but like yours much better. Do you think this would work with your cake and your caramel sauce??? Hope so!!! Thank you so much!
Cheryl Lubik
Hi Cheryl! Wow, that sounds so incredible! I’m totally going to try that one of these days, I’m pretty sure my kids would go crazy for it. I’m pretty sure it would work just fine with my recipe. Are you talking about the caramel sauce from my monkey bread? If so, it’s here: https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-caramel-monkey-bread/. I’m pretty sure the caramel will work, too. If you do make it, please report back as to how it goes, I’d love to hear! 🙂 Thanks.
Made this yesterday and it came out looking exactly like the picture, and tastes as good as it looks. Great recipe!
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I made it for my vegan wife and she loved it. In fact, she loved it so much, she wanted to know where the recipe came from because she decided to bake for our daughter’s birthday party. So, in the last two weeks, we’ve made this cake twice.
It’s rich and moist, and has great flavor. It also stayed nice in the fridge for about 7 days (as long as it was in a container of some sort), so we got to enjoy it for a while.
This might be a new family favorite. Thanks again!
I made this cake for my birthday a few months ago, and it was TO DIE FOR!!!!
Chocolate cake is one of the forbidden foods of dieters, which it seems like everybody is these days… so I had a lot of trouble sharing the test cake (baked a week before the event) with anyone… but I, along with the few others that braved the forbidden food, LOVED IT SO MUCH! I gave some to a barista at a coffee shop I frequent, and she’s still talking about it! She calls me the Chocolate Lady!
I am SO GLAD I know how to make this cake! Thank you SO MUCH!!!
I love this comment so much. ❤️ Don’t fear the chocolate cake lol. I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Hi, Can the cocoa be replaced with cacao powder and still taste the same?
Yes, cocoa or cacao powder should be fine. I’ve used a variety now and they all turn out great. Thanks!
I am brand new to Veganism. I really want to make this cake but am averse to using oil. Other Vegan sites and books suggest substituting pumpkin puree or applesauce for the oil. What do you think? Thank you.
Hi Bob! If you are wanting to avoid oil, I would try this cake instead :https://www.noracooks.com/oil-free-chocolate-cake-cashew-frosting/ It will be easier than trying to sub anything for the oil in this recipe. Thanks! Hope you enjoy and find many delicious vegan recipes to make.
Thank you for you reply.
Hi there,
I have two questions for you, and they might be kind of dumb questions, but I’m still kind of a dummy baker, so here goes:
1. Did you use any particular brand of almond milk? I’m staring at the Blue Diamond container in my fridge and I’ll be using that unless I hear differently. I know some other almond milks are creamier, like Malk, so maybe that would be better?
2. Did you use bleached or unbleached all purpose flour? Do you think it would matter? I have unbleached in my kitchen, so I’m planning on using that. I don’t think there is a huge difference, but you’ve been so helpful with this recipe and all the comments that I figured I’d ask.
Thanks so much for posting this! I’m going to make this cake this weekend for my vegan wife!
Hi Steve! No worries! Any brand of almond milk will work, or you can use soy milk, coconut, really any non-dairy milk. 🙂 Blue Diamond is great. I usually use unbleached all purpose flour, but it doesn’t matter for the recipe. Either is just fine! Good luck, and I hope you and your wife enjoy the cake!
Thank you!
What an incredible cake Recipe . So moist and full of flavor . The ‘BEST’ chocolate cake I have ever had. Thank you!
This looks great- Can i make the components in advance — will the buttercream last a few days in the fridge for instance?
Yes absolutely you can do that! Enjoy.
This chocolate cake is incredible!! I made it tonight (Valentine’s Day)….wanted to have some with my honey for dessert. I couldn’t wait to taste it, so I may have (definitely) frosted it a little too early. Next time, I’ll do what you say and let it cool completely. 🙂 The not-so-cool cake made the frosting a little less fluffy and darker in color, but it was still so delicious! It’s so moist!
I can’t even believe it!
The Whole Foods Chocolate Cake is usually our go-to cake for birthdays and stuff.
Not anymore! This cake is so much better! I’m gonna have this recipe memorized by spring!
Thank you for these wonderful recipes, Nora! They’re always easy to make, with ingredients I typically have on-hand and they turn out looking like the pictures and tasting like heaven!
Thank you for such a wonderful comment, Stephanie! I know it can be hard to wait to frost (and eat) the cake. 🙂 Sometimes I pop the cakes in the fridge or even the freezer for a bit to speed the cooling process up! I’m so glad you found a new go-to cake. I used to love vegan cakes and cupcakes from Whole Foods, too but now I make my own because they taste much better. 🙂
My friend is vegan, I’ve been telling him I’ll make him a vegan cake for his birthday and the day came and I completely forgot. I could not make any of my standby recipes since none were vegan, and I only had about four hours to make the cake. So I found this recipe online, and the result was incredible. Thank you so much for providing this simple and tasty recipe. You saved the day, and now all the vegans love me.
Yay! So glad the cake worked out for you and your vegan friends! 🙂
This is an amazing moist cake! Thanks for sharing.