This Vegan Chocolate Cake is AMAZING! Fudgy yet light with a super moist crumb and topped with the best dairy free chocolate ganache frosting! So chocolatey it's sinful! It’ll become your go to easy cake recipe too!
Say hello to the Best Ever Vegan Chocolate Cake!
So Tasty and so easy to make! Perfect for any holiday or occasion, birthday, Easter, Xmas, Thanksgiving, Valentines Day or just because? Who woulda thunk it right! a non dairy chocolate cake with no eggs that tastes totally delicious!
Yup it's honestly way better than a basic chocolate cake recipe and not much harder than a cake mix! I'll take a piece of cake- Please and thank you and don't come near me I'm not sharing , lol❤️
As far as Vegan Chocolate Cake recipes go this one is up there!! I'm telling yah its amazing! My family raved about it! Non vegans and vegetarians can't even tell the difference! in fact they thought it was better than most cakes made with dairy and eggs! it's got a vegan chocolate mousse cake vibe going on too with that incredible chocolate icing!
My birthday was in the middle of November- Yes- if you're looking for vegan birthday cakes- this is the one you want! yup I made my own (but I didn't do the decorations my daughters did, yay for me!) - Hey full confession, (if you haven't guessed by now☺️) I love cooking and baking. Yup quite the vegan baker!
"It's really is a truly divine Chocolate Layer Cake! It was enjoyed by all! Keep scrolling for the recipe!!
Now just to be clear this is one indulgent cake, it's not fat free, gluten free or oil free. Hey we all have to let loose once awhile!
If you want a healthy vegan dessert check the links to my Vegan Black Bean Brownies, or my Salted Caramel Vegan Chocolate Pie you'll love em!
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN CHOCOLATE CAKE:
In a large mixing bowl pour the boiling water over chocolate pieces, then add the cocoa (the boiling water "blooms the cocoa" brings out the full chocolate flavour) Mix it well, then add the "buttermilk mixture" and the rest of wet ingredients, give it all a whisk.
Now add the dry ingredients. Whisk the cake batter till smooth. Pour the batter into prepared cake pans and bake. It's that easy!
For the dairy free chocolate ganache frosting: Heat coconut cream on stove top or in microwave, add to the chocolate along with the cocoa and vanilla. Stir until smooth. refrigerate until set. Ice your cooled cakes, and enjoy! Check out full recipe card below.
HOW LONG DOES VEGAN CHOCOLATE CAKE KEEP?
The cake will keep covered in the fridge up to 5 days. If using vegan buttercream frosting you can store the cake covered on the counter. To freeze cake: Wrap unfrosted pieces with plastic wrap. You can freeze cake for up to a month.
IS DARK CHOCOLATE VEGAN?
The question you hear a lot. The answer is "No not always", you have to check the label. It's that simple, some dark chocolate contains whey or other milk products.
Now go check your chocolate supply, we have a cake to bake!
This Vegan Chocolate cake recipe is:
The best
Moist & fudgy
Decadent
Insanely good
A winning recipe
Cupcake friendly
Indulgent
Perfect
Quick & easy
the ultimate vegan chocolate fudge cake
Enjoy you Guys! Happy day to you! Feel free to leave a comment and a star rating below. I'd love to hear from you.
FOR MORE TASTY VEGAN RECIPES FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST AND INSTAGRAM
WANT MORE VEGAN CHOCOLATE DESSERTS? CHECK THESE OUT!
- Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake
- Tasty Vegan Chocolate chip Cookies
- Raw Vegan Brownies (Healthy No Bake Recipe, GF)
- Salted Caramel Vegan Chocolate Pie
- Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
- Gooey & Fudgy Vegan Black Bean Brownies (flourless)
- Nutty Vegan Chocolate Truffles
Adapted from this recipe and this recipe
Print
The BEST Vegan Chocolate Cake EVER! (Easy Recipe)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
- Category: Sweets
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American, Canadian,
- Diet: Vegan
Description
The BEST vegan chocolate cake you’ll EVER make!! Super moist fudgy and full of chocolate with an easy healthy dairy free ganache frosting. All 5 star reviews from my readers! They love this cake recipe!
Ingredients
WET INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup unsweetened non dairy milk, I like cashew, soy milk or almond milk
- 1 tbsp white vinegar (could sub apple cider vinegar)
- 200 grams dark chocolate, broken up, I use 2 Great Value dark chocolate bars from Walmart (Canada) or the equivalent of dairy free chocolate chips
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil plus 1 tbsp, I use grape seed oil (not coconut oil)
DRY INGREDIENTS:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, I use Demerara sugar
- 2 tsp instant coffee powder, reg or decaf ( espresso powder)
- 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 and 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
CHOCOLATE GANACHE ICING:
- 350 Grams dark chocolate, broken up, I use Great value dark chocolate from Walmart (Canada) or the equivalent of dairy free chocolate chips
- 1 (400 ml) (14 fl oz) can coconut cream (not milk), I use Savoy brand from Walmart
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° Lightly grease 2- 9 inch round non stick cake pans. I also line my pans with parchment paper rounds and lightly grease them.
- In a small bowl add the plant milk and vinegar, this is your "Buttermilk mixture", stir and set aside.
- In a medium bowl add the dry ingredients and stir to combine, set aside
- In a large mixing bowl add the chocolate pieces, and boiling water, let sit for a minute. Now add the cocoa powder and whisk it until smooth. Then add in rest of "Wet Ingredients" including "Buttermilk mixture", whisk it until it's combined.
- Next add the dry ingredients and whisk until it's smooth. Do not over mix.
- Pour the cake batter into your 2 prepared baking pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of cake comes out clean or with a few crumbs. Cool the cakes in pans for 10-15 then remove cakes from pans and cool completely on racks before icing.
- Dairy free Chocolate ganache: Add chocolate pieces to a large DRY mixing bowl,
- Heat the coconut cream on stove until hot, don't let it simmer. Pour the cream over chocolate mixture. Let it sit for a minute then add the cocoa and vanilla. Whisk it until smooth.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour, whisking after 30 minutes. If the icing seems to soft after 1 hour leave it in the fridge and check every 15 minutes until you have a good consistency.
- Ice the cake: Once cake is completely cool, frost the cake! Enjoy!
Notes
- for vegan gluten free chocolate cake: a few of my readers have said they have made this recipe using a gluten free flour blend and it turned out great. I personally have not tried it.
- You can use any unsweetned plant milk you like, soy for nut free, etc.. (soy milk curdles the best for 'buttermilk')
- I bake my cakes for 35 minutes
- If you leave icing in fridge for to long, just remove to counter until spreadable.
- If wanting cupcakes bake for 20- 25 minutes
- I use Great value dark chococlate bars from Walmart (Canada) for a lot of my dessert recipes. They are excellent quality and super affordable.
- I wouldn't use a really dark chocolate for this recipe or your icing won't be sweet enough.
- The cake does not take on any coffee flavour from the instant coffee, it just adds a richness to the cake. I highly recommend adding it.
- Prep time doesn't include cooling time for cakes or chilling time for icing.
- This cake will keep covered in the fridge up to 5 days. If using vegan buttercream frosting you can store the cake covered on the counter.
- To freeze cake: Wrap unfrosted pieces with plastic wrap. You can freeze cake for up to a month.
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I can imagine if you let the ganache harden too much in the fridge, it’d be harder to frost the cake, I did that the first time I made it, but I can’t remember exactly if it was tougher to frost.
I’ve made this a few times now, and it’s amazing!! So rich and moist. 👌🏻😋 Definitely my go-to recipe for chocolate cake now!
★★★★★
Thank you so much Camilla! thrilled you love it!!
so good!
★★★★★
thank you so much! glad you enjoyed it!
This was one tasty chocolate cake holy cow! No one even knew it was vegan the taste was out of this world good. Really wonderful recipe.
★★★★★
Oh thank you so much!
Hello, this cake looks WOW!!, I needed to know what can I substitute apple sauce with? We don't get ready apple sauce here and I want to make this cake day after tomorrow for my husband's birthday. Please help.
You could try vegan yogurt or mashed banana just make sure banana is really mashed. Hope that helps. Enjoy Nidhi!
Hi, May I ask if you used Dutch cocoa or regular natural cocoa powder?
Hi Thao, I always use Hershey's 100 % natural cocoa powder (not dutch). Enjoy!
Hi! I made this cake multiple times. And it was great every time. Just wondering how many cup cakes will come out of this recipe, the standard size ? Many thanks!
Hi Katya, I'd say approximately 18- 24 cupcakes? fill 3/4 full. If you make them let me know how many you get😊 I'd start checking at 20 minute mark.
Wonderfully moist and delicious chocolate cake. Both my vegan and my non-vegan friends loved it. I just love this recipe. 5 stars all the way.
★★★★★
Oh thanks so much Pearl, glad it was a hit! Thanks for your comment!
Does the icing recipe make enough for a two layer cake?
Yes it does Alex, enjoy!
This vegan chocolate cake was the ultimate! Oh my lord was it good and I found it quite easy to make as well. Over all super impressed and will be looking no further as this recipe is perfect!
★★★★★
Well thank you for your kind words Suzanne you just made my day. Thrilled you love the cake!
Made this delicious cake for my son’s graduation party and it was a huge hit. Vegans and non-vegans really appreciated the rich chocolate flavour.
I made the cakes a week before and kept them in the freezer before it was time to do the frosting and it worked perfect.
I had to be quick with the frosting because it stiffened very quick but it was wonderful to work with.
I have spread the recipe to some of our guests - a good sign of appreciation:)
Thank you so much for this wonderful cake!!
Best regards from a grateful Swedish mom
★★★★★
So nice to hear Sofia! You made my day! Thank you for your kind words. Thrilled to hear everyone enjoyed it.
Made this super yummy cake with gluten free flour for my daughters birthday. Absolutely gorgeous. Moist but held shape well. It's a big cake and feeds lots of people. It kept well and was delicious from the freezer too. Will definitely keep this recipe and use again. Many thanks Cheeky Chickpea. xx
★★★★★
Absolutely wonderful Lyn! Thanks so much for your comment
Glad it was a hit for your daughter's birthday.
Oohhh could you tell me which gluten free flour at all?
Hi Chenade😊 I don't know what type Lyn used but you could try Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten free baking flour?
Delicious! This is the best chocolate cake I've ever had! I usually adore icing but this cake us so yummy and moist it doesn't even need icing! My only issue was that the cake fell apart when I tried to ice it. So most that it had some trouble holding shape. Still, it tastes fantastic! Would recommend!
★★★★★
Thank you Rachel, glad to hear you enjoyed the cake! I have never had any issues icing it though?