How to make a delicious and easy vegan chocolate cake recipe, with just a few basic ingredients. It’s perfect for any occasion!
The best vegan chocolate cake
This simple vegan cake is a great recipe to keep on hand for any time an occasion calls for you to make a chocolate cake.
With no crazy ingredients or flax eggs required, the recipe will never let you down. It can easily be customized to create many different flavors, and non-vegans love it too – so you know it must be good!
Also try these Black Bean Brownies – NO flour required
The cake works well at any of the following:
Birthdays
Barbecues
Potlucks
Graduations
Anniversaries
Baby Showers
Family Reunions
Sleepovers
Holiday Gatherings
Dinner Parties
It tastes like a classic chocolate cake because it is a classic chocolate cake!
Unlike many other vegan cake recipes, this one does not require a single ingredient not found in traditional chocolate cakes, such as flax or chia eggs, avocado, or black beans.
Baking soda helps it rise, and applesauce or banana or nondairy yogurt binds the cake without eggs, also keeping it delightfully light and fluffy. The recipe can be dairy free, egg free, whole grain, and even oil free.
No one ever suspects it’s healthier and vegan.
Single serving version: Chocolate Mug Cake
Above, watch the vegan chocolate cake recipe video
Chocolate cake flavors
Mounds Bar Cake: Frost with coconut cream or Vegan Chocolate Mousse, and top with more shredded coconut.
Nutella Chocolate Cake: Frost each cake layer with store bought chocolate hazelnut butter or my plant based Homemade Nutella Recipe.
German Chocolate Cake: Add a homemade or store bought caramel frosting, mixed with chopped pecans and toasted coconut.
Black Forest Vegan Chocolate Cake: Frost with Coconut Whipped Cream or cashew cream, and decorate with fresh cherries or cherry jam.
Mocha Cake: Add a small spoonful of instant coffee to your favorite vegan chocolate frosting or to my Chocolate Avocado Mousse.
Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake: Use peanut butter in place of the oil for an oil free cake. Frost with the vegan cream cheese frosting recipe from my Easy Cinnamon Rolls post, and beat a half cup of peanut butter into the frosting.
Trending now: How To Cook Sweet Potatoes – 3 secret tricks
How to make a vegan chocolate cake
Start by gathering all of the ingredients.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and grease two 8-inch round or square pans, then set the pans aside.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, sweetener, and optional chocolate chips until evenly mixed.
If using almond butter, gently warm it until soft and easily stir-able. Whisk the nut butter or oil, applesauce, yogurt, or banana, water, and pure vanilla extract in a new bowl. (If you want it to be a one bowl cake, it technically does work to just add all of the liquid ingredients into the dry mix instead.)
Pour the wet into the dry mixture and stir until just combined. Don’t over-mix. Smooth into the prepared 8-inch pans, dividing the batter evenly between the pans.
Bake on the oven’s center rack for 25 minutes, or until the cakes have risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out mostly clean.
Let cool before frosting. (It’s not required, but if you can wait, I recommend letting the cake sit overnight and not tasting until the next day, because the flavor is richer and sweeter after sitting a day.)
When ready to frost, go around the sides of the cake pans with a knife, then invert the chocolate cake onto two plates. Frost separately, then place one cake on top of the other. Add icing to the sides, then serve and enjoy. The cake can be frosted ahead of time if you prefer.
I like to store leftovers in the fridge for freshness (especially if iced with a perishable frosting) for up to a week, but you can store them covered at room temperature for a day or two if you wish. Cake slices can also be frozen.
Vegan cake frosting recipes
I recommend this shortening-free and vegan Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.
Or feel free to use your favorite homemade frosting or one of the options listed above in the “chocolate cake flavors” section of this post.
Surprisingly, there are also many store brand frostings that are accidentally vegan, including some of the flavors from Duncan Hines, Pillsbury, Simple Mills, Miss Jones, and Betty Crocker. Look on the labels to see which flavors don’t contain milk products.
Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups spelt or white flour (for low carb, try this Keto Cake Recipe)
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips, optional
- 1 1/2 cup sugar, or xylitol for sugar free
- 1/2 cup applesauce, banana, or yogurt of choice
- 1/2 cup oil, almond butter, or allergy-friendly sub
- 1 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease two 8-inch pans. Set aside. Stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, optional chips, and sweetener in a bowl. If using almond butter, gently warm it until soft and easily stir-able. In a new bowl, whisk the oil or nut butter, applesauce or yogurt, water, and vanilla. Pour wet into dry and stir until just combined (don’t over-mix). Pour into the pans.Bake on the center rack for 25 minutes or until batter has risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out mostly clean. (I like to take them out when still a little undercooked, let cool, then set in the fridge overnight. This prevents overcooking, and the cakes firm up nicely as they sit.) If you can wait, I highly recommend not tasting until the next day… this cake is so much richer and sweeter after sitting for a day! When ready to frost, go around the sides with a knife, then invert each cake onto a large plate. Frost separately, then place one cake on top of the other if a double-layer cake is desired. At this point you can also frost the sides if you wish. I linked a few of my favorite frosting recipes earlier in this post.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Vegan Dessert Recipes
Holy moly I made this and I substituted the oil with more applesauce it came out so moist so chocolatey thank you so much?
Did you do equal amounts extra applesauce to replace the oil? I.e one cup of applesauce, no oil? Or different proportions?
I love to bake but cakes I have trouble with. I’m also not vegan, but a dear friend is and I made this for her birthday. I made cupcakes (so I could taste first) and they were amazing! Neither of us could believe it was vegan (especially me)! This is now my go to cake recipe. Thank you!!!!!
Do you know that chocolate chips have milk or any other ingredients that comes from dairy products?! That choice it’s not vegan at all! Have a nice day!
There are many, many brands of vegan chocolate chips.
Lucy. Did you have to be so snippy??!! ?♀️
This may not be the case here but sometimes people can come across as sounding snippy when English is not their first language.
Trader Joe’s sells dairy-free chocolate chips and chunks!
there are a number of brands that do dairy free chocolate chips. This has been the case for a number of years now. In 2018 one could find at least Sweet Williams, and these days there is Pana as well. But there are more out there. Online and in grocery stores. Check health food section as well as cooking section.
This recipe is amazing! I made it yesterday for a mixed group of vegans and veggie-phobes and they all loved it. I topped it with your peanut butter chocolate frosting, absolute bliss! Thanks so much!
I think that I will use this recipe as one of the desserts for a dinner party I am having this weekend.
I made this today, and it was great! Thanks!
Such a great recipe! I made this cake for my sister’s birthday and she loved it! it was delicious.
I used coconut sugar, banana, and coconut oil
I topped it off with the chocolate frosting – amazing.
Thank you so much
That picture is so beautiful!
How did you make the frosting?
I tried this recipe and ended up adding hulled hemp seeds, walnuts, and chia seeds after combining powder & liquid. This made it into a super good dessert that doesn’t feel guilty! Thanks so much
This is the second time I’m making this cake because I got fantastic feedback the first time – truly non-vegan approved! I was wondering if you need to cover the cake before refrigerating it overnight or not?
I made this cake for my friends birthday. It was so good she almost cried. Are used frosting made from sweet potatoes and cocoa powder for the top and chocolate avocado frosting for the middle Amazing!! Even the non-vegans who tasted it loved it.
That’s so gorgeous!
Brilliant recipe. Very tasty moist fudgy cake.
I used coconut yogurt, dark choc chips and oil and this will now be my go to celebration cake.
Thanks!
Is there a difference between white flour and all-purpose flour?
I’ve always thought they were the same thing. Bread flour is higher protein, but general white flour is considered all purpose from what I’ve been taught.
SO GOOD–just out of the oven and cooled. Not even iced! My vegan teen just made these for a family wedding as mini cupcakes (baked about 13-14 min.) She made as written with the following option choices: All Purpose White Flour, cocoa powder, mini dairy-free cc, sugar (organic cane sugar,) coconut milk yogurt (plain,) coconut oil. We’ll let you know how they go over at the wedding filled with non-vegans, but so far we’ve all agreed this is a keeper recipe. THANK YOU!
I forgot to reply last year– these turned out wonderfully for the wedding (full of non-vegans who had no idea.) Thank you!
A M A Z I N G. Super chocolatey but also not too sweet. Really moist and crumbly. Definitely would get a non vegan’s approval !
Curious to know what icing you used on yours?!
What is spelt ? What kind of white flour can e use? Plain flour, self raising flour, cake flour etc?
What kind of oil? Olive, vegetable etc?
Plain all purpose flour works (the kind sold in regular grocery stores). And either vegetable oil or melted coconut oil. Or canola works.
What abt the sugar? I don’t hv unrefined sugar.. will fine sugar work just as well ?
Yes it says unrefined if desired. So regular sugar is ok too.
Cut down the quantity? What’s the difference between unrefined sugar and normal fine sugar?
Just use regular sugar. Same amount as listed. It works that way.
I used an 8inch recipient to bake it,but had to put all the batter or it would have come out a real thin cake even rhough I followed the recipe thoroughly. So I doubled the recipe(baking it in two different recipients).
It came out reaally good, soft and humid. I’ll definitely doing it again
Amazing – made this yesterday and it is delicious – thank you!
I made chocolate frosting (for the top part only) using maple syrup, almond butter, vanilla and cocoa powder. Thanks again for this recipe, I will be making it again for sure!