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.
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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
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!
This vegan cake turned out delicious.. I made the avocado chocolate frosting to go with it .. and it was delicious.
Only thing is, I followed the metric measurements rather than the cup measurements.. the batter was a bit runny though (not like the video).. but the baked product was ok..
Has anyone tried doing this in an Instant pot? If so do you just put it in springform pan and cover with foil? And cook for about 40 minutes? New to the whole new instant pot. With it being hot this summer, trying not to use the stove or the oven. 😉
I made this yesterday for my son’s 1st bday. Half my family is gluten free and I always have GF s’mores bars but wanted something else. I knew this was it when I saw the pic on Instagram. I was nervous because GF doesn’t always turn out so good. I held my breath as my sister took the first bite and she liked it… I was like whewwww. I used Pillsbuy GF all purpose flour and the applesauce option. I frosted it with Cherrybrook Farms chocolate frosting. Even my brother who makes fun of our food choices opted for this cake over the regular cakes that were available. They said it tasted like a yodel or the hostess ho ho cakes we used to eat when we were younger. Thanks Katie!!!!
Aw this makes me so happy! 🙂
My niece is vegan. I made this cake Thursday for her birthday party Saturday. To say it was a hit with the carnivores in our family is an understatement! This is, by far, the BEST chocolate cake I have ever eaten. I went to a link for the vegan chocolate frosting as well. I couldn’t find a decent can of coconut cream, however I found cream of coconut and improvised. I wasn’t able to pipe it, but it was amazing. My husband said you should put it on the market. I cannot say enough great things about this cake and frosting recipe. I will be making it again and again!
I made this cake yesterday and it was absolutely AMAZING!! I couldn’t get over how moist and rich it was AND that it was vegan!!! I am not vegan, but my daughter is, so I’ve been trying a lot of different vegan recipes. I even used one of your delicious frosting recipes for it and my family LOVED it! So much so, that it is almost gone! Katie, I’m going to try some more of your recipes and have no doubt we’ll be very pleased! Thank- you!
my non vegan mom tried this cake and said that it was a really good cake. i then said “you know that’s a vegan cake, right?” and she said she didn’t know. So basically for a sec, she had no idea she was talking good about a vegan dessert. The best part was after she found out she said “i’m going to have this cake tomorrow with my coffee” XD
also, i forgot to mention that i made the cake into a cinnamon cake instead of a chocolate cake but my nonvegan mom still loved it XD
How did you turn it into a cinnamon cake??
OMG… this was soo delicious. I made it for my friends birthday and everybody loved it! Even the people who are super against vegan food. It was easy to make and so chocolate-y. I’m gna do it again! For sure ? I replaced the water with soy milk, not sure if it makes a big difference though!