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.
Recipe inspired by Add A Pinch.
The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 1 cup unsweetened soy milk or almond
- 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, not the tub
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4-1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk or almond
Instructions
For the Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease two 8 or 9-inch cake pans (8 inch pans will result in taller cakes). I also line them with parchment rounds for easy removal of the cakes later.
- Measure 1 cup unsweetened 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 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 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.
- 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).
Hello Nora,
Our family loves this cake!!! It has become the annual bday cake for many of us, vegan or not!!! Thank you!
I wonder if the cake can be made a few days in advance? You mention in an earlier comment that it can be wrapped and kept overnight…how about 2 nights? 😉
Hi Kirstin. I’m so glad your family is loving the cake! We love it for birthdays as well! You can bake the cake 2 days ahead of time. I recommend storing it in the refrigerator until ready to serve, to keep the frosting from melting at all and to keep the cake fresher. If you want to make it more ahead of time than a couple of days, the cake freezes very well. Just wrap well after it completely cools. Defrost at room temperature before frosting. It will also freeze well after being frosted. I hope this helps! Enjoy!
hello, can i do this with not refined sugar (panela) or with coconut sugar? can i do this without hand mixer? I haven’t got it so i won’t do the frosting, i’ll use apricots or peach jam instead 🙁 i don’t know what to do instead
As long as the sugar is granulated, it should work about the same. Yes, you can make the whole cake with a whisk if you prefer. The frosting is a little more difficult without a mixer, but it can probably be done with a lot of elbow grease and a wooden spoon. Jam sounds great as well, or a ganache perhaps. Thanks!
Excellent recipe for delish chocolate cake. Thx Nora
Can I make the frosting the night before I plan on putting the cake together? I would refrigerator it?
Yes, you can wrap the cake layers up and store overnight (they don’t need to be refrigerated.) If you make the frosting the night before as well, that is fine and yes store it in the refrigerator. The frosting will be quite hard after being refrigerated, so simply let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or so, until it’s softer and spreadable, then frost your cake.
I made a 1/2 recipe for a tester cake and poured it into a ~8 or 9 cup inch cake pan.
I will say it ended up needing – total of 45-55 minutes in the oven to fully bake.
If you’re doing similar and it’s somewhat taller of a cake I would cover with foil after the crust is baked and then use a THERMOMETER not a toothpick to determine if the inside is cooked.
You want at least 195F for the middle to know it’s cooked through. So just check it every 5 minutes or so if your cake didn’t cook perfectly at the initial 30 or 35 minutes mark.
But I will say it was delicious and every rich and moist chocolate cake. I changed some of the frosting ingredients but maintained close to what the recipe says.
My dairy and egg free son was ecstatic about this cake!
I haven’t tried the recipe but am wondering if oat milk can be used instead?
You can use oat milk, yes. Enjoy!
This was an excellent find! Thank you 🙂
Can this be made successfully with gluten free or maybe almond flour? What further modifications would be necessary?
You are welcome! Yes, this cake can be made gluten free by substituting a quality gluten free flour blend, such as King Arthur Measure for Measure flour. I have tried it, and it works well. I also a fabulous gluten free recipe of this cake. Check it out!: Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Cake. Happy baking!
I baked this for a vegan neighbor in my tiny house community and everybody LOVED it. I baked it again today, tinkering with it because of course as a child of country cooks, I have to tinker. You never know what the tomatoes or corn or greens will need on any given day, or if it’s a humid day before AC what the biscuits would do, so flexibility became the norm. In 2025 and without a carb-friendly metabolism, I cut the sugar by 1/3 of a cup and added a heaping TBSP of cinnamon, and it was a hit again. I cooked up a goldenberry (aka ground cherry) and raspberry compote with lime zest and juice and turbinado sugar with a bit of cornstarch slurry so it would sit still on the cupcake icing, and hammered some salty pistachios into chunky powder, and had each in bowls for folks to add as they liked. They didn’t taste the cinnamon and thought the cake was just as sweet! QUESTION: Can I freeze these with the icing on? Thanks!
I’m so glad to hear you and your neighbors loved the cake! Your tinkering sounds fun. 🙂 Yes, you can freeze it with the icing on. Thank you!
I have made this recipe several times and love it. Now I want to make it for my grandson, who can not have soy or almond. Will coconut milk work?
Yes, you can use coconut milk (not the full fat canned kind though), or you can use oat milk if that is okay for him. I hope he loves it!
Can you freeze this cake
Yes, it freezes very well.
I made the cake for my son’s birthday and overall was a success. Thank you for the recipe!
This is my first time working with plant based butter and didn’t expect the frosting to start liquifying quickly at places when my cake layers still had slightly warm centers. I really liked the taste of the cake but the frosting was too sweet for me even though I cut down the sugar by about 30%. Do you think the consistency will suffer too much if I reduce the sugar in the frosting by at least 50%?
I’m so glad Nina! For the frosting – vegan butter or not, you should always wait until the cake layers are completely cool, or you risk a slipping cake. Dairy butter also melts when warm and will cause issues. If you want a less sweet frosting, I’d suggest trying less powdered sugar, and do not add the milk until the end and only use what you need to make the frosting creamy and smooth. This could be just a few tablespoons if you want less sugar. Or, perhaps try a Vegan Chocolate Ganache frosting or my other favorite is using this Tofu Chocolate Mousse as a frosting. It’s actually really wonderful as a frosting, in my opinion.
Tastes great but is a very fluffy and spongy cake! I wanted something abit more dense and I will use cake flour next time!
Nora,
I just bought the tub vegan spread from Trader Joe’s and saw that you wrote to use the sticks not the tub(probably because it has already been whipped)
I don’t have time to look for vegan stick spread- help!!!! What will happen to the texture of the frosting?
It just tends to be greasier, so add less milk when you make it, and don’t let it get too melty before you start the frosting. Add more powdered sugar as needed, and it should still work!
I made this cake for my boyfriend’s birthday, he’s not vegan but I didn’t feel right using animal products and he loved it! He’s got very high standards and can be quite picky but he said it’s the best chocolate cake he’s ever had. My mam and brother, who don’t even like chocolate cake, also loved it! They said it’s not heavy and isn’t overly rich like most chocolate cakes 🙂 Thanks so much!
Could I use hot coffee instead of the hot water? I’ve seen other recipes use coffee instead which gives it a richer chocolate taste so wondering if there’s any reason to not use it in this recipe?
Hi Tiana. Coffee is great to use! It adds another dimension of flavor and deep richness. Go for it, and enjoy! Happy cooking!
Thank you Nora.
I changed the coconut oil to sunflower as thought the coconut oil had strong flavour.
I’ll check this out.
Thank you for your reply.
Hi Nora I’m making this chocolate cake for an occasion. I’ve made it twice to see if I can remedy that it is sticky and dense in the middle.
Is this how it should be. It tests dry on cocktail stick before taking it out of the oven.
I appreciated you last prompt reply to me.
Eileen
Are you using all-purpose flour? Have you changed or substituted any ingredients at all? Are you measuring carefully and accurately? It’s so hard to know what’s going on without being there. If made correctly and as instructed, the cake should be fluffy and light, but moist, not dense. Are you overbaking the cake, or cooking it in an oven that runs too hot perhaps?
Hi Nora I’d messaged a few days about trying to remedy cake being too dense / sticky in the middle.
I reduced the apple sauce and hot water and that sorted it out. I actually think I made a mistake in the cup measurement conversion. Your recipe is great and received lots of compliments. Thank you for your replies.
Can I use Agave Necter or another substitute for the white sugar?
Using a liquid sweetener for this cake is going to be tricky and I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s going to lead to too much moisture and make the cake flat and dense. Use a granulated type sugar if you can. Coconut sugar likely will work pretty well.
Hi Nora- I love this cake! Do you have suggestions for making it gluten free? I tried substituting Bob’s 1-1 gluten free flour. The cake came out as delicious gf brownies but it wasn’t a cake. Thanks!
Yes, for the best result, go make my Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Cake. I adjusted this recipe to be perfect gluten free!
Lovely recipe Nora! All the family loved this – Is the serving size a general piece of cake or is there an estimate amount of grams?
Hi Eileen. I’m glad to hear that the family love the cake! Thank you for sharing that! I guess it depends on what you consider a general size piece of cake to be! The cake yield 16 servings, so 1/16 of the cake is considered a serving. I hope this helps!
Nora this is a lovely recipe.
To make one and half quantity should I increase the water, baking powder and baking soda. Eileen
To make 1.5 times the recipe as written, you’ll need to increase all the ingredients by 1.5, including the water, baking powder and soda. I hope that helps! And I’m so happy you’ve enjoyed the cake recipe.
Hi, Nora! This recipe looks AMAZING; can’t wait to try it! Would you recommend using Dutch-processed cocoa powder, or regular unsweetened cocoa powder here?
Hi Meghan. I use either Hersey’s brand, Trader Joe’s or any other version as long as it’s natural, unsweetened cocoa powder. I have used dutch processed cocoa a couple of times for the cake, and it worked fine as well. Happy cooking!
I baked for 37 minutes and it’s still seems very tacky in the middle after cooling.
It can be very moist in the middle but still done. If a toothpick comes out with wet batter on it, it’s not done yet.
Hi there
Just to check in the Notes, and point #2: to make a 9 x 13 inch sheet cake, the recipe doesn’t need to be doubled, does it?
Thanks!
Hi Jo. No, you do not need to double the recipe to bacon and 9 x 13 pan. Enjoy the cake and thank you for using my recipe!
Could I leave out the cocoa powder to make it vanilla cupcake version? or would I have to substitute it with something else as to not be too runny with less dry ingredients?
Hi Sydni. I’ve tried omitting the cocoa powder, and it just doesn’t work. I do have a vegan vanilla cake that is incredible, but the recipe is completely different. Check it out!
Hi Nora
Would I double this recipe for two 10 inch cakes?
Thank you
Sally
I think doubling it will be too much batter. Probably 1.5 times the recipe would work better, or double it and make 6 or so cupcakes as well.