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, I am keen to try this recipe, I have been asked to bake a vegan cake for wedding guests. I was wondering if it would do well as cup cakes?I ’ll do a test run!!
Thank you in advance
H Bel. I think you will love this cake recipe! It is well loved by many! Yes, these do well as cupcakes. There are instructions for baking cupcakes in the ‘notes’ section of the recipe: “For cupcakes, fill liners half full and bake for 20-25 minutes. The whole recipe will yield approximately 24 cupcakes.” Enjoy!
Hi Nora I tripple the recipe and made a sheet pan to serve lots of people. But it’s taking the cake so long to bake. Each time I put a tooth pick in it still comes out with some batter. How Ming should it take to bake? It’s pretty thick. 🙏🏽
Oh wow, you tripled it for a sheet pan? That may just be too much batter for a sheet pan. But I’d just keep baking it until a toothpick comes out without wet batter, just a few crumbs are okay. Next time I would not triple it, I’m not even sure I would double it depending on the size of your sheet pan.
I have made this cake twice now and feel like I followed all the instructions! However, both times it was more of a brownie texture than cake. Any advice on where I might be going wrong? I usually have such success using your recipes!
Oh that’s strange! It should not be like a brownie; it’s moist but also fluffy and rather light, not dense. Are you making any substitutions at all? Are your measurements correct? Are you using two 8 or 9 inch round pans?
I made this cake for my mom’s birthday. It is quite possibly the best I have ever tasted. 10/10. No notes. I followed the directions precisely. Admittedly this is rare for me, but I was cooking in someone else’s kitchen and did not feel confident enough for my usual experimental shenanigans. Thank goodness for that because this recipe is absolute perfection! Cake was so moist and icing set up like a champ. Thank you, Nora. This was a delicious triumph!
You are so welcome! Happy birthday to your mom! I am so glad that you chose this cake for her, and that it turned out absolutely wonderful for her birthday! Thank you for taking time to share your glowing review! Wishing you happy cooking!
Hi Nora, do you have a yellow cake that you can provide me. Also do you make vegan meat dishes, if so what kind. I would like to try some them out.
Thank you
Hi Alice. I do have a yellow cake recipe on my site! Also, if you go to my main page, you can search all of my recipes. I have several vegan meat recipes, which include ham, turkey, and chicken. I hope you enjoy your journey through my recipes!
Hi Nora!
This is by far the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted and I made it countless times. I was wondering which specific cocoa you are using? Is yours dutch processed? Thank you for all your wonderful recipes!!
Thanks! I have used dutch processed cocoa and it works fine, but most often I use natural unsweetened cocoa powder.
Hi Nora,
Is there any high altitude adjustments for this? We live 6000ft up!
I am not an expert on high altitude baking, so I don’t know exactly what to recommend. But I know there is some general advice out there on what to adjust when baking a cake at high altitude. I’ve never tried it myself though, sorry! I hope you enjoy the cake!
My daughter was recently diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis and cannot have dairy. I found this recipe to try for her birthday cake and it did not disappoint. Thank you for sharing your recipe so that I could make her birthday special with a cake.
You are welcome, Kristie! A very happy birthday to your daughter! I love that she was able to enjoy a delicious birthday cake! This just warms your heart! Thanks for sharing your fabulous review and comments! Wishing you lots of happy cooking!
This is an awesome cake! Made this for my colleague who is the only vegan in our team, she loved it and so did the entire team. Honestly received rave reviews from everyone and I’ve shared the recipe around.
The recipe works perfectly and thank you for the note to trust the process with adding 1 cup of boiling water it feels wrong but worked.
Nora, you have become my “go to” for vegan recipes. Every one is fantastic. This cake was amazing! Thank you so much!!
This cake recipe should be in the Smithsonian
This is not only the best vegan chocolate cake ever, this is the best overall chocolate cake I’ve ever had or made in my entire 58 years!
My daughter is gluten-free, and I was going to sub 1:1 King Arthur gluten-free flour for the flower in this recipe, but I know gluten-free flour needs more hydration than regular flour. Has anyone ever made this with gluten-free flour? And if you did, did you have to make any modifications to keep it as moist as a regular recipe?
I make this with my 1-1 gluten free flour all the time! It is one of my most requested cakes
Thank you for sharing this recipe, it was an absolute hit last time I made it!
Does coconut milk work instead of almond or soy milk? (I mean the coconut milk from a carton, not a can)
Thank you!
I’m thrilled you are enjoying the recipe, Vanessa! Thank you for sharing your terrific review! Yes, coconut milk will work! Happy baking!
Best cake recipe ever.
I’m making this recipe I think for the sixth time. It’s perfect every single time and easily the favorite requested cake from everyone in our family! So easy to make and it’s absolutely delicious.
This is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. Even my non-vegan family members prefer this cake over one with dairy and eggs. I recently had to stop eating gluten and thought I’d never have it again, but I tried the recipe last night using gluten free flour and it was indistinguishable from the original version! For anyone wondering, I used 1 3/4 cup of Semper’s gluten free white flour and 1/4 cup sorghum flour for a more “wheat flour” texture. Worked perfectly. I didn’t change anything else in the recipe.
I have made this cake a few times before and it turns out scrumptious each time. This time however, I only have aquafaba. I see in your notes that it is acceptable – but how much? Is it an equal amount to the applesauce?
Thank you!
I’d use about 2/3 cup whipped aquafaba. It doesn’t have to have stiff peaks, but whipped until frothy. I’m glad you have enjoyed the cake before!
Can I use avocado oil instead of canola oil ?
Yes, you can.
Hello! I have yet to make this cake, but we have lots of oat milk in the fridge. Could that be used instead of almond/ soy?
Thanks!
Yes, oat milk works well. Enjoy!
My vegan boyfriend said, ‘this is the best vegan cake I’ve ever had!’
What a statement from him and it’s true! It’s a perfect, moist, delicious cake that you can’t even tell that it’s vegan. I wish I could post photos on here to show how well it turned out. Thanks Nora! Next up, I’ll be making the carrot cake for his birthday in a few weeks.
This cake smelled absolutely heavenly. I followed the recipe, except to use drip coffee instead of boiling water and a bit of espresso in the frosting, yum! I made it for a birthday that had to be postponed however, and I was wondering how long it might last in the fridge?
The cake will last about 4-6 days when stored in the refrigerator and about 3-4 days if left out on the counter. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for sharing your baking experience!
Why is my cake not growing at all??!!
It was absolutely amazing tasty and im so happy as avoiding everything because of my baby but so small even following the recipe for the 2 cakes.
What size are your pans? Are you following the recipe exactly and not making any substitutions? Is your baking powder/soda fresh?
I LOVE this recipe!!!
I have made this chocolate cake several times and it never disappoints!!! It’s the only chocolate cake recipe I will use! I always make it in a bundt pan and make a drizzle instead of a frosting. Thank you Nora for a fabulous recipe!!!
Angela and I are passionate vegan bakers. But the other day, at the Park Slope Food Coop (natch), all my favorite vegan butters — Miyoko’s and Violife — were not there. But Tourlami was.
It did NOT perform well — at all! — in this beloved vegan chocolate cake recipe.
I’m not a newbie, so I hope you’ll appreciate what I have to say here: In the buttercream frosting, the Tourlami butter separated badly. Initially smooth and pliable, it started clumping up and then separated.
In short, it ran like a coward. It looked like clumps of coconut oil dripping water.
DO NOT USE TOURLAMI BUTTER!
Should it be salted or unsalted butter sticks? I’m unable to find the earth balance buttery stick and I see there is an option for an unsalted country crock butter sticks
You are welcome to use either, but I always use salted vegan butter sticks. I often cannot find unsalted vegan butter, so I don’t use it. If that’s what you have, it will work just fine. I might add a little pinch of salt in the frosting if you use unsalted vegan butter.
I gotta say this is the best f***in’ cake I have EVER HAD. EVER. I’ve made this cake 3 times so far, twice for customers and the second time was by wom due to the first one. It’s better than every non-vegan cake out there. Just make sure to leave it a WHILE after oven before cutting (if stacking) b/c it is very moist.
How much does this cake rise? I have two 8″ sandwich tins
That should work okay. The cakes rise quite a bit to be around 3 inches high I’d estimate.
Hi!!! Excited to make this!! What kind of cocoa did you use?
I use a variety of brands, from store brands to Hershey’s. I never have the same one, and they all work just fine. I hope you love the cake!
Can I use this to cut out a giant number 7? Looking to make the cake itself into the number and so hoping it would hold its form. Can you tell me if you think it will or if it’s too moist perhaps ? Thank you!
I think it could work if you’re pretty careful! I haven’t tried it myself. I’d let the cake cool completely before cutting it into a 7. It is a bit more stable when it’s cooled completely. Good luck!