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.
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Recipe inspired by Add A Pinch.
The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 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 preferred
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4-1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
For the Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease two 9-inch cake pans. I also line them with parchment rounds and lightly flour for easy removal of the cakes later.
- Measure 1 cup unsweetened almond 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 almond 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 almond 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.
- Nut allergy? You may substitute soy milk or another milk for the almond milk, any non-dairy milk will work here.
- 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).
Absolutely the best Chocolate Cake!! Everyone at the celebration agreed.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful review! I’m glad the cake was a hit!
Absolute favorite recipe! It’s now been the official family birthday cake for almost a year.
The cake even works SUGAR-FREE with swapping the sugar for the same amount (in grams) of 1/5 granulated stevia + 1/5 erythritol + 3/5 xylitol. Then I glazed it with a soy cream and sugar-free chocolate ganache. Divine!
Thank you Nora for another wonderful vegan recipe!
Nora I just want to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! I have tried a few of your recipes and they are all great, but this chocolate cake recipe is absolutely divine…and most people don’t even know it’s vegan!
I first discovered your website when I was looking for cake recipes for my goddaughter who is allergic to eggs and dairy – I made this recipe for her birthday last year and I can’t even put into words how grateful I am for your recipe. My goddaughter loved the cake and her parents loved that she could eat a cake without a worry that she would have a reaction to eggs.
I’ve made this recipe as a cake and most recently as cupcakes for a coworker’s birthday. Those cupcakes were such a hit that another coworker asked me to make cupcakes for her son who isn’t even vegan – she just loved the cupcakes that much! I’ve made this recipe with the chocolate buttercream frosting listed here and with your vegan vanilla frosting – I honestly love them both.
Your directions are easy to follow and I love your explanations for all the substitutions you make. I am so grateful to you and your vegan expertise.
If anyone is hesitant about trying this recipe, trust me when I tell you that you will love this cake. Now go make it!!
Thanks Lillian! I’m so glad you found this chocolate cake recipe and love it.
Hi, we’ve made this cake a number of times as written and it is lovely. Is there any way possible to make the entire thing oil free, both cake and frosting? My dad is on a low fat protocol for his heart as he had a close call for a heart attack about 5 years ago. Thank you!
Hi Erin. You could probably substitute more applesauce for the oil in the cake. The frosting is not going to work oil free though. You could serve it without frosting or search for some kind of oil free vegan frosting. I hope you can find a yummy frosting for your dad! Happy cooking!
I just made this cake as I’ve recently developed severe allergies to dairy, nuts and a bunch of other items. I truly missed eating chocolate and found this recipe….OMG, I’m truly in love with this cake! My 80 yo Mother enjoyed it too and she’s not a huge chocolate fan like me. The cake itself is so moist and wonderful and the frosting is light but ever so yummy. Together they make an amazing chocolate cake that you’d never know was vegan!
The only thing I changed was the milk; I used Oat milk in lieu of almond, otherwise everything was the same. Thank you for this recipe and giving me back my chocolate fix, I will keep this recipe very handy and add it to my recipe book ?
Thank you for sharing your wonderful review and comments! I’m so glad you loved the cake, and am so glad you get to enjoy chocolate again!
Best cake ever. Made it on my boyfriends birthday last weekend…. He loved it so much that we are now making it again while locked down with covid :(… we would be feeling terrible if it weren’t for this cake. My parents who are not vegan were impressed!
Aw hope you feel better soon Hannah! So glad you enjoyed the chocolate cake!
My daughter asked for a chocolate cake for her 4th birthday. I had never made a chocolate birthday cake before but this cake was so easy to make and came out so moist and delicious. Everyone loved it.
I made the frosting first and I wound up only putting 1 1/4 cups sugar in the cake because the frosting was so sweet. I also accidentally misread the recipe and put a full cup of cocoa powder in but it still came out great. I also recommend checking the cake a little early. Mine was done after 25 minutes.
Loved it! Very light and fluffy. Making it in Germany where the salt is much saltier so will reduce the amount of salt next time. And yes, there will be definitely a next time. Thank you for the recipe.
Truly the best chocolate cake recipe! I am not a baker and my son loved this cake. The non-vegans loved it too. Thank you for helping me make him a special birthday cake!
The cake was delicious – thank you for a great recipe! However, both pans did not rise very much – both layers were kind of skinny. I used fresh baking soda and powder. My oven temp is accurate. Any thoughts on what I could do for a better rise?
What size pans did you use? Did you use regular all purpose flour? Did you measure everything accurately? I’ve never had the cakes not rise well, so I’m not sure what could have gone wrong. The cakes should rise quite well and be fluffy but moist. Not dense at all!
I used 8-inch cake pans. Regular flour, not cake flour, as. you recommended. I did try to measure correctly. I don’t live at high altitude. Well, it doesn’t matter – it was so delicious I’m about to make it again for a friend’s party!
hi! i was wondering whether i could substitute the oil with butter (im not vegan but i wanted to try this recipe for my mother who doesn’t eat eggs). Can i also substitute the apple sauce with oil or more butter? Thank you!
Hi there! I’ve never tried using butter in place of the oil (or even vegan butter) so I’m not sure how the cake will turn out. It will probably be fine using melted butter, but I can’t say for sure. You can likely substitute more oil or butter for the applesauce but the cake could turn out pretty heavy.
I made this cake for NYE at the request of my 8 year old boys. It was a HUGE hit with the boys! My husband and I love it too! It reminded me of the chocolate cakes I loved growing up! We decided it will be a NYE tradition to make this cake. Thanks for a great recipe!
What a fun tradition, and I’m thrilled you chose my chocolate cake for it! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review and comments!
Hey!! I tried making this and the cake batter came out so dense and rubbery! I’m having troubles on what went wrong! Any suggestions! (It tasted great tho)
Hi Jade. The cakes should be quite thick and fluffy, though moist. Definitely not dense. Make sure that you are using fresh baking powder and soda, because sometimes they can go bad. Also, I don’t recommend sifting the flour, that may have caused it to be dense because you likely did not add enough flour by sifting it first. I use the spoon and level method, so spoon flour (or cocoa) into the measuring cup, then level it off with a knife, no need to shake it down or sift it first. I would not use cake flour here, because it’s too light. Typically I use it in other cake recipes, just not this one. Hope that helps and you can have success, it’s a very well loved cake!
Made this cake for my vegan friends and we all absolutely love this recipe.
You are right it felt totally weird adding the boiling to the mix but it works!!! Goes against everything I know when about making cakes but just trust the process.
Thank you for sharing this great recipe
Thank you for sharing your wonderful feedback! I’m glad you loved the cake!
This recipe is amazing! I added peanut butter to the frosting too and it turned out great!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful feedback!
I’m not vegan but I was looking for an eggless recipe so I tried this (I used regular cows milk and butter). It turned out AMAZING! I cut the frosting recipe in half and thought it was a good amount without making it too sweet. I used 2 square Pyrex dished to bake them in (8×8) and it took a bit longer to bake through (about 44 min). It was so moist and delicious, especially warmed up in the microwave. So good!!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful feedback! I’m glad you loved the cake!
I used 12 by 9 pan. Is this ok?
First vegan sweet I ever made and is amazing. Texture, flavor everything better than any store bought, and super easy to make!!
Thank you for sharing! Glad you loved the cake!
I’ve been making this for YEARS and take it to every party, family gathering, function/event and every single time, without a doubt, I get asked for the recipe. It’s SO GOODDDD!!!!
Thank you!
Any ideas to cut or eliminate the oil in the cake? I’m willing to experiment for a cardiac patient needs oil free.
You could probably substitute more applesauce for the oil in the cake. The frosting is not going to work oil free though. You could serve it without frosting or search for some kind of oil free vegan frosting. Hope that helps, and I hope you are able to find a frosting that will work!
There’s a reason this post is getting SO many comments… this vegan cake recipe is the BEST!! Thanks for creating it 🙂
Thank you for your wonderful feedback! I’m so glad you love the cake!
Hello
I am excited to make this for my mom’s birthday. I was going to make the cake the night before and then frost it the next day. Do you think the cake will do okay that way? Best way to store it – counter or fridge?
Thank you
Yes, it can be made a few days ahead, or the day before. I would store the cooked and cooled cakes in the refrigerator, wrapped up, then make the frosting the day of (or even the day before). Ensure the frosting and cake are room temperature before frosting. I usually store the frosted cake in the refrigerator. It will last about 3-5 days. Happy birthday to your mom!
Can I skip the apple sauce?
You might be able to, but I haven’t tried it. Flax eggs work as well, or another egg replacer.
Hi there, I’m new to your site. Thank you for these wonderful recipes. Can I substitute the white sugar with maple syrup or brown rice syrup. Or can you suggest another alternative? Thanks again
Hi there! So glad you are here. 🙂 Unfortunately I don’t think a liquid sweetener will work here. But coconut sugar probably would work fine!
So excited to try this recipe for a friend’s birthday. Is AP flour a must, or could I use wheat pastry flour?
I’ve never tried making it with whole wheat pastry flour, so I’m not totally sure it will work the same. It might! Hope you enjoy it!
Whole wheat pastry flour worked like a dream!
Could you make three 6” cakes with this recipe?
Yes, you absolutely can.