The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake

The BEST vegan chocolate cake! Incredibly moist, this chocolate cake recipe is the best chocolate cake that just happens to be vegan. With homemade chocolate frosting, a must make for birthdays and other celebrations. 

this Recipe

May is a big month in our home- there’s my birthday, mother’s day, our anniversary and the last day of school all within a few weeks of each other. That calls for plenty of mini celebrations, usually with some type of sweet treat or dessert to finish. 

For my birthday a few weeks ago, I decided that I wanted a chocolate cake. While I have plenty of healthier cake recipes on my blog, like my chocolate olive oil cake, orange olive oil cake or my cinnamon apple cake, I was craving something more decedent and rich. 

Dare I say this is the best cake I’ve ever had? It’s incredibly moist and rich, yet somehow light at the same time. And, I can’t take all of the credit for it. I’ve recently hired a professional baker to help me perfect some of my baking recipes and this chocolate cake recipe is the first one we’ve done together. Trust me when I say that you must put this one on your to-bake list, it’s SO good! 

This chocolate cake is bakery cake. A cake worthy of any celebration, but simple enough to make on a weeknight just because you feel like cake. I shared this one with several friends over the days after my birthday and all of them have been raving about this recipe ever since. If you love chocolate cake, you’ve gotta try this vegan chocolate cake version. 

Ingredient Notes for vegan chocolate cake 

To make the most incredibly moist vegan cake, you’ll need traditional cake ingredients like flour, baking soda, sugar, etc. but the secret is using vegan buttermilk, apple sauce, and oil instead of butter. 

• Unsweetened non-dairy milk: You can use any non-dairy milk that you’d like in this recipe, this one was tested using oat milk as I usually prefer oatmilk for baking. Soy milk or almond milk would also work; I tend to steer away from coconut milk in recipes as I find that most cakes that use coconut milk have a slight tropical taste. 
• Apple cider vinegar or white vinegar: Added to the dairy-free milk, this creates a vegan buttermilk that provides a a pleasant tang to the rich chocolate cake. Like other acidic ingredients used in baking, buttermilk helps to tenderize the gluten which gives this cake a softer texture and more body.  
• All-purpose flour: I typically use an unbleached all-purpose flour and suggest not trying to use a whole-wheat flour or other type of flour. I haven’t tested this one using a 1:1 gluten-free blend, but assume it will work. 
• Cocoa powder: I’m partial to Hershey’s cocoa powder, but any unsweetened, natural, non-alkalized cocoa powder will work. 
• Sugar. I used regular cane sugar and suggest doing the same. I know that there’s always the urge to try and reduce sugar or use an alternative, but I don’t recommend doing so for this recipe. It’s chocolate cake! It’s supposed to be celebratory and something that you enjoy on occasion. Even as a registered dietitian, I firmly believe that healthy diets include regular desserts. 
• Unsweetened apple sauce. This is one of the secrets in making this cake so incredibly moist! Don’t skip it. 
• Vegetable oil. I typically use grapeseed oil or safflower oil in baking, but any neutral vegetable oil, like canola oil, will do. (And no, vegetable oil does not increase inflammation in humans.)
  
  

What’s the secret in using espresso powder in chocolate cake? 

A pinch of espresso powder enhances and intensifies the chocolate flavor in this cake recipe (and other chocolate recipes, like my vegan brownies and vegan espresso cheesecake bars). It won’t make your cake taste like mocha flavor or coffee, but you will need to dissolve the espresso powder in hot water before adding it to the cake. 

If you don’t have instant espresso powder, then you can use  instant coffee instead. It’s very similar to espresso powder, but instant coffee is less concentrated and therefore will add slightly less richness to this vegan chocolate cake recipe.

For those of you who use a nespresso or other type of espresso coffee machine, you can open one of your pods for espresso powder! 

How to make vegan chocolate cake 

The recipe card below also contains full directions for how to make this vegan chocolate cake. I know many 1-bowl recipes don’t call for separating the dry and wet ingredients before combining but I always find those to be too dense and not as light and tender as separating them before mixing.

Instructions for the Chocolate Cake

Prep Your Pans

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. To prep your baking pans, spray two 9-inch cake pans with nonstick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper to further reduce sticking. I place my pans on top of the parchment paper, trace, then cut out for perfect circles. 

Make the Vegan Buttermilk

Next, mix the non-dairy milk and vinegar aside for about 10 minutes to create a vegan buttermilk. As stated above, this helps to create a more tender cake crumb. Mix the espresso powder with the hot water and set aside until cool. 

Whisk together the dry ingredients

While the buttermilk is setting, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. 

Combine the Wet Ingredients

In either a stand mixer or large bowl, whisk together the sugar, apple sauce, oil and vanilla. I use a stand mixer to make the cake because I have one, but you can make this by hand and do not need an electric mixer for the cake batter.

Stir in the buttermilk and dry ingredients

Next, add in the buttermilk mixture and dry ingredients and whisk together until smooth. Whisk in the espresso mixture until smooth and you are done! The batter will be thin. 

Pour into cake pans

Pour into the prepared cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before frosting. If you have a cooling rack, you can place the cake tins there until cool, then remove and let cool completely before frosting. 

Time to Assemble the Cake

Once your cake layers and frosting is made, it’s time to assemble the cake. Make sure the cake is completely cool before attempting to add the frosting as a warm cake will melt the frosting.u003cbr/u003eSpread a thick (or thin, depending on what you prefer) of chocolate frosting in between the layers then gently place the other layer on top. Frost the rest using the directions below or in the recipe card.

How to Frost a Cake

Now it’s time to ice the rest of the cake. The key to a beautiful buttercream frosting is doing a crumb coat first. A crumb coat is a very thin layer of icing used to keep the crumb of the cake down and seal in the cake’s moisture. 

Crumb coat is like a primer for the frosting paint. Use an offset spatula or frosting knife to spread a thin layer of frosting over your cake. The crumb coat will be thin enough that you can still see the cake through it. 

Smooth the icing as best as possible then let dry until the crust forms, or feels dry to the touch. Once the crumb coat forms and drys, it’s time to add the rest of the frosting. I love this cake as a beautiful birthday cake! 

More Vegan Cake Recipes 

Once you try this vegan chocolate cake, you will love my other vegan cake recipes: 

• Vegan Orange Olive Oil Cake
• Carrot Cake Banana Bread
• Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cake

More Vegan Dessert Recipes 

Other vegan dessert recipes, including cookies, pies, crumbles and more: 

• Vegan Strawberry Shortcake
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars
• Pecan Pie Cheesecake Bars
• Salted Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies
• No Bake Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie 
• Vegan Espresso Brownies 

I hope you love this vegan cake recipe as much as we do! Once you try it, make sure to come back to leave a rating and a comment. Your feedback helps other readers and seeing you make my recipes makes my day! You can also share on social media using the hashtag, #delishknowledge 

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The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake

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5 from 6 votes

The BEST vegan chocolate cake! Incredibly moist, this chocolate cake recipe is the best chocolate cake that just happens to be vegan. With homemade chocolate frosting, a must make for birthdays and other celebrations. 

Servings: 12 slices

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Equipment

• Stand Mixer
• 9-inch Cake Pans

Ingredients 

For the vegan chocolate cake: 

• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened non-dairy milk, I used oatmilk
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 1 cup hot water
• 2 1/4 cups cane sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup neutral vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the vegan chocolate frosting: 

• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegan butter, softened to room temperature
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 2 9-inch cake pans with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
• Mix the non-dairy milk and vinegar and set aside for 10 minutes to make a vegan buttermilk.
• Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
• In a small bowl or cup, dissolve the espresso powder with hot water and set aside.
• Place the sugar, apple sauce, oil and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk by hand or with an electric mixer. Add in the buttermilk mixture of milk and vinegar and the flour and cocoa mix and continue to mix until smooth. Whisk in the espresso and mix together until smooth, the batter will be very thin.
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.
• Make the frosting. Add the remaining 1 cup cocoa powder to a large mixing bowl and whisk using a stand mixer, electric mixer or by hand to remove any clumps. Add the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and non-dairy milk to the bowl and whisk until smooth and fluffy. If the frosting seems dry, add in more non-dairy milk a tablespoon at a time. For frosting that is too wet, add in powdered sugar to thicken.
• Once the cake is completely cooled, spread a thick mixture of frosting on the bottom of a cake layer then carefully place the other layer on top. Frost a thin layer of frosting to create a crumb layer (notes on how-to in the blog post above) then let dry completely and frost the cake with the remainder of the frosting.

Nutrition

Serving: 1servingCalories: 808kcalCarbohydrates: 114gProtein: 7gFat: 40gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 11gMonounsaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 0.2gSodium: 609mgPotassium: 339mgFiber: 7gSugar: 80gVitamin A: 1239IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 119mgIron: 4mg

Course: baking, cake, chocolate

Cuisine: American, birthday, Vegan

Author: Alexandra Caspero