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.
Equipment
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