Best Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe

This Vegan Chocolate Cake is so good that you won’t even notice it’s vegan! This chocolate birthday cake is super moist, yet still light and fluffy. The deep chocolate flavor comes from the balance of coffee, vanilla and cocoa powder in the batter. Yes, you can still have a rich chocolate cake even if you’re baking without eggs or milk.

This is the BEST Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe

As someone who has been baking for many years, I do a lot of A-B testing. I’ll make the same recipe side by side with one small thing altered in the B version of the recipe. I have been A-B testing cake batters for years.

I’ve always leaned towards cakes and cupcakes made with oil, because oil makes the final cake more moist and fluffy. Upon first bite, butter might have the best flavor, but as a cake sits, the butter solidifies and the cake texture alters significantly.

So, I made the switch to a vegan cake batter, and I have never looked back. The first thing I mastered was a vegan chocolate cake!

The best thing about this cake is that it is so easy to change the size because the recipe proportions are so simple to scale up or down!

Chocolate Vegan Cake size options

Since Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, I want to make a vegan chocolate cake! I’m really great about making vegan cakes, but when it comes time to frost said vegan cake, I struggle without buttercream or ganache. Usually, I just opt for my vegan brownies in that case.

Speaking of, did you know my vegan chocolate cupcakes are naturally made without animal products because I fully believe in a moist fluffy cupcake made with oil and leavened with a small amount of vinegar? And furthermore, I love using peanut butter as a butter replacement in frosting. That recipe is just perfect, but I’m digressing. We’re here to talk about this vegan chocolate cake recipe.

We have options with this cake! The recipe below is for the petite cake on the right that serves 2-4 people. It’s a one layer cake that we slice in half and layer with vegan chocolate buttercream, and then decorate. However, you can double the recipe for a larger cake–it doubles exactly as written!

On the left is single layer 9″ cake that serves 8-10 made by doubling the recipe below, but feel fee to quadruple the recipe below and get two 9-inch layer cakes.

If you double the recipe, you can also bake it in a 9″ bread loaf pan with mini chocolate chips–no frosting needed!

I hope all of the options for cake sizes make sense to you–if not, ask below! If you’re looking for a vegan vanilla birthday cake, I have that, too.

Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe ingredients

For this cake, you will need:

• Flour. We’re using all-purpose regular flour today, not pastry flour and not cake flour.
• Sugar. Granulated sugar might not be vegan, so check your label.
• Cocoa Powder. We need unsweetened regular cocoa powder for the cake and the frosting. For a darker color frosting, you can use special dark cocoa powder.
• Baking Soda. Baking soda will react with the vinegar in the cake batter to make a light and fluffy cake. Yes, this recipe only contains baking soda and no baking powder.
• Oil. You can use any oil without a flavor, such as canola, grapeseed or safflower oil.
• Vanilla Extract. Vanilla always rounds out the flavor of chocolate, do not skip!
• Vinegar. Because we’re making a vegan chocolate cake, it doesn’t have any acidic dairy products to create the rise and lift in the cake. So, we will use a very small amount of apple cider vinegar to bring acidity to the batter. It is such a small amount–one-half teaspoon, and I promise your cake will not taste like vinegar! But, it will be very fluffy and light.
• Coffee. Most chocolate cake recipes call for warm water, but why use water when you can use freshly brewed hot coffee? Coffee amplifies the flavor of chocolate.
• Plant-Based Butter. For the vegan chocolate buttercream frosting, use one stick of plant-based butter.
• Powdered Sugar. We only need powdered sugar for the frosting.

How to make Vegan Chocolate Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350, and spray a 6″ cake pan with 2″ sides with cooking spray, and then line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a large measuring cup, whisk together the wet ingredients: oil, vanilla, vinegar, and coffee.
4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, and stir to combine.
5. Slowly pour the coffee mixture into the bowl while whisking. Whisk until the cake batter is mostly lump-free, but try not to mix too much and make a dense cake batter.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake on the center rack of the oven for 32-34 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
7. While the cake cools, make the frosting: beat together the softened ‘butter’ with the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of coffee. Add the remaining coffee if needed to bring it together.
8. Once the cake is cool, slice it in half horizontally. Place the bottom of the cake on a plate, and scoop ⅓ of the frosting on top. Spread the frosting almost to the edges. Place the remaining cake layer on top, and frost with the remaining frosting. If desired, portion some frosting into a bag fitted with an open star tip and decorate the cake with buttercream roses and sprinkles.

How to store Egg Free Chocolate Cake

The best way to store a frosted cake is at room temperature for one day in an air-tight container. Beyond one day, move it to the fridge for up to 3 days. If you want to freeze cake, slice it, lay it flat on a small paper plate, double wrap in plastic wrap and freeze.

Best Vegan Chocolate Cake FAQs

Do vegan cakes taste different?

If your recipe is great (like this one is), your vegan cake will taste identical to a regular cake.

Why is vegan cake so dense?

My recipe below creates a light and fluffy cake. If another recipe creates a dense cake, make sure that you didn’t over-mix the ingredients, because this can activate the gluten in the flour and make a dense cake. Measure your ingredients properly, and do not over-bake.

Is vegan cake more healthy?

Cake is still cake because calories are still calories, no matter where the ingredients are sourced from. Vegan cakes can be lower in saturated fat and cholesterol because they do not contain egg yolks or dairy ingredients, however.