After years of testing (and a lot of chocolate cake), this is my reliable classic vegan chocolate cake recipe. It's rich, tender and full of deep chocolate flavour. Made without eggs, dairy milk or butter, this plant-based chocolate cake uses simple pantry ingredients to create a classic chocolate cake texture that everyone will love - vegan or not.
Top it with my basic chocolate frosting or vegan chocolate buttercream to take this cake to the next level.
This recipe was originally published on June 7, 2019 and reposted with new images, FAQs and notes on June 28, 2022.
Jump to:
- Why We Love This Vegan Chocolate Cake
- What is in Vegan Chocolate Cake?
- What Makes This Vegan Chocolate Cake So Moist and Tender?
- How to Make The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- How to Divide Cake Batter Evenly Between Pans
- Recipe Troubleshooting and Tips
- Cooking Times for Different Cake Sizes
- Storage
- FAQs
- Make This Recipe
- Leave a Comment
This recipe was originally inspired by Perfectly Chocolate, Chocolate Cake. After years of testing, I adapted the technique using plant-based ingredients to create a rich chocolate flavour and a tender, stable crumb.
Why We Love This Vegan Chocolate Cake
Reader Review. "This recipe is absolutely the BEST chocolate cake recipe I've tried! I made a 7" two layer cake and 6 cupcakes. I could not believe how moist, light and fluffy the cake was ....so delicious! Thank you for this❤️" (Margie) ★★★★★
I think you're going to love this cake.
Want something a little smaller? You can't go past this Vegan Chocolate Cupcake Recipe.
What is in Vegan Chocolate Cake?
Vegan chocolate cake replaces traditional ingredients like eggs, butter and dairy milk with plant-based alternatives. We are using flour, sugar, cocoa powder, oil, dairy-free milk, vinegar, vanilla, baking powder and baking soda.
Let's talk about the ingredients and why they work.
All-purpose flour. This recipe uses regular ol' all-purpose flour to create the structure of the cake.
Whole wheat flour (Wholemeal flour). The original recipe I developed included wholemeal flour. It later dawned on me that not everyone has access to whole flour or may not want to mess around with two flours. So, the recipe has been tested and re-tested with just all-purpose flour. If you do want to add whole wheat flour, use 1 cup of all-purpose flour combined with ¾ cup whole wheat flour.
Oil. Using oil instead of butter creates a moist crumb that keeps fresh for days. The bonus is that this recipe doesn't require any creaming of butters and sugar. You can just add the oil and continue on. Use a neutral flavoured oil like sunflower, grapeseed or vegetable oil.
Applesauce. We use a small amount of applesauce to mimic the moisture and binding properties of eggs. While applesauce doesn't provide the fat portion of eggs, its natural pectin helps to bind the cake. We love science!
Cocoa Powder. Use regular natural cocoa powder here. Dutch-process cocoa has been neutralised, which means it has less acidity to react with the baking soda. Using natural cocoa helps ensure the cake gets the best rise and texture
Buttermilk. Buttermilk helps make this cake tender and light. We are making our own buttermilk using soy milk and apple cider vinegar.
Vanilla. Vanilla adds depth to cakes so use the best quality you can manage. Get extract not essence.
What Makes This Vegan Chocolate Cake So Moist and Tender?
The secret to this vegan chocolate cake's incredibly moist texture comes down to 4 simple techniques.
No. 1 Boiling water. The trick to this cake's gorgeous flavour is the addition of boiling water. While some recipes call for adding espresso to highlight chocolate notes, this cake does the same by adding hot water. Hot water helps cocoa powder disperse and intensifies its chocolate flavour by encouraging the cocoa solids to release more aroma and flavour compounds. This is called "blooming" the cocoa.
No. 2 Oil. The cake is made super moist by using oil instead of butter. Unlike butter, which contains water and needs to be creamed with sugar to incorporate air, oil is 100% fat and coats the flour particles during mixing. This helps create a softer crumb and keeps the cake moist for longer.
No. 3 Buttermilk. The combination of plant milk and apple cider vinegar creates a vegan buttermilk. This reacts with the baking soda, helping the cake rise while producing a lighter texture.
No. 4 Less leavening agents. I know, I know, I've seen other vegan recipes with higher amounts of baking soda and powder online. This recipe uses a carefully balanced amount of baking powder and baking soda. Too much leavening can create large air pockets that collapse as the cake cools, especially in egg-free baking where there is less structure to hold them.
How to Make The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
You'll find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
The recipe for this cake is so simple. Are you ready? Here we go.
Step 1. Prep
Line 2 x 20cm (8") round cake pans and make sure your oven rack is in the middle. Go ahead and preheat your oven.
Important! - if you have a scale, I want you to weigh the mixing bowl you plan to whisk the final batter in. Write down the weight and set it aside. Weighing your final bowl allows you to subtract the bowl's weight, calculate the exact batter weight, and divide it perfectly 50/50 between your two pans.
If you don't have a scale, I have another method for dividing batter in the Recipe Card notes below.
Step 2. Make buttermilk
Combine the vinegar and dairy-free milk in a jug or bowl to make a buttermilk and set aside for a few minutes.
Step 3. Whisk dry ingredients
Whisk your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Step 4. Combine the wet ingredients
Add the remaining wet ingredients to the buttermilk and whisk together.
Step 5. Add wet to dry and add boiling water
Whisk the wet and dry ingredients together for just a few seconds to bring them together.
Step 6. Add the boiling water
Carefully add the boiling water and whisk until everything is just combined (the batter is thin, don't worry, it's supposed to be).
Steps 7. Distribute batter between cake pans to bake
We want to work quickly-ish here. Pour the batter evenly into the lined cake pans and get them into the middle shelf of the oven.
Why are we working quickly? As soon as the batter is combined, the acid in the recipe begins to activate the baking soda - we want to get the cake into the oven quickly and efficiently to prevent the soda running out of puff. In simple terms, the goal is to get as much of that baking soda activity (lifting) happening in the oven, not out. So, while you don't need to run, it's a good idea to crack on and get the cakes in the oven.
Bake on the middle shelf for 33 to 36 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out mostly clean.
Step 8. Cool and decorate.
Remove the cakes from the oven to cool before decorating.
How to Divide Cake Batter Evenly Between Pans
For perfectly even cake layers, you can divide the batter by weight using a kitchen scale.
Before making the batter, place your mixing bowl (the bowl you'll use for the final batter) on the scale and note its empty weight.
Once the batter is ready, weigh the bowl with the batter inside. Subtract the empty bowl weight to find the total batter weight, then divide that number by two.
Place one lined cake pan on the scale and zero the scale. Pour in half of the batter by weight, then repeat with the second pan.
Dividing the batter this way helps your cakes bake evenly and gives you two matching layers for decorating.
Recipe Troubleshooting and Tips
Cooking Times for Different Cake Sizes
Sheet Pan Grease and flour 13 x 9 x 2-inch sheet pan. Heat oven to 170° C or 338° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
Bundt Cake Grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan. Heat oven to 170° C or 338° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 60 minutes. Cool for 15-minutes before turning out.
Cupcakes Line muffin cups (2½ inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. 170° C or 338° F. Fill the cups two-thirds with batter. Bake 18 to 23 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 24 cupcakes.
Source: Hersheyland
Whether you want to swathe your chocolate cake in swirls of my Basic Chocolate Frosting or simply dust it with icing sugar, it will work perfectly. Dress it up, dress it down, the choice is yours.
I am going to call it - this is the only vegan chocolate cake recipe you will need. Enjoy, x.
Storage
How long does this cake store in the refrigerator?
I have made this cake over and over and over and one of the things I love about it is that it keeps really well. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a 5 days.
How do I freeze vegan chocolate cake?
After baking the cakes and turning them out on to a cooling rack, allow them to cool completely. Once completely cool, wrap them in foil and pop it in a freezer-proof container.
Store flat in your freezer for up to 3 months. To thaw your chocolate cakes, remove them from the freezer to thaw at room temperature. Once thawed, you can frost and serve.
FAQs
Soy milk makes the best vegan buttermilk. The protein in soy milk reacts with the acid to create a thick mixture. Technically, you can use most dairy-free milks to make buttermilk but I find soy works best.
You can make this vegan chocolate cake into cupcakes. Just reduce the cooking time down to 20-22 minutes or try my vegan chocolate cupcake recipe.
Full disclosure, I haven't made a gluten-free version of this cake. However, when I do convert non-gluten free recipes to gluten-free, I use Bob's Red Mill One to one Baking Flour for the best results.
Most natural unsweetened cocoa powders are vegan, but it's worth checking the label for added milk ingredients if you're buying a specialty cocoa blend.
Vinegar reacts with baking soda to produce carbon dioxide bubbles, helping the cake rise and creating a lighter texture.
Common reasons for dense cakes include over-mixing, expired leavening agents and too much flour. Use fresh ingredients, only mix your batter until you can no longer see visible streaks of flour and if possible, weigh ingredients for accuracy.
Sign up to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Insta for all the latest news. If you like this recipe, please check out my cookbook "Great Vegan Meals for the Carnivorous Family" It's full of simple, carnivore-approved family recipes.
Make This Recipe
Easy Classic Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2½ cups all-purpose (375g) (see Note 1.)
- 1 cup cocoa powder (100g) Do not use Dutch processed cocoa
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1¾ cups raw sugar (350g)
Wet Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups soy milk (313g) or dairy-free milk
- 1 ¼ tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup applesauce (125g)
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp sunflower oil (140g) or any neutral oil
- 3 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1¼ cup boiling water (300g)
Instructions
For the Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 170°C (338°F) and line 2 x 20 cm (8-inch) pans with grease-proof or baking paper. Important! - if you have a scale, I want you to weigh the mixing bowl you plan to whisk the final batter in. Write down the weight and set it aside. Weighing your final bowl allows you to subtract the bowl's weight, calculate the exact batter weight, and divide it perfectly 50/50 between your two pans.If you don't have a scale, I've got you covered in the Notes below.
- Combine the milk and apple cider vinegar in a mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl (this is the one you want to weigh) mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder and sugar.
- Gently whisk the applesauce, oil, vanilla extract in to the milk/vinegar (buttermilk) mixture.
- Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and lightly whisk before adding the boiling water and whisking gently until combined. Be careful whisking the boiling water. OK, now we want to work efficiently to get the batter whisked and into the pans to limit the amount of time the acid is activating with the baking soda outside the oven. Using either method outlined in Note 2. distribute the batter between the two pans.
- Pop the pans in the oven and bake for 33-36 minutes or until a skewer comes away from the centre cleanly.
- Remove from the oven and sit the cakes for 10 minutes before turning them out to cool completely.
- Now it's up to you how you want to dress your cake. Either, place one cake, flat side up, and top with your favourite frosting. Place the second cake on top, add more frosting and decorate with fresh fruit to serve. Or, you can try to cut the slices in half to creating thinner layers (which is what I did for the photographs). Either will work beautifully.
Notes
Nutritional Disclaimer
The nutritional information is an estimate only and is automatically calculated using online tools. For accurate results, we recommend calculating the nutritional information based on the ingredients and brands you use.
Emma says
The first time I made this cake it worked fine, but the last two times, when I’ve turned the cakes out they’ve cracked & broken - I think because I’ve turned them out onto their mounded tops. Do you have any advice? Thanks
Amanda says
Oh, Emma how disappointing? Let’s see if we can fix it. Is there a chance the cakes might be a little over baked? Over-baking will dry out your ingredients and leave you with a cake that doesn't have enough moisture to stay bound. Unfortunately, oven temperature can be tricky and every oven is different - could your oven be running a little hot? I use an oven thermometer because my oven runs up to 15 degrees hotter than it says ♀️
Two things - perhaps try baking the cake for less time - keep an eye on it and pull it out when you can see that the cake is just starting to pull away from the sides of the tin. Also, try lining your cake tin with the paper over the sides so you can use it as a “handle” to gently pull the cake out rather than turning it out or better yet, use a springform cake tin to push it out from the bottom. I hope this helps - please let me know how you go! X
Emma Nicholls says
Just found the photograph from the first time I made it & I definitely used the same 2 tins. It’s a mystery. Must have been beginners luck.
Amanda says
Hi Emma,
I am going to go ahead and test the recipe with apple sauce. I will start with a third of a cup. The pectin in apple sauce acts as a binder in vegan baked goods. I use it in my vanilla cupcakes.
Leave it with me and I will get back to you. Let's see if we can get to the bottom of this. 🙂
GAIL ARIAS says
HI Amanda, I love the vegan chocolate cake recipe, but noted the conversions on multiple batch (2x,3x) in the weights are not multiplying in the recipe.
Amanda says
Hi Gail, I am so happy you like the recipe. Thank you for letting me know about the conversions - I will look into it with the recipe card designer. Thank you!
Amanda says
Hi Gail,
I think I have that all fixed up now. You can convert between cups (AUS) and metric now. Cheers!
Kat Varcoe-Cocks says
I am not vegan and had everything in my cupboard ready to cook this cake. Thanks Amanda- I already had a go to mud cake recipe and now i have a go to light and delicious chocolate cake whenever I want to bake one! And the frosting is amazing. Yum!
Jackie says
Can I skip the whole meal flour I don’t have any on me
Amanda says
Hey Jackie, the original Hershey's recipe doesn't use whole four so go for it. I like the crumb of the mixed flours but it will still work with regular flour. Enjoy!
Jess says
Hi there,
Just confirming measurements for dry ingredients, 1 cup flour:128g?
Thanks,
Jess
Jess says
Also is the baking soda necessary?
Amanda says
Hi Jess,
How are you doing? I am based in Australia so I use AUS cups. I have filled in all the measurements in grams in the recipe now. Having said that, I've had a stack of readers in the States make the cake using their own cup measures and it's worked out perfectly.
The short answer to using baking soda is this - ideally you use baking soda if the recipe requires it BUT if you're stuck and don't have any, you can swap it for baking powder. Baking soda is more powerful than baking powder so to swap it you will need around 2 tsp of baking powder for 1 teaspoon of baking soda. For this recipe I would try 1 tbsp of baking powder, total. I say this because you don't want to taste the baking powder but need the lift. I hope that helps 🙂 Let me know how you go!
Jess says
Amazing! Thanks so much Amanda! I look forward to making your recipe!
Amanda says
You're so welcome, Jess. I hope you enjoy it.
Melina Torno says
I am baking the cake right at the moment. So excited for it to be finished.
I only had one pan with 25cm... how long would you recommend baking it?
Amanda says
Hi Melina,
How did it go?! If all the batter is going in to a single pan, I would bake for around 45-50 minutes. If you can see through your oven door you will see the sides of the cake pulling away from the cake pan. That's a good indication that the cake is almost ready. The cake is totally done when a skewer comes out from the centre clean. I hope it worked out for you! x
Margie says
This recipe is absolutely the BEST chocolate cake recipe I’ve tried! I made a 7” two layer cake and 6 cupcakes. I could not believe how moist, light and fluffy the cake was ....so delicious! Thank you for this❤️
Amanda says
Oh, Margie. That's fantastic - you've made my day. I am so happy you love the cake and thank you for letting me know. x
Michelle says
I don't have any raw sugar... would plain white granulated work? And should I add the same amount or...?
Amanda says
Yes and yes, Michelle. White will be fine it will be sweeter is all. 🙂
Satvinder says
Can I just double the recipe & get the same results?
Amanda says
Hi Satvinder,
I haven't doubled the recipe myself but theoretically you can double most of the ingredients as long as you bake the batter in 2 of the size pans indicated in the recipe. However, you can't just double baking powder and soda. I would only use 2 and 3/4 tsp of baking soda and 1 tbsp of baking powder for the double recipe.
I hope that's helpful
A
Cindy Wall says
So good! And easy! 🙂 Perfectly moist. Perfect crumb. I did double the frosting.
Amanda says
Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know, Cindy. I am so happy you liked the cake and good to know about the frosting. I will make a note on the recipe that you may need more than one batch. Thank you! Have a great day.
Erin Walsh says
Hi, Do you grease or flour the pans at all?
Amanda says
Hi Erin!
Yes. I wrote to line the pans but didn't say what with! Sorry about that. I line my cake pans with baking paper (greaseproof paper) even if the pans are non-stick. Better safe than sorry.
Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Debra Murphy says
I have made a few vegan chocolate cakes and none come to this one. It is the perfect balance of moistness, sweetness and decadence. By FAR the best recipe I have tried. Brilliant!
Amanda says
I am smiling from ear to ear, Debra. Thanks so much for the feedback. x
Curt says
Is it Dutch Process cocoa?
Thanks
Amanda says
Hi Curt, I am in Australia and use a vegan cocoa from my local supermarket. Nothing fancy at all. The boiling water will bring out the chocolate flavour for you. 🙂
Maddy says
Wow! A chocolate cake for any celebration or day of the week. Made this for my partner and he is still raving about it. So glad I’ve found your blog!
Suzanne Lyons says
I’m in Boston USA. What is ‘wholemeal’ flour. Really want to make this cake. Thx. Hello to you and Australia!
Amanda says
G'day Suzanne! Wholemeal flour is wholewheat in the US. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll add a note to the recipe. I hope you love it.
My husband and I visited Boston a few years - great city!