My Perfect Vegan Chocolate Cake – It is a moist and decadent double chocolate cake with chocolate coconut whipped cream frosting. One bowl for the cake and one bowl for the frosting. Simple, easy and delicious! Dairy-free and gluten-free as always.
We are adding more and more chocolate recipes to our blog. Our first recipe was actually also a chocolate dessert, Vegan Snickers Cheesecake. Next up was our Decadent Chocolate Peach Galette. Have you seen our Vegan Sweet Potato Brownies recipe or our Vegan Chocolate Pudding recipe? If not, you should, they are divine.
⇒ GRAB YOUR FREE E-BOOK with our 10 most popular recipes by subscribing to our weekly newsletter today. ⇐
Let’s talk about this simple vegan chocolate cake
When we started eating plant-based, the first thing I wanted to make vegan and gluten-free was a chocolate cake. I can tell you that it wasn’t easy to come up with a decadent double chocolate cake recipe that meets ALL my requirements:
- Obviously, the cake has to be vegan and gluten-free.
- I don’t want to use any box flour mixes or hard-to-find ingredients.
- The cake part has to be moist, chocolatey but not crumbly.
- The frosting has to be easy and without any butter.
But all those experimenting paid off as this year finally I made the perfect double chocolate cake for my birthday. And nobody batted an eye on the fact that one slice was missing when I presented them the cake. Oh yes, the slice I needed to take a photo for this post. Exhibit A below. 🙂
Ingredients to make the perfect vegan chocolate cake
After trying and testing different flour mixes and combination, I ended up with the following 9 ingredients:
- oat flour -> it is easy to get, and close enough to wheat flour
- cocoa powder – a healthy alternative to chocolate chips
- coconut sugar – I love its natural caramelized sugar flavor
- peanut butter – we use homemade peanut butter (for nut-free, you can use Earth Balance butter)
- dairy-free milk – we use homemade cashew milk
- coconut oil – it is optional, but the cake will be less crumbly
- psyllium husk or ground flax/ground chia – egg substitute aka binder
- baking soda and apple cider vinegar – when these two are together they create a foam which lifts the cake up to be fluffy and not dense
And the result is a delicious, rich, vegan and gluten-free double chocolate cake, which checks all the boxes for me! Not to mention easy to make, so beginners can jump right into it.
You can turn it into a chocolate cupcake or a chocolate sheet cake easily without changing anything. I even made a Vegan Snickers Cheesecake with this cake batter for a chocolate sponge cake base.
How to make the best vegan chocolate cake?
Take a bowl and add all dry ingredients: oat flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, psyllium husk and baking soda (photo #1) and mix with a spatula or spoon (photo #2).
First add dairy-free milk (photo #3), then apple cider vinegar (photo #4) and mix thoroughly. Now add peanut butter (photo #5) and melted coconut oil (optional) and stir until you have a smooth cake batter (photo #6).
Take your cake pan and line it with parchment paper (photo #7) and pour in the cake batter. Try to make the top as even as you can (photo #8). Bake in a pre-heated oven on 350 Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for 30 minutes.
Adding vegan chocolate frosting
After you removed the baked caked from the oven, allow cooling for 10-15 minutes. Now, you can take your vegan chocolate cake out of the pan and the frosting can finally begin.
I HIGHLY recommend to frost this yummy vegan chocolate cake with this easy, 2-ingredient Paleo – Vegan Chocolate Frosting. It is actually a creamy, dreamy, light chocolate coconut whipped cream. Just heavenly!!! It makes this cake even more amazing.
Or alternatively, I use also this Paleo – Vegan Sweet Potato Chocolate Pudding recipe to frost brownies, cupcakes, and cakes. It is actually made of 4 ingredients including sweet potato puree.
Or if you prefer to have a classic vanilla buttecream frosting, try Nicole’s super easy, 4-ingredient Vegan Buttercream Frosting recipe.
Top tips to make a perfect gluten-free vegan chocolate cake
- Use a flour sifter or a fine-mesh strainer to sift oat flour and cocoa powder to avoid any lumps in your batter.
- If you use homemade peanut butter or oil-free store-bought one, we recommend adding a bit of melted coconut oil. Otherwise, you may end up a crumblier cake than you’d expected.
- Even if I use a removable button cake pan, I always use a non-stick parchment paper to make removing the cake easier.
FAQs and Subsitutions
Is oat flour gluten-free?
Yes and no. Not all oat flours have created equal, so make sure to use certified gluten-free oat flour and you are good to go.
How can I make a nut-free chocolate cake?
You can use Earth Balance vegan butter instead of peanut butter. And oat, soy, rice or coconut milk instead of nut milk.
Can I use different sweetener to make it low carb?
Probably yes, although I only tested this recipe with cane sugar and coconut sugar (the same amount is needed). Therefore, I am not familiar with the measurements for other sweeteners like stevia or erythritol. If you do, please let us know in the comments.
This Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe is dairy-free and egg-free. It is suitable for vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free diets.
⇒ GRAB YOUR FREE E-BOOK with our 10 most popular recipes by subscribing to our weekly newsletter today. ⇐
More dessert recipes
You can browse through our Vegan Gluten-free Dessert Recipes or check out
- Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Simple Plum Crumble with Walnut Oat Topping
- Vegan Tapioca Pudding
- Sweet Millet Balls
SAVE THIS RECIPE ON PINTEREST FOR LATER.
You can also find a collection of our recipes here on Pinterest.
TRIED THIS RECIPE? CAN WE SEE IT?
Please share a picture with us by uploading an image to Pinterest here below ours.
Vegan Chocolate Cake (Gluten-free)
Equipment
Ingredients
Vegan Chocolate Cake - Dry ingredients
- 1 cup Oat flour
- ¼ cup Cocoa powder
- ½ cup Coconut sugar
- 2 tsp Baking soda
- 1 Tbsp Psyllium Husk or ground flax / ground chia
Vegan Chocolate Cake - Wet ingredients
- ½ cup Dairy-free milk (I used store-bought oat milk) 1,2 dl
- 1 tsp Apple cider vinegar
- 3 Tbsp Peanut butter list of gluten-free peanut butters
- 3 Tbsp Apple sauce
- ¼ cup Sparkling water Freshly opened is the best
Vegan Chocolate Frosting
- 2 batches Homemade chocolate Coconut Whipped Cream that is 4 can
Instructions
- This recipe is to make a one-layer chocolate sponge cake base in a 9-inch cake pan. If you need double layer (like on the photos), double the recipe and bake them separately in two 9-inch cake pans.
- Mix dry ingredients - Take a glass bowl and add all dry ingredients: oat flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, psyllium husk (or ground flax seeds), and baking soda. Mix with a spatula or a spoon.
- Add dairy-free milk, sparkling water and apple cider vinegar to the dry mix and stir until you get a smooth batter.
- Add peanut butter (and optional melted coconut oil) and mix again.
- Line your cake pan with parchment paper and pour in the mixture. Try to make the top as even as you can.
- Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) and bake for 30 minutes.
- Wait for it to cool down before removing the chocolate cake from the baking pan.
- Frost you cake with this creamy, dreamy, 2-ingredient vegan chocolate frosting. It is easy if you use a silicone icing spatula or a butter knife. To have a decadent frosted cake, you need to count on 1 can per layer and 2 can for the sides. In total 2 batches of the frosting recipe. For more info including step photos and top tips, check out the frosting recipe.
Notes
- Use a flour sifter or a fine-mesh strainer to sift oat flour and cocoa powder to avoid any lumps in your batter.
- Even if I use a removable button cake pan, I always use a non-stick parchment paper to make removing the cake easier.
Jessica
This is a great recipe- the only thing is it’s a bit dry. Gotta say the ingredients are an investment! Sheesh! I’d definitely recommend this recipe! Give it a go.
My Pure Plants
Thank you so much for trying our recipe.
Rebecca
I made this cake and it turned out very tasty but it was incredibly crumbly. I see the sparkling water in the ingredients list but not in the directions so I omitted it. Perhaps this is where I went wrong.
My Pure Plants
Not sure, but you are correct that it was missing from the instructions steps. It was supposed to be added at the same time as the milk.
Felicith
I tried making this cake for my birthday. It is my first vegan gluten free cake but I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out terrible. It tastes of baking soda and there is a fizzing feeling in my mouth after eating it. The cake is very dry too. Don’t make this if you want to eat something edible.
My Pure Plants
Hi Felicith, We are sorry that you had a bad experience with our recipe. Some of the comments we have received saying the same thing as you, but there were some who liked the recipe. To improve this ratio, we re-tested the recipe with a new amount of baking soda and ACV. We also added apple sauce to make a cake moister.
Chase Seamans
Made the cake, and maybe it’s just the ingredients but it was kind of a let down. I am a plant based guy so that’s why I tried this.
It may be too much baking soda????
Overall all the video is helpful and the ingredients are easy to use, but we didn’t like the taste and we didn’t feel good after eating it.
My Pure Plants
Chase, we are sorry that you had a bad experience with our recipe. It seems half of the feedbacks is similar to yours, the other half likes the recipe. To improve this ratio, we re-tested the recipe with a new amount of baking soda and ACV. We also added apple sauce to make a cake moister.
Penelope Moss
Just made this, should’ve trusted the other comments. It tasted like baking soda and cocoa powder. The only redeeming quality was the icing which I made myself (I didn’t follow your recipe). I hate to be harsh, but I followed the recipe to a T!!! I should be able to follow a recipe and get decent results, but this is inedible. I watched the video, I read the recipe…where did I go wrong?! Should’ve been alarmed at the amount of baking soda…this might be a typo? Needs more sweetner, and very dry despite using coconut oil. Looked delicious in the picture, very disappointed that mine tasted terrible. Thank you.
I was initially intrigued that this recipe didn’t require any exotic ingredients like potato startch or xantham gum, just wish it worked.
My Pure Plants
I am sorry to hear that. There are indeed some people who said that they can taste the baking soda, while others couldn’t.
EP
I used 1 tea spoon instead of one table spoon of baking soda and also less vinegar, I also added 1 egg and cooking cream instead of the coconut oil (I’m not vegan). Now it’s good 🙂
Alexis
I have no idea what went wrong. I double checked and followed the directions to a T. It was super dry and there was way too much cocoa powder taste. Fell apart.
My Pure Plants
I am so sorry to hear that. Would you mind letting me know which egg replacer did you choose? Did you make it with homemade peanut butter and coconut oil or store-bought peanut butter?
Jennifer Butler Basile
My batter did *not* pour; very thick. Trying to figure out whether I did something wrong ?
My Pure Plants
The batter should be a bit thick yes. You can check the consistency on the video. I use a spatula to spread the batter evenly. Did you sub any ingredients?
Ravneet
Hi.. isn’t 1 tbsp baking soda too much.?
My Pure Plants
I tried with less (1 tsp), but it didn’t raise as much as I would have liked it.
Sheila
This cake looks so good. Thanks so much for sharing. I wonder what you think of substituting almond flour for the oat flour (I’m allergic)? Thanks again.
My Pure Plants
Hi Sheila, I haven’t tested it with almond flour. I would rather try a rice flour – tapioca starch combination (3/4 cup – 1/4 cup) or a GF all-purpose flour blend like Cup 4 Cup. If you make it, let me know which version worked for you. I’d love to add other flour combinations to the recipe.
Kathyjo
Does the peanut butter flavor come through in the cake? Can it be left out completely? It looks fantastic but the person I am making it for does not want peanut butter flavor, just chocolate.
My Pure Plants
Absolutely no peanut butter taste! It is pure chocolate.
Deepika
Can I replace coconut sugar with regular sugar?
My Pure Plants
Yes, you can. The only difference is that I find coconut sugar is less sweet, so if you use the same amount from regular sugar, the cake will be a little bit sweeter.
Andrea
I never would have guessed this is a vegan chocolate cake! I love that you used oat flour, cashew milk and peanut butter. Yum!
My Pure Plants
Thank you. Those are my favorite ingredients.
Caroline
Looks like this cake has a great texture, which is what can often be a challenge. And love the baking soda/cider vinegar tip.
My Pure Plants
Thank you. And yes, the apple cider vinegar is such a nifty little ingredient.
Jessica Formicola
This cake is perfection! I can’t wait to try it. I will definitely be making this weekend!
My Pure Plants
Thanks. Be sure to let us know how you like it.
Carrie | Clean Eating Kitchen
The texture of this cake looks amazing – I can’t quite believe it’s GF! Thanks for sharing, can’t wait to try it!
My Pure Plants
Thank you so much. Be sure to let us know how you like it.
Julia
I would have never guessed this cake is vegan! Most of them are quite dense but this one looks so light!
My Pure Plants
Yes, I was aiming for light. I hate when you need a knife to cut a bite because the gluten-free cake is so dry and dense.