Gretchen's Vegan Bakery

The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake

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I  can’t share a recipe for The Best Vegan Vanilla Cake without also sharing a recipe for The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake right?!

So here it is, my most sought after recipe for chocolate fudge cake exactly the same way I made it when I had my bakery, except this time around it is completely vegan!

Moist layers of chocolate cake filled and iced with thick fudge icing.


The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake

This cake is a very simple one to make especially because the cake recipe itself doesn’t require a mixer, it’s a one bowl mix and away you go!

I use this recipe for pretty much everything I make that is chocolate, I just love it that much!

It bakes up into perfect cupcakes if that is more your style, and the fudge icing is just divine!

Vegan Fudge Cupcakes

So for those in need of a perfect chocolate cake every time, you are in luck!

This is the same chocolate cake I showed in my recent course for how to replace eggs in your vegan recipes.

If you are interested to learn more about the science of vegan baking just click here to check out Vegan Baking Mastery and join the rest of the group and you too will be able to convert your favorite recipes to vegan by learning the science behind egg replacers.


5.0 from 1 reviews
The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
 
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I am making 3- 7" cake layers but you can instead make 2-8" if you only have 8" pans
Serves: serves 8- 10 people
Ingredients
  • For the Cake Recipe
  • All Purpose Flour 2 cups (250g)
  • Cake Flour 1 cup (120g)
  • Natural Cocoa Powder 8 Tablespoons
  • Granulated Sugar 2 cups (400g)
  • Salt 1 teaspoon (6g)
  • Baking Soda 2 teaspoons
  • Apple Cider Vinegar 2 teaspoons
  • Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons
  • Vegetable Oil ¾ cup (177ml)
  • Strong Brewed Coffee 2 cups
  • For the Fudge Recipe
  • Granulated Sugar 5 Tablespoons (63g)
  • Water 5 Tablespoons (75ml)
  • Corn Syrup 2 Tablespoons (40g) (30ml)
  • Unsweetened Cocoa Powder 1 Cup (90g)
  • Vegetable Oil 2 Tablespoons (27g) (30ml)
  • Solid Vegetable Shortening 2 Tablespoons (25g)
  • Corn Syrup 4 Tablespoons (80g) (60ml)
  • * you can sub glucose, agave or golden syrup here
  • Vegan Butter softened 8 ounces (2 Sticks) (226g)
  • Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons
  • Confectioner's Sugar or Icing Sugar 2 lbs (8 cups) (900g)
  • Cold Water 4-6 Tablespoons to adjust the consistency
Instructions
  1. For the cake: Sift both flours, baking soda, salt, and sugar together in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Combine the natural cocoa powder with the hot coffee and then add the vinegar, oil and the vanilla extract.
  3. Pour the wet ingredients into the sifted dry ingredients and whisk vigorously with a hand whisk until smooth (about 15 -20 strokes)
  4. Pour batter into greased and parchment lined 7" x 2" cake pans
  5. Bake immediately in a preheated 350°f oven for approximately 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs
  6. Meanwhile prepare the fudge icing: In a small pot on the stove, combine the first 3 ingredients and bring to a boil for about 2-3 minutes then pour into a bowl and allow to sit in the freezer to rapid cool while you gather the other ingredients.
  7. In the bowl of your Kitchen Aid mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl with a hand blender, add the cocoa powder and cooled but still warm simple syrup and mix until it forms a firm mass.
  8. Add the vanilla extract
  9. Add the Vegetable or Melted Coconut Oil and the corn syrup
  10. Next add the softened vegan butter and the solid vegetable shortening and mix well..
  11. Add the sifted confectioners sugar and mix until smooth.
  12. Slowly add some of the cold water about 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency
  13. Build the cake as per the video tutorial

The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake

 

 

 

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I can’t seem to find natural cocoa powder where I live, is there a way I could alter this recipe so that i can use dutch cocoa powder? I know it has something to do with the baking soda which is why the recipe uses natural cocoa? Thanks 🙂

    Reply

      • yeah i’ve never seen it anywhere! most brands i can find in stores say dutch processed, and then others don’t say anything so I just assume they’re dutch too. I’ll try the recommendation of adding baking powder in your post and see how it goes 🙂 thanks!!

        Reply

          • Cacao powder is natural but it is processed by cold pressing, vs cocoa powder that is processed (roasted) under high temperature, so the nutrients are left in tact by using Cacao it is considered a Superfood

      • Gluten free and vegan isn’t straight up but with this recipe I’d start by adding a scant 1/2 tsp xantham gum, use GF all purpose in place of both flours, but remove 2 tbsp and replace with 2 tbsp of cornstarch and add 1tsp baking soda, sift your dry ingredients 3-4 times to ensure they’re well combined.

        I’m yet to try the recipe but this is my usual go process to convert to gluten free

        Reply

  4. hi, if one wanted to change this recipe to make a simple vanilla (white) cake, could the cocoa powder be replaced with more flour and the coffee with water or plant milk? thanks.?

    Reply

  5. Hi, we do not have cake flour in Europe (maybe it can be found in the UK). Should I just add another cup of plain flour instead? Any suggestion on how to replace cake flour? Thanks, Sonia

    Reply

  6. Hi, sorry if I have misread the recipe… is the ganache an alternative topping to the fudge icing? Or is it used elsewhere and I have missed the reference to it?
    Looking forward to making this cake this afternoon 🙂

    Reply

    • Sorry! Someone else brought that to my attention! Im not sure how I added that part in by accident! Sorry! (But YES you can use ganache as a less sweet, more sophisticated option to the fudge icing)

      Reply

  7. Thanks for all your hard work on here! Two questions 1) where does the ganache go? 2)My icing turned out grainy and dull – I used the gram measurements but it is not as silky as yours looks in the video, what could I have done wrong?

    Reply

    • Hi Jan! Woops! thanks for bringing that to my attention! Not sure how that ganache recipe got in there! LOL
      AS for the fudge, I have found that using Hershey’s Dark Blend cocoa gives a dull appearance, not sure if you used that?
      I keep kicking myself every time I buy that because it’s just really weird and have a gray look, for anything I used that is NOT baked, like icings etc…
      Like buttercream, the fudge icing is another emulsion of sorts.. I’ve had this recipe break on me once, and found I was just going too fast in the mixing (the adding of ingredients rather..)
      But by adding a tables spoon at a time of warm water while mixing, this can be corrected.
      Similarly after I’ve refrigerated it and try to remixit, it will seem grainy and dull, but I bring it to room temperature and then add a tablespoon of warm water and it gets shiny again

      Reply

      • Thanks for your response, that’s exactly what I used – Hershey’s! The icing tastes great but it’s so dull – will do as suggested and see if that works!

        Reply

  8. Hi Gretchen,
    You are a superstar. Made this cake before I went to work, presented it and the staff devoured it in about three minutes. One of the staff said” You always have the best special cakes” I told them I have the best teacher who has done all the hard work for me to be able to present this for you.
    So many people in Aussy that have allergies to food so this is just perfect.
    Your hard work pays off. Thank you

    Reply

  9. I have just done the chocolate sponge which turned out great, to freeze for building on Thursday for our Macmillan coffee morning. I will be attempting the piña colada layer cake from your wonderful book tomorrow, can you tell me if you need to strain the crushed pineapple as there is usually a lot of juice in the can?

    Reply

  10. Hi Gretchen, would this cake be suitable for a black forest cake? If so, by how much should I increase the recipe for a 9×13 cake?

    Reply

  11. Hey gretchen! This cake looks insane! I just had a question though, do you think I could do 1/2 cup oil and 1/4 applesauce to cut the fat a bit? And replace the 2 cups of coffee with 1 cup boiling water and 1 cup buttermilk ?(vegan of course) Thank you!

    Reply

  12. Hi Gretchen – made this cake today- cake part worked fine but with the frosting I ended up with bits of the cocoa powder/syrup mix all through it. Wondering what I may have done wrong? I did mix the cocoa powder with the syrup until firm but could I have over or under done that part? Thanks 🙂

    Reply

  13. How would replacing the oil for butter in this recipe, provided I adjust the amount for the water content etc, change the texture of the cake?

    Reply

    • yes vegan butter is technically margarine. The main differences I see from brand to brand are the moisture contents. I do prefer Earth balance but I often use Fleishmanns (as it is much cheaper and works very good as well!)

      Reply

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