Vegan Chocolate Cake
This is THE BEST Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe that you will ever find! It's rich and decadent and perfect for holiday baking.
Servings: 10 servings
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 ½ cups of all purpose flour
- 1 ¾ cups of organic cane sugar or granulated sugar
- ¾ cup of cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoons of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of espresso powder
- ⅔ cup of melted coconut oil get unrefined if you want it to be virtually tasteless, vegetable or coanola oil also work
- 1 ½ tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- ½ teaspoon of almond extract
- 1 ½ cups of milk any kind works here (I tested it with almond milk and regular dairy milk), at room temperature*
- ½ cup of apple sauce unsweetened at room temperature*
For the frosting:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup vegan butter
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 4 tbs milk
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F and generously spray 2 cake pans with cooking spray. I used 8x8 pans but 9x9 will also work.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir together the apple cider vinegar and milk. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl with an electric mixer or even just a whisk), combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder. Mix.
- Add in the oil, milk/ apple cider vinegar mixture, vanilla, almond extract, and apple sauce. Mix until just combined (be careful not to over mix), scrapping down the sides as needed.
- Pour the batter evenly between your 2 cake pans and bake for 33-38 minutes. Mine were perfect around 35 minutes but you'll know they're done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting. Optional: cut the dome off of the cake so that the top is flat.
- Make the frosting by combining all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk (I used an electric mixer) until it becomes lighter in color and is fluffy and creamy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Layer the cake by placing one of the cake rounds on a cake stand and icing the top. Place the other cake round on top and ice the entire cake with a thin layer of the icing to create a crumb layer. Using the rest of the icing, spread it out evenly all around the cake.
- Slice and ENJOY!
Notes
*I've found that putting cold milk and apple sauce into the mixture makes it so that the cake sinks down in the middle just a little. It will still taste great though.
