Rich and decadent vegan chocolate cake that is also so simple and easy to make! Moist, mega chocolatey and as totally divine as a chocolate cake can be!
This classic vegan chocolate cake is the bomb diggity!
Not only is it super easy to make, but I’m actually convinced it is flop proof! You’re going to love the simplicity of the ingredients and how well this cake comes out!
Now, there’s a particular word that I just have to use to describe it, but it’s a word that some people just hate, hahaha. That word is: moist.
Gosh, I use this word ALL the time, because cakes gotta be moist yo!
Yes, this cake is moist. There’s just no other way to say it, and honestly it’s fantastic. You will just love how moist it is!
This is due to the oil in the cake which you’re able to keep to a minimum in this recipe, while still reaching that perfect state of moistness, which actually…..is just exactly what you want in a cake.
A classic chocolate sponge cake
This is really a classic vegan chocolate cake in the sense that it’s light and fluffy and…well, spongey! In a delicious way.
It’s also rich, tall (two layers), dark and pretty damn handsome too! Not to mention velvety and chocolatey.
Paired with a velvety vegan chocolate frosting and drizzled with melted vegan chocolate and lots of vegan chocolate chips, this is a chocolate cake you’ll remember – and so will all your friends!
This is the easy route to popularity right here! Just whip up one of these babies for your friends and you’re it!
How to make this classic vegan chocolate cake
Did I mention how EASY it is to make?
There are no unnecessary extra steps involved in this vegan chocolate cake.
If you have flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda and salt for your dry ingredients and some ground flaxseed meal (for making a flax egg), soy milk (or other non-dairy milk is fine too), some vanilla extract, vegetable oil and vinegar on hand, then you have all you need to make this delicious cake.
It’s just a case of throwing in all the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl, then adding in all the wet ingredients, and whisking them up together.
Then you just pour the batter out into greased and parchment lined 7 inch cake pans (see notes below for larger cake pan sizes) and bake for 30 minutes!
Frosting and Decorating
The frosting is just a mix of powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vegan butter, vanilla extract and soy milk (or other non-dairy milk of your choice).
As soon as the cakes are baked you just have to constrain your glee for a bit while they cool down, and then you get to do the super fun frosting part.
And then the even more fun part of throwing melted chocolate all over it in a messy, but gorgeous, fashion. And then add lots of chocolate chips on top of that. Because dessert. ?
Adapting for different cake sizes
This cake will easily adapt to 6-inch cake tins as well, it would just be a little taller. No other changes would be necessary.
However, if you want to make an 8-inch or 9-inch cake, then check out our vegan German chocolate cake.
The cake layers for that cake (not the filling and topping) are a direct adaptation of this cake and work great for both 8-inch and 9-inch cake pans with the same cooking time of 30 minutes.
We also have another chocolate cake, which we arrogantly called ‘the best’ which also can be made in either 8-inch or 9-inch cake pans but that recipe is different to this one and not a direct adaptation, but oh my is it good!
I recommend you make both! This classic vegan chocolate cake and the one I called the best chocolate cake.
Also check out our vegan chocolate fudge cake which is a 9-inch beauty as you’ll love that too not to mention our vegan chocolate sheet cake and vegan chocolate zucchini cake!
What about gluten-free?
If you want to adapt this cake to gluten-free then we’ve done all the heavy lifting for you already.
Check out our gluten-free vegan chocolate cake that adapts this recipe beautifully to create a perfectly moist and delicious gluten-free version.
You’ll love this vegan chocolate cake for so many reasons but particularly because it is:
- Ultra rich
- Moist
- Chocolatey
- Decadent
- Soooo easy
Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay perfectly delightful for a couple of days, or covered in the fridge where it will stay good for up to a week, though it’s at its absolute best in the first couple of days when it’s ultra fresh.
Want more vegan cakes?
We’ve got the goods for you! Check out these awesome vegan cake recipes:
- Vegan Vanilla Cake
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Banana Cake
- Vegan Pound Cake
- Vegan Apple Cake
And heaps more!
So what do you think of this fabulous vegan chocolate cake? Please let us know in the comments and please do rate the recipe too as this is so helpful! Thank you!
Sign up to our email list as well while you’re here, you’ll get a free awesome recipe ebook as well as being the first to know whenever a new recipe is posted to the blog!
Classic Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: 10
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Ultra rich and decadent vegan chocolate cake that is also so simple and easy to make! Moist, mega chocolatey and as totally divine as a chocolate cake can be!
Ingredients
For the Vegan Chocolate Cake:
- 1 and 1/2 cups (190g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 cup (42g) Cocoa Powder (Unsweetened)
- 1 cup (200g) White Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 cup (240ml) Soy Milk (or Almond Milk)*
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/3 cup (80ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil*
- 1 Tbsp White Vinegar (or Apple Cider Vinegar)
- 1 Flax Egg*
For the Chocolate Frosting:
- 3 and 3/4 cups (450g) Powdered Sugar
- 4 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (Unsweetened)
- 3 Tbsp (45g) Vegan Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 5 Tbsp Soy Milk (or Almond Milk)*
For Decoration:
- Vegan Chocolate (Melted)
- Vegan Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray two 7-inch cake pans with non-stick spray (or grease them with coconut oil) and then line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper. Set aside.
- Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl.
- Add the sugar, baking soda and salt.
- Prepare your flax egg by mixing one tablespoon of flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons of hot water and leave to sit for a minute or so to become gloopy.
- Add your soy milk (or other non-dairy milk), vanilla extract, oil, vinegar and flax egg to the mixing bowl.
- Whisk with a hand whisk until well combined, but be careful not to overmix, just mix until large lumps are gone, small lumps are fine.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake tins.
- Place into the oven to bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vegan butter, vanilla extract and half of the soy milk to the bowl of an electric mixer.
- Start at low speed and then gradually increase speed. Add more soy milk as needed until you reach the right consistency. Depending on the brand of vegan butter that you use, you may need less soy milk than I used (I used the full 5 Tbsp) or you may even need a small amount more.
- If your frosting still turns out too thin, add a little more powdered sugar, if it is too thick, add soy milk a drop at a time until you reach the right consistency. It should be very thick but still spreadable.
- Frost the cake and then decorate with drizzles of melted chocolate and chocolate chips (optional).
Notes
*I have tested this recipe with soy milk and almond milk. I think coconut milk would also work perfectly. I have not tested coconut milk with this cake but I have tested it in other cakes. I am pretty sure that any non-dairy milk would work fine here.
*You can use any vegetable oil in this recipe. Canola oil also works great. If you want to use coconut oil then make sure it’s melted first.
*You can substitute 3 Tbsp applesauce for the flax egg if you prefer.
*The cake tins used in this recipe are 7 inches round. If you want to adapt this recipe to different cake sizes then see my notes about this in the blog post above.
*Weigh your flour for the most accurate results as this is usually a tricky measure to get exactly right without weighing.
*Chocolate Frosting is from this recipe.
*Nutrition information includes frosting but excludes melted chocolate decorations.
*Recipe inspired by Vegan Baking
*This recipe was updated – the original version contained whipped coconut cream in the center, but the cake recipe is identical. If you want to make it the way it was originally, all you need to do is use whipped coconut cream in the center, and make only half of the chocolate frosting recipe to use on top. Decorate the cake with fresh blueberries and dollops of whipped cream.
- Category: Dessert, Baking
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice (of 10)
- Calories: 436
- Sugar: 64.2g
- Sodium: 310mg
- Fat: 11g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 84.4g
- Fiber: 3.1g
- Protein: 4.3g
Keywords: vegan chocolate cake
I absolutely love this recipe!! The cake turned out so moist and fudgy like a brownie. Made it for my grandsons birthday today. Hes gonna LOVE it!
Chocolate cakes are usually so dry and crumbly, at least in my experience…but this one is far from it. Been baking specialty cakes for over 20 years, and this one is definitely a keeper. Thanks for the recipe!!
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks so much Donna. 🙂
Been veg over 20 years and this is one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve had. Can’t believe I made this delicious, moist, decadent cake. Made it for my bff’s birthday and it was a hit. My husband is omni, and he was even licking the spoon of the frosting. Used a bundt pan and it came out wonderfully. Thank you!
★★★★★
So happy to hear that! Thanks so much for sharing and the awesome review MJ! 🙂
Hi there!
I made these cakes completely by the recipe and they barely rose and are really flat. How could I have gone wrong? I baked them in my small top oven as my bottom oven is a fan assisted one. Could that have made a difference? Please advise!
Many thanks!
Hi Rachel, did you use 7-inch cake pans? Is your top oven a regular oven? Have you baked cakes in it before? I’d love to have more info.
Hi Alison.
Yes I used 7 inch tins. I even tried again in my fan oven but had the same problem. There wasn’t very much batter at all in each tin. I feel like 1tsp of raising agent between the two cakes isn’t enough? I have just realised however that I used baking powder instead of bicarbonate of soda (I’m in the UK) so maybe that’s the problem??
Many thanks!
Hi Rachel, the problem is definitely using baking powder instead of baking soda (bicarb), baking soda is MUCH stronger than baking powder, and this recipe uses vinegar to react with the baking soda (it won’t do anything with the baking powder) to cause it to rise. So this is 100% the issue. If you switch for baking soda you will have a much different result. all the best! 🙂
My only issue is that I have to wait till tomorrow to taste the cake. I’ve already sampled the frosting and OMG sugar fix! Other than that, this is the easiest cake I’ve baked. Since I used 8” square pans, I used your German chocolate cake recipe. The cakes rose beautiful and I even used my fresh vegan butter from your recipe. I used coconut milk in the cake, frosting and butter and I know it’s going to be divine! Thank you for an easy recipe. Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦
★★★★★
Sounds awesome Lynley! Thanks so much for sharing and the wonderful review! 🙂
Hi, I’m looking for a vegan cake for my daughter but also need to be gluten free. This one looks so delicious. Do you think that it would be fine if I use gluten free all purpose flour? Thank you!!!
Hi Vanessa, we do have a gluten free chocolate cake recipe that is very similar to this one. 🙂
I have spent over a year-and-a-half trying to find the perfect recipe for cake for my egg allergic daughter and I finally found it! I just made these as cupcakes and they’re perfect. We aren’t vegan, so I just used regular buttermilk and they were amazing. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen my 4 year old eat an entire cupcake. Thank you thank you!! Are there any other cake recipes you recommend? I could really use some go to for white or yellow and lemon cake. Or anything else really! I’m so excited!
★★★★★
I just realized I posted this on the wrong recipe, it should be on the best vegan chocolate cake recipe. Sorry!
I am looking for a dark choc cake recipe. Do you think I could use your recipe and use dark cocoa in place of reg to get the dark choc results?
Hi Heather, yes I think you could do that, swap the cocoa for dark cocoa and the color would be much darker and the taste would be more dark chocolate. All the best! 🙂
This was my first time making a vegan cake and it turned out so moist and delicious. I used oat milk and didn’t include the any vinegar and it still turned out great. Will definitely make it again. Thank you!
★★★★★
So happy to hear that Nat! Thanks so much for the wonderful review. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. I made this cake for my daughter’s birthday. Made few changes. Replaced soy milk with hot water with added 1/2 tsp of instant coffee, replaced vinegar with lemon juice and added 1/2 tsp of baking powder too. It turned out just great. Thank again.😊
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for the wonderful rating! 🙂
I have made this chocolate cake many times and it always comes out so tasty. My Vegan son always requests this for his birthday cake and he is 29 years old. In fact one is baking in the oven at this moment.
★★★★★
Fantastic to hear that! Thanks so much for the wonderful review Beverly!
Thanks for the recipe! Seems EXTREMELY straightforward! Going to try make it this weekend for my mum’s birthday. One question: will chia seeds instead of flax work as a substitute? Thanks!!
★★★★★
Hi Danielle, you can make a chia egg the same way you make a flax egg and it works the same way, so if that’s easier for you, you can do it that way. All the best! 🙂
Another winner! This is so good. My family have recently turned vegan so this was going to be our first attempt at a vegan birthday cake. My daughter and I made this for my husband’s birthday (he’s a chocolate lover). I didn’t have any flaxseed so I used vegan egg replacement powder with the same amount of water you suggested. I also made only a quarter of the frosting and used it in the middle of the cake, as we don’t like things too sweet. It turned out perfectly. We served with homemade blueberry compote. This is going to be our family’s celebration cake from now on! Thank you so much. We really are loving it vegan too ?
★★★★★
Wonderful! Thanks so much for the fantastic review! Thanks for sharing your adjustments, so happy to hear it was a success. xo
This recipe has a lot of wiggle room. I used water rather than the soy or almond milks, no flax egg, and I only had 3 1/4 cups of powdered sugar. I baked at 375 for until a toothpick came out clean. It tastes just like a chocolate cake to me. There was enough frosting to cover. Thanks. It is for a neighbor’s birthday.
Awesome! So glad it worked out, thanks for sharing. 🙂
Also will this work in a bread loaf pan? I want to try your recipe because yours calls for soymilk (the other uses water) and just like 2 other measurement differences for a couple of the ingredients. and while the other is really really good, yours sounds like it had more richness to it! I’m excited to give it a try!
If you leave out the flax egg, you will need to replace it with something, even some extra soy milk. It has not been tested that way though, so I don’t know. Should be fine though I reckon. In a loaf pan, the baking time will be longer, even up to an hour. You’ll have to keep a check and perhaps tent with foil in the last 20 minutes or so to prevent over-browning on top.
I cant wait to make this! It’s similar to one I’ve made before. The one I made before tho had all the same ingredients except for the flax egg. Have you tried it without the flax egg (and w/o the applesauce)? Do you think it will hold up ok without it?
I haven’t even made this yet, but I have high hopes. I recently became vegan and am really pumped up to use this, because I loved to bake! I’m happy there are so many cruelty-free recipes online and was thrilled to find this! Thanks!
★★★★★
Awesome! Hope you’ll love it! Thanks for posting. 🙂
I m not a professional baker but the recipe is soo easy and soo good that I just can’t go wrong with this one..
Superb results.. lovely cake ..
★★★★★
So happy to hear that! Thanks for the awesome review. 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve made it many many times for my non-vegan friends and they all love it and keep talking about it!! Will make it again this weekend for some other friends!
So happy to hear! Thanks Sandra! 🙂
Loved it! After trying your vanilla cake recipe I had high hopes for this one, and it was bomb. Flavour and texture on point. 😀
★★★★★
Wonderful! So happy you liked it, and thanks for the amazing review! 🙂
I’m testing a bunch of vegan recipes to cater my daughter’s birthday as we have a number of little friends who are vegan or have egg allergies. This recipe is AMAZING. I made the following subs and made this as cupcakes and mini cupcakes : water instead of soy milk. Malt vinegar. Coconut oil.
This cake is the perfect texture. I think it will become my go to cake in future! I’ll be making the sheet cake quantities to make a layer cake. Can’t wait for everyone to try it! Thank you for such great recipes!
★★★★★
Thanks so much for the amazing review Shiana! So happy you enjoyed it! 🙂