This easy vegan chocolate cake is moist, rich and decadent but also so simple to make! It’s also extremely versatile for different pan sizes.
This recipe was originally published in 2015 and was one of the first recipes published on our blog. We have given it a makeover with some new photos and lots of extra tips and tricks. The recipe itself is unchanged.
This easy 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 it turns out.
It’s rich, moist, mega-chocolatey and topped with the simplest chocolate frosting that also really brings it with the chocolate flavor.
This is the easy route to popularity right here! Just whip up one of these babies for your friends and you’re it.
It’s also really flexible and you can make this cake in a variety of different cake pan sizes, as a layer cake or as a sheet cake. So basically, this cake has got a whole lot going for it.
What You Need To Make This Cake:
Ingredient Notes
- Soy milk – this can be replaced by another non-dairy milk such as almond milk.
- White vinegar – the white distilled vinegar reacts with the baking soda and causes the cake to rise. You can also use apple cider vinegar.
- Flax egg – making a flax egg is as simple as mixing 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds with 3 tablespoons of hot water and letting it sit until it becomes gloopy. If you don’t have any flaxseeds on hand, the same method can be used with chia seeds, or you can replace the flax egg with 3 tablespoons of applesauce.
- Canola oil – can be replaced with any vegetable oil.
What You Need To Make The Frosting:
Frosting Notes
We used our super simple recipe for vegan chocolate frosting on this cake. It makes the perfect amount to frost this cake in pretty much whatever size cake pans you use.
The other option for frosting is to make a half batch of our vegan chocolate buttercream frosting. The main difference in the recipe (the basic ingredients are the same) is a larger quantity of vegan butter.
The reason I recommend a half batch of the chocolate buttercream is because this is a fairly small cake, and our chocolate buttercream was created for a large two-layer 9-inch cake. So a half batch is usually sufficient for this recipe, no matter what cake pans you use.
If in doubt though you can make a full batch of the chocolate buttercream and just freeze whatever frosting you don’t use.
How To Make Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Sift all purpose flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and add sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
- Prepare your flax egg by mixing one tablespoon of ground flaxseeds with 3 tablespoons of hot water and let it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax egg, soy milk, vanilla extract, oil and vinegar to the mixing bowl and mix into a batter. Don’t overmix.
- Divide the batter between two 7-inch cake pans (see below for adapting this cake to different cake sizes) and smooth down.
- Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Frost with our vegan chocolate frosting or a half batch of our vegan chocolate buttercream frosting.
Adapting For Different Cake Sizes
This cake can be adapted for different cake sizes as follows:
- Three 6-inch round cake pans – bake for 20 minutes.
- Two 7-inch round cake pans – bake for 25 minutes.
- Two 8-inch round cake pans – bake for 20 minutes.
- One 9-inch round cake pan – bake for 30 minutes.
- 9×9 square cake pan – bake for 25 minutes.
- 9×13 sheet cake – bake for 15-20 minutes.
For a two layer 9-inch cake it’s best to double the recipe, and in that case the bake time will be 30 minutes.
Tips For Success
- Measure the flour correctly. Measure the flour correctly using the spoon and level method – spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup. Alternatively weigh it on a food scale.
- Don’t overmix the batter. Mix the batter until it’s just mixed and then stop mixing. Tiny lumps are fine. Overmixing can cause your cake to be dense or to not rise properly.
- Bake immediately. As soon as your batter is mixed, transfer to your cake pans and bake immediately. This is not a batter that should rest. If you don’t bake right away it can cause your cake to not rise.
Recipe FAQ
If you want to adapt this cake for gluten-free then we’ve done all the heavy lifting for you already. Check out our gluten-free chocolate cake that adapts this recipe beautifully to create a perfectly moist and delicious gluten-free version.
This recipe adapts beautifully to 12 perfect cupcakes. Bake them for 20 minutes. Or check out our classic vegan chocolate cupcakes.
Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay perfectly fresh 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.
Yes, it’s freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
More Delicious Vegan Cakes
- Vegan Vanilla Cake
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Banana Cake
- Vegan Pound Cake
- Vegan Apple Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
For the Vegan Chocolate Cake:
- 1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour (188g)
- ½ cup Cocoa Powder (43g) Unsweetened
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 Flax Egg 1 Tbsp Ground Flaxseeds + 3 Tbsp Hot Water*
- 1 cup Soy Milk (240ml) or other non-dairy milk
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ⅓ cup Canola Oil (80ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
Frosting Options:
- 1 Recipe Vegan Chocolate Frosting
- ½ Recipe Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray two 7-inch cake pans (see notes for different cake pan sizes*) with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper. Set aside.
- Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
- 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 flax egg, soy milk (or other non-dairy milk), vanilla extract, oil and vinegar to the mixing bowl and mix in. Don’t overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans.
- Place into the oven to bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the cake pans for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Frost with our vegan chocolate frosting or a half batch of our vegan chocolate buttercream frosting.
Notes
- Measure the flour correctly. Measure the flour correctly using the spoon and level method – spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup. Alternatively weigh it on a food scale.
- Flax egg. You can replace the flax egg with 3 Tablespoons of applesauce.
- Cake Sizes: This cake can be adapted for different cake sizes as follows:
- Three 6-inch round cake pans – bake for 20 minutes.
- Two 7-inch round cake pans – bake for 25 minutes.
- Two 8-inch round cake pans – bake for 20 minutes.
- One 9-inch round cake pan – bake for 30 minutes.
- 9×9 square cake pan – bake for 25 minutes.
- 9×13 sheet cake – bake for 15-20 minutes.
- Gluten-Free: If you want to adapt this cake for gluten-free then we’ve done all the heavy lifting for you already. Check out our gluten-free chocolate cake that adapts this recipe beautifully to create a perfectly moist and delicious gluten-free version.
- Cupcakes: This recipe adapts beautifully to 12 perfect cupcakes. Bake them for 20 minutes. Or check out our classic vegan chocolate cupcakes.
- Storing and Freezing: Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay perfectly fresh for a couple of days, or covered in the fridge where it will stay good for up to a week. It’s freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
- Nutritional information is for the cake only and excludes frosting. Nutritional information for the frostings can be found on those separate linked recipes.
- This recipe was first published in September 2015. It has been updated with new photos and lots of extra tips but the recipe itself is unchanged.
Made this for my daughter’s birthday last night and it was a huge hit. Even the carnivorous men in our family raved. They actually preferred it over “regular” cake. I made a vegan vanilla icing for it and topped it with strawberries. A new family favorite. Thank you!
Awesome! Happy to hear you and your family enjoyed the recipe Beth! Thanks so much for your great review!
Hi there! I was wondering if could get away with baking this cake in two six inch pans for a tall mini cake? I only have two pans unfortunately! Thanks so much 🙂
That should be fine Miranda! The baking time may be a bit longer so just keep an eye on that!
Thank you Nadine, it turned out perfectly ☺️
It was perfect, thank you ☺️ Will be a go to of mine from now on and we’re not even vegan! Thanks again
Yay! Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe and thanks so much for your great review!
This chocolate cake recipe is AMAZING 🤩 We are a family with vegans, non vegans & coeliacs and it’s the only chocolate recipe I use now. Everyone loves it, chocolate rush, moist and keeps well. I would give it 10 stars, if I could,
Caroline Mid Wales UK
Thank you so much for your wonderful review Caroline!
This was my first vegan recipe I have tried and it is so delicious! It was easy to mix together and took very little time. Everyone raved about the taste and how moist the cake was. This is a keeper of a recipe.
Awesome Beth! Thanks so much for the great review!
omg i just made this (like just taken out of the oven) and it smells soooooo good 🙂
It’s now my go-to recipe. So easy and yet delicious and vegan. I used naturli vegan block and the buttercream was wayyyy better then the non vegan buttercream, which I can’t stand!!!!
Awesome, so happy to hear that Nena!
This turned out great. At 9 p.m. the night before I needed this cake I discovered that I was out of oil, butter, and applesauce so I had to use canola mayo which I have never tried before. I remember when I was a kid my grandma made cake with mayonnaise. I used it in equal part for the oil. I did one and a half batches for 3 9-inch layers, which ended up an inch thick each. Next time I will double or maybe do 2 1/2 batch for those 3 pans. Decorated it with my favorite chocolate buttercream, ganache, gold dust and flowers! Thanks
Thanks for sharing Caitlyn, it sounds awesome!
Cake tasted good but each layer was very thin. I split this recipe between two 8 inch pans and it was about 3 inches tall. I would double the recipe in the future for it to come out anything like the picture.
Hi Juli, sorry to hear it came out too thin, the layers for 8-inch are a bit thin but still great, you may prefer making a three layer 6-inch cake which will be gorgeously tall. If you do double the recipe then it’s best to bake it in two 9-inch round cake layers. All the best!
I tried it this afternoon with no frosting and it was AMAZING!!! My family finished more than half of it a few hours after I took it out of the oven. 😂 Just a perfect soft moist and chocolaty cake. Even without the frosting it was still super good on its own.
That’s so awesome Jana, thanks so much for the wonderful review.
One of the few recipes I keep on file. I’m finding that each member of my family requests it when it’s their turn to pick their birthday dessert. I am awful in the kitchen, but this is one recipe that I can get right!
So happy to hear that Ali!
I swapped out the flour for gluten free self raising, and left out the baking soda. turned out amazing. My 4 year old sandwiched it with strawberry jam (UK), and topped with a cocoa powder/icing sugar/water icing and raspberries. Absolutely delicious! We’re making the cake again this weekend.
That’s awesome Katharine! Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review!
Hey Alison !!
Thank you so much for such a great recipe. Though you’ve given both cup and scale measurements, which one would you prefer for this cake recipe ?? Can i know which one did you use while making it ? Hoping for a reply from you…thank you <3:))
Hi Priya, it’s always preferable to use the gram weights if you have a food scale, that will result in perfect accuracy every time. We always weigh ingredients out when baking.
Thank you so much for your prompt reply Alison…Would definitely be making it ! Keep going with your amazing job.
This recipe is great and so easy! I used the recipe to make cupcakes for my birthday and they were successful.
Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks so much for the great review Grace!
Love this recipe! Super easy, the cake turned out perfectly and was delicious! I did 2 batches to fill 2 square 20cm tins and the thickness and texture was exactly what I wanted. Used it for a black forest cake, just filled and topped with cherries, plant based cream and dark chocolate. This will be my go to cake base. Thank you 🙂
Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing Renee!