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.
Luciana says
Hi Alison and Jaye! I am Luciana from Argentina, but I am living in Toronto, Canada since one and half year ago, with my boyfriend and our doggy Luna. You are amazing guys! My argentinian friends will be happy to know you! ( We have a Whatsapps Group to share vegan recipes, the name is the Food Revolution haha) Thank you very much for who you are guys! with love, Lu!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Luciana! Awesome to hear from you and glad you found our blog! Thanks so much for your kind words, very much appreciated! 🙂
Jackie says
I LOVE this recipe! I made it for my husband’s birthday! I’m not sure what size my cake pans are, but as I was filing them, it was really obvious there wasn’t enough batter for two layers. I quickly scraped it all into one pan. It baked with no issues, and came out a little over 2″ tall. After it cooled, I cut it in half with a serrated knife to make layers! I then filled the middle with chocolate hazelnut spread. To save calories, I made half of the frosting and only frosted the top of the cake. The frosting is WONDERFUL, but I hardly ever eat sugar, so less is better for me. I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of white (it’s what I had) and used coconut sugar instead of white. Even with the whole wheat flour, the cake was light! So moist, too. I suggest splurging on a really good cocoa powder.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jackie, that sounds awesome, thanks for sharing your adjustments!
Grace says
This recipe is amazing!
I made it for my pops b’day.
beautiful and fluffy. Moist perfect!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome, thanks Grace! So glad you enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
Irene says
hello again, i have a question as well for this one. why are you using flax egg in the chocolate cake and not using it in your white cake and vanila cake? whats the difference here? Can we skip it from this recipe? cant we use a little bit more of vinegar instead? thanks again.
Alison Andrews says
I sometimes use flax eggs and sometimes don’t. They are not required in a cake recipe, but can be nice to use as well. When I have created a recipe that does use a flax egg then it is important to the recipe and can’t just be omitted without replacing with something else and then that’s at your own risk. 🙂 Definitely don’t use more vinegar though that wouldn’t be nice. If you want to try other replacements then something like applesauce can be a swap for this.
MomoG says
Could the recipe be doubled?
I need to make a large sheet-cake birthday cake for my daughter’special day…
This recipe looks really simple,which is what i want this year 😉
Alison Andrews says
Hi, I have made a sheet cake version of this already! 🙂
Linda says
I made this for my daughters work, where majority of workers there are vegan, they couldn’t believe it was a vegan cake, many thanks and I personally loved the cake, I made three cakes to give it some height, covered in that gorgeous vegan buttercream ❤️Topped with strawberry’s.
Alison Andrews says
That’s wonderful Linda, always so great when vegan cakes are indistinguishable from ‘regular’ cakes. Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Lisajane says
Hello
I made this the other night.
I used apple sauce instead of Fax Egg
Apple Cider Vinegar instead of Vinegar,
Self Raising Flour instead of Plan Flour,
Brown rice syrup instead of Sugar,
Almond Milk instead of Soy Milk
Cacao Powder instead of Cocoa
The taste of the cake was bitter. Cake was moist though..
Can you please let me know why the bitterness.
Thanks
Ray says
Sorry! I just saw this link, https://lovingitvegan.com/chocolate-sheet-cake-with-chocolate-fudge-frosting/
Would the fudge frosting on the sheet cake be better than this frosting in 90 degree weather? I am personally not a fan of fudge because its too thick to my liking and would prefer this frosting but if you think it will hold up better in the high temperature, i would go with it. Thanks again.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Ray, I think the fudge frosting would hold up better since it’s super thick, though both should really hold up especially since it’s a sheet cake so you’re not piping it or anything. Hope it goes super well! 🙂
Ray says
We just made the cake! The cake was delicious and moist. Only critque we received was that the icing was too sweet and thick. Is there a way to make it less sweet and more airy?
Ray says
Hi Alison,
Thanks for posting this. I am going to try to make this cake for my daughters birthday but we have 70 guests (30 are 5 and under) coming. I am planning to use 2 sheet trays, 12 x 18″ at 2 inch deep. This will be my first time baking a cake so i am not sure if i should do 2 inches or 1 inch for each layer. What do you recommend? (The temperature will be in the 90s if that matters). Also, do you know what the measurements would be for this size cake?
Thanks so much
Khlood says
Looks amazing ! What type of sugar did you use? Can I use coconut sugar?
Alison Andrews says
I haven’t made it with coconut sugar, but since it’s also a granulated sugar it should work fine as a straight swap.
federica says
Can I use maple syrup instead of sugar? should I use the same amount or lowering at 100gr?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Frederica, maple syrup is a wet ingredient so if you swapped the sugar for maple syrup the whole recipe would need to be adjusted, since I haven’t ever made it this way I can’t advise.
Stephanie says
I don’t typically leave reviews but this cake is so decadent I just had to leave a note and tell you how much I love it. My whole family loves it for that matter. Incredible recipe!! Before we became vegan I had a killer chocolate cake recipe that used buttermilk and eggs and I never thought I’d be able to get a vegan cake that tasted as good as that one. You have proven me wrong. This cake is simply delicious. Thanks for the fantastic recipe!!
Alison Andrews says
Stephanie, that is the best comment to read! Thank you so much! I am thrilled you love the cake and that it tastes as good as your old favorite. Thanks so much for your awesome comment and rating! 🙂
Kari says
Made this for my mom’s birthday. My mom and everyone else loved it.
The only problem was that the icing was kind of gritty. I made the first batch and noticed that, so I made another batch, sifted the cocoa powder and icing sugar, and it was still gritty – like you were chewing on some sugar granules. I’m sure this was my mistake somehow.
Nobody complained about that part. Everyone had seconds. The taste and texture of the cake was so awesome!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Kari! So glad you loved the cake! I’m not sure what would have caused that with the frosting though, did you make it in an electric mixer? Sorry I don’t really know what to advise there as I can’t think what would cause it other than if you did it without a mixer. Thanks so much for your awesome review! 🙂
Kari says
I mixed it with my Kitchenaid stand mixer, but I think I maybe didn’t let it go long enough? Next time I will use my hand electric mixer and see if that does the trick. I also made the icing sugar in my vitamix, so maybe I didn’t get it fine enough. Doesn’t matter though, it still tasted good!
Alison Andrews says
Oh I see! Yes I am thinking that would be the issue, I have never tried making icing sugar myself, so I have no experience there, but I definitely think that it being a bit too coarse would completely explain the grittiness.
Erin says
Hi Alison,
I’m planning on making this recipe for my daughters birthday party, but want to use this recipe for cupcakes. How long do you think I should bake them for?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Erin, check out my chocolate cupcake recipe based on this cake: vegan chocolate cupcakes. 🙂
Suzzy Gauthier says
Would chocolate soy milk work??
Alison Andrews says
Sure!