Super fudgy vegan chocolate fudge cake topped with chocolate fudge frosting. Ultra moist, 2-layers and every kind of delicious!
This vegan chocolate fudge cake is two layers of pure fudgy chocolatey deliciousness topped with an equally fudgy chocolatey frosting!
It’s like chocolate cake was over there feeling all smug like it’s the best dessert, and then chocolate fudge cake comes over and knocks regular chocolate cake right out of the competition!
Well…. regular vegan chocolate cake is totally divine too, of course, but the difference between these desserts is the ‘fudge’ part. And how we create that fudge part is what makes this dessert the best darn thing you’ve ever tasted!
What’s the difference between a vegan chocolate cake and a vegan chocolate fudge cake?
The ‘fudge’ part of a vegan chocolate fudge cake, is created by using vegan buttermilk instead of regular non-dairy milk and then adding in melted vegan chocolate to the batter before baking.
It creates extreme richness of flavor and heaps of moisture! So it’s not ‘light and fluffy’ or ‘spongey’ the way a regular chocolate cake would be, nice as that is. This is a little bit more dense and ultra moist.We also use heaps of cocoa powder so that it is rich chocolate flavor to the extreme.
It has all the fudginess you can dream of with mega chocolate flavor.
The Frosting
And then we don’t stop there! The frosting also has melted chocolate poured into it and it is ultra thick and fudgy.
Decorate this cake with some more melted chocolate drizzled over the top and some chocolate shavings and you have a cake to remember.
I used 9″ cake pans for this recipe so this is a very nice sized cake and can feed a crowd!
This was actually my first foray into 9″ cake pans and I must say I was a bit shocked that when you make cakes this size, your single layer wire cooling rack will NOT cut it. You need two of them! I had to go out and get an extra one. This cake is strictly one layer per cooling rack.
Reasons to love this vegan chocolate fudge cake! It is:
- Fudgy
- Mega Chocolatey
- Ultra Moist
- 2-Layers
- Tall, dark and handsome!
- Topped with a chocolate fudge frosting!
Keep it covered at room temperature and consume within a few days or stored in the fridge (covered) where it will keep for up to a week.
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Vegan Chocolate Fudge Cake
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Fudge Cake:
- 3 cups All Purpose Flour (375g)
- 1 cup Cocoa Powder (84g) Unsweetened
- 2 cups White Granulated Sugar (400g)
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 cups Vegan Buttermilk (480ml) 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice + Soy Milk up to the 2 cup line
- 4 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3/4 cup Canola Oil (180ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 Flax Eggs 2 Tbsp Ground Flaxseeds + 6 Tbsp Hot Water
- 4 ounces Vegan Chocolate (113g) Measured, then melted
For the Chocolate Fudge Frosting:
- 4 and 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar (540g)
- 1 cup Cocoa Powder (84g) Unsweetened
- 3/4 cup Vegan Butter (170g)
- 6 Tbsp Soy Milk
- 4 ounces Vegan Chocolate (113g) Measured, then melted
For Decorating (Optional):
- Melted Chocolate Drizzle
- Chocolate Shavings
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and spray two 9 inch cake pans 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. Add the sugar, baking soda and salt and mix together.
- Prepare the vegan buttermilk by adding 2 Tbsp lemon juice to a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the 2 cup (480ml) line. Leave it to curdle for a minute and then add to the mixing bowl.
- Add in the vanilla, oil and vinegar.
- Prepare your flax eggs by adding 2 Tbsp ground flaxseed meal to a bowl and then adding 6 Tbsp hot water. Allow to sit for a minute to become gloopy. Add it to the mixing bowl.
- Mix everything until just combined. The batter will be quite thick.
- Lastly melt the vegan chocolate and fold it into the batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vegan butter and soy milk to the bowl of an electric stand mixer and starting at slow speed, gradually increase speed until the frosting is thick and smooth.*
- Lastly, melt the vegan chocolate, let it cool and then fold it into the frosting - do this part by hand, don't use the electric mixer.
- When the cakes are cooled, frost them and decorate with drizzles of melted chocolate and chocolate shavings.
Notes
- Almond milk can be used instead of soy milk in the frosting and in the vegan buttermilk. However, soy milk works better for buttermilk as it's thicker, so if you can use it, it's a better option, but almond milk will also work in a pinch.
- Just a note that this makes a lot of frosting as it's a fairly large cake. So if your mixing bowl isn't very big (like mine) then hold a tea towel over the top when it starts mixing so that powdered sugar doesn't come flying out the bowl.
Hello – could you give the measures for a 3 layer 8 inch cake please? Thanks very much
Hi Mandy, you can make this recipe exactly as it is for three 8-inch cake pans.
Fabulous cake! The only changes I made were using gluten-free cake flour and almond meal and coconut oil instead of olive. It’s SO delicious and chocolatey. Thank you for the excellent recipe!
So glad it worked out great! Thanks for sharing Anneliese!
Aside from palm sugar, could it be organic brown sugar, coconut or what other sugars could you recommend? I need another suggestion for canola oil or I will use some of the seed oils. Thank you so much!
Coconut sugar should work okay and so would brown sugar. You can really use any oil.
Any other substitution for flax seed? I can’t get it in my area.
You can use 6 Tbsp of applesauce to replace the 2 flax eggs. 🙂
I want to make this cake for my boyfriend’s birthday, he can’t have dairy. Would I be able to use 2 real eggs instead of the flax eggs in the recipe or will that mess up the whole consistency of the cake?
That should be fine. 🙂
Hi Alison,
I’m hoping to try this for my son’s birthday party that is right in the middle of the crazy Christmas rush. Do you know how well these cakes would freeze? Could I bake them ahead of time, then thaw and frost on party day?
Hi Jordan, yes this cake is very freezer friendly, but I would thaw it overnight in the fridge and then frost the morning of the party. There are some great tips for freezing cakes in this article from Sally’s Baking Addiction. 🙂
How big exactly is this cake? Like, if i half the ingrediens, how long will it last? If three ppl eat from it? thank for this recipe, Im going to try it now! And also! Will it work if i use a mix of oat flour, almond flour and rice flour? I have a gluten allergy, so. ???????? Lots of love
Hi Norah, if you were to halve this recipe, then you would either have a 2-layer 7-inch cake or a single layer 9-inch cake. Depending on how thick you cut the slices, you could get anywhere from 8-12 slices from the halved recipe. I don’t recommend that mix of flours at all, for gluten-free the best thing to use is a gluten-free all purpose flour blend. I think you might want to check out our gluten-free chocolate cake as it is a much smaller recipe than this one already and it’s designed as gluten-free. 🙂
Hi Alison,
Can I use black Chia seeds in place of Flax meal? If so, should I use the same quantity? Does it need to be pulsed?
Hi Dina, you can make a chia egg instead of a flax egg. You make it the exact same way, and you can use whole chia seeds, you don’t have to pulse them first (but you also can if you like). 🙂
Hi Alistar,
Does whipped cream frosting go with this recipe? I wanted to make this for my DD’s birthday and needed to use pink frosting.
Did you use dark chocolate in this recipe?
Yes. 🙂
You could use any frosting you like with this cake. 🙂
Awesome, thanks 🙂
Hi Alison, love your recipes, haven’t tried this one yet, but just wondering if you know whether this is dense enough to carve? I am looking for a chocolate cake recipe that will be OK with to carve for a character cake.
Hi Alisar, I’m sorry I have no idea at all! This is quite soft really so not sure at all, but I have never done any cake carving so I am clueless in this respect. All the best!
No words can describe how good this chocolate fudge cake is:):):)
Made this exactly to the recipe except for halving the quantities and making a single layer cake. It turned out fantastic. This will be my go-to chocolate cake recipe from now on
Wonderful! Thanks so much for the great review Angie. 🙂
A new favorite chocolate cake recipe!! Moist, rich, intense chocolate flavor! Wow! This recipe is definitely a keeper!!! Thanks for sharing it!
Awesome! Thanks Marissa!
Hi Alison..how about using palm sugar instead of sugar? Will it work?
If it’s a granulated sugar as well then sure. 🙂
Hi Alison! I made your cake this weekend. It was a HUGE success! I don’t have Instagram, but I pin it on Pinterest, and have a picture there. That cake was moist and the frosting was fantastic! What I like about the recipe was that it was easy to make. My sister wants the recipe, I made the cake for her vegan son bday. Thanks again!! Olivia ?
Music to my ears! So pleased to hear that. Thanks for the awesome review. 🙂
Rich, moist, chocolaty, delectable cake!