Vegan chocolate fudge cake is moist, fudgy and loaded with chocolate! Topped with vegan chocolate fudge frosting for the perfect layer cake.
So, what’s the difference between a vegan chocolate cake and a vegan chocolate fudge cake then?
This chocolate fudge cake uses vegan buttermilk instead of regular non-dairy milk, heaps of cocoa powder, and has melted vegan chocolate mixed into the batter before baking.
It creates extreme richness of flavor and heaps of moisture! It’s a bit more dense than a regular chocolate cake and super fudgy and moist.
The frosting also has melted chocolate poured into it for an ultra thick, fudgy texture. And then it’s decorated with drizzles of melted chocolate and chocolate shavings. It seriously does not get better than this.
Ingredients You’ll Need For The Cake:
Ingredient Notes
- Vegan chocolate – you can use high quality vegan chocolate or chocolate chips. It’s melted down and folded into the cake batter.
- Applesauce – creates extra moisture without heaviness. An alternative would be to use 2 flax eggs.
- Instant espresso powder – intensifies the chocolate flavor but it’s optional. You can use instant espresso powder or regular instant coffee powder.
- Vegan buttermilk – our homemade vegan buttermilk is made with lemon juice and soy milk. It can also be made with almond milk but soy milk is richer. If you use another non-dairy milk (other than almond or soy) then it may not curdle but will still be fine to use.
- Canola oil – can be switched for vegetable oil.
Ingredients You’ll Need For The Frosting:
Ingredient Notes
- Vegan butter – a firm stick style vegan butter works best. If you use a soft tub style vegan butter then you may need to use less non-dairy milk.
- Soy milk – can be switched for another non-dairy milk.
How To Make Vegan Chocolate Fudge 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.
Cake:
- Sift all purpose flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl. Add white granulated sugar, light brown sugar, baking soda, salt and instant espresso powder. Mix together.
- Prepare your vegan buttermilk by adding 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the 2 cup line (480ml).
- Add vegan buttermilk, vanilla extract, canola oil and applesauce and mix it into a batter.
- Add melted and cooled vegan chocolate and fold it into the batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between two 9-inch round cake pans (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with circles of parchment paper along the bottoms).
- Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the cake pans for a few minutes and then transfer them to wire cooling racks to cool completely.
Frosting:
- Add vegan butter to the bowl of your stand mixer and beat until smooth.
- Sift in powdered sugar and cocoa powder, add soy milk and beat until fluffy and smooth.
- Add melted and cooled vegan chocolate and mix in.
- Your frosting should be thick and fudgy but still spreadable. If it’s too thick, mix in more soy milk, a tiny bit at a time until you reach a spreadable consistency.
- When the cakes have cooled completely, frost them with chocolate fudge frosting.
- Decorate with drizzles of melted vegan chocolate topped with chocolate shavings.
Baker’s Tips
Measure the flour correctly. This is probably the number 1 tip for ALL baking. If you over-measure the flour by accident, then the cake won’t be moist and fudgy, it will be dry. So make sure you measure it correctly either by using a food scale and weighing it out properly, or by using the spoon and level method. Spoon it 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.
Chocolate must be melted and then cooled. Melt the chocolate in the microwave by microwaving it in 30-second intervals, bringing it out to stir every 30-seconds until melted. And then let it cool (slightly lukewarm is also fine) before you add it to the batter and then again before you add it to the frosting. If the chocolate is too warm when you add it, then when it hits the cold batter or frosting it will immediately firm up, leaving you with hard chocolate pieces instead of mixing smoothly in.
Don’t overmix. Don’t overmix the batter, mix until it’s just mixed (tiny lumps are fine) and then stop mixing.
Cake pan sizes. We used two 9-inch round cake pans for this recipe so this is a very nice sized cake and can feed a crowd. The layers are thick so my guess (not tested) is that you could also make this in two 10-inch round cake pans. You could also make it as a three layer 9-inch cake, the layers would just be a little thinner so the bake time will be a little less (~5 minutes less).
Recipe FAQ
Can you make cupcakes from this recipe? This recipe will make 24 cupcakes. Baking time will be around 20 minutes.
Can you make this cake gluten free? You can try replacing the flour with a gluten free all purpose baking blend.
Storing and Freezing
Keep it covered at room temperature and enjoy within 2-3 days or stored in the fridge (covered) where it will keep for up to a week. Let it come to room temperature before enjoying.
It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
More Delicious Vegan Cake Recipes
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- Vegan Coconut Cake
- Vegan Vanilla Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake
- Vegan White Cake
- Vegan Coffee Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Chocolate Fudge Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Fudge Cake:
- 3 cups All Purpose Flour (375g)
- 1 cup Cocoa Powder (86g) Unsweetened
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (200g)
- 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Instant Espresso Powder Optional
- 2 cups Vegan Buttermilk (480ml) 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice + Soy Milk up to the 2 cup line
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- ¾ cup Canola Oil (180ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 6 Tablespoons Applesauce
- 4 ounces Vegan Chocolate (113g) Melted and Cooled
Chocolate Fudge Frosting:
- ¾ cup Vegan Butter (170g)
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar (480g)
- 1 cup Cocoa Powder (86g) Unsweetened
- 6 Tablespoons Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
- 4 ounces Vegan Chocolate (113g) Melted and Cooled
Decorating (Optional):
- 2 ounces Vegan Chocolate Melted and Drizzled
- Chocolate Shavings
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line two 9-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray.
- Sift all purpose flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl. Add white granulated sugar, light brown sugar, baking soda, salt and instant espresso powder. Mix together.
- Prepare your vegan buttermilk by adding 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the 2 cup line (480ml).
- Add vegan buttermilk, vanilla extract, canola oil and applesauce and mix it into a batter.
- Add melted and cooled vegan chocolate and fold it into the batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between two 9-inch round cake pans (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with circles of parchment paper along the bottoms).
- Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the cake pans for a few minutes and then transfer them to wire cooling racks to cool completely.
Frosting:
- Add vegan butter to the bowl of your stand mixer and beat until smooth.
- Sift in powdered sugar and cocoa powder, add soy milk and beat until fluffy and smooth.
- Add melted and cooled vegan chocolate and mix in.
- Your frosting should be thick and fudgy but still spreadable. If it's too thick, mix in more soy milk, a tiny bit at a time until you reach a spreadable consistency.
- When the cakes have cooled completely, frost them with chocolate fudge frosting.
- Decorate with drizzles of melted vegan chocolate topped with chocolate shavings.
Notes
- Measure the flour correctly. If you accidentally over-measure the flour then the cake won’t be moist and fudgy, it will be dry. So measure it correctly either by using a food scale and weighing it out, or by using the spoon and level method. Spoon it 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.
- Instant espresso powder – intensifies the chocolate flavor but it’s optional. You can use instant espresso powder or regular instant coffee powder.
- Vegan buttermilk – our homemade vegan buttermilk is made with lemon juice and soy milk. It can also be made with almond milk but soy milk is richer. If you use another non-dairy milk (other than almond or soy) then it may not curdle but will still be fine to use.
- Applesauce – creates extra moisture without heaviness. An alternative would be to use 2 flax eggs.
- Vegan chocolate – you can use high quality vegan chocolate or chocolate chips.
- Chocolate must be melted and then cooled. Melt the chocolate in the microwave by microwaving it in 30-second intervals, bringing it out to stir every 30-seconds until melted. And then let it cool (slightly lukewarm is also fine) before you add it to the batter and then again before you add it to the frosting. If the chocolate is too warm when you add it, then when it hits the cold batter or frosting it will immediately firm up, leaving you with hard chocolate pieces instead of mixing smoothly in.
- Vegan butter – a firm stick style vegan butter works best. If you use a soft tub style vegan butter then you may need to use less non-dairy milk.
- Don’t overmix. Don’t overmix the batter, mix until it’s just mixed (tiny lumps are fine) and then stop mixing.
- Cake pan sizes. We used two 9-inch round cake pans for this recipe so this is a very nice sized cake and can feed a crowd. The layers are thick so my guess (not tested) is that you could also make this in two 10-inch round cake pans. You could also make it as a three layer 9-inch cake, the layers would just be a little thinner so the bake time will be a little less (~5 minutes less).
- Cupcakes: This recipe will make 24 cupcakes. Baking time will be around 20 minutes.
- Gluten free: You can try replacing the flour with a gluten free all purpose baking blend.
- Storing and freezing: Keep it covered at room temperature and enjoy within 2-3 days or stored in the fridge (covered) where it will keep for up to a week. Let it come to room temperature before enjoying. It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
This recipe was first posted in November 2018. It has been updated with new photos and lots of extra tips and tricks.
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!