The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake

4.98 from 83 votes

The best vegan chocolate cake topped with the richest silkiest vegan chocolate buttercream frosting. Perfectly moist and totally decadent.

Prep Time15

Cook Time30

Total Time45

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegan

Servings:

Calories: 584kcal

2 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour (281g)
¾ cup Cocoa Powder (63g) Unsweetened
1 ½ cups White Granulated Sugar (300g)
1 ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
¾ teaspoon Salt
1 ½ cups Vegan Buttermilk (360ml) 1 ½ Tablespoons lemon juice + soy milk up to the 1 ½ cup line*
3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
½ cup Canola Oil or Vegetable Oil
1 ½ Tablespoons Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
5 Tablespoons Applesauce

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray two 9-inch* baking pans with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with a circle of parchment paper. Set aside.
Sift the flour and the cocoa powder into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, baking soda and salt.
Prepare the vegan buttermilk by adding 1 ½ Tablespoons lemon juice to a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the 1 ½ cup (360ml) line. Leave it for a minute to curdle.
Add the vegan buttermilk, vanilla, oil, vinegar and applesauce and mix in. Use a hand whisk briefly to remove any large lumps. Don't overmix.
Divide the batter 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.
Let the cake layers cool for a few minutes and then remove them from the cake pans and transfer to wire cooling racks to cool completely before frosting.
Prepare your frosting by adding your vegan butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla and 1 Tablespoon soy milk to the bowl your stand mixer. Start off at slow speed and gradually increase speed until your frosting is thick and smooth. If it's too thick, add the remaining soy milk until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
Frost the cooled cakes and decorate with chocolate shavings.

You can also use almond milk to make vegan buttermilk.
This cake works in both 9-inch pans (as in these photos) or 8-inch pans. If you use 8-inch pans you just get a taller cake, everything else remains the same for the cake.
If you make this cake for 8-inch pans then the frosting may be too much. You could reduce the frosting recipe slightly, or just have it as a thicker frosting than what you see in these photos. Leftover frosting can also be frozen.
This cake will keep covered at room temperature for 3-4 days and in the fridge for up to 7 days.
Nutritional information includes everything, frosting, chocolate shavings, all of it!