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sliced vegan chocolate cake

Ridiculously MOIST Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe- Keeps moist for 4 days!!

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 35 reviews
  • Author: Britt Berlin
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 32
  • Total Time: 42 minutes
  • Yield: 16 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan

Description

This ultra lush and rich vegan chocolate cake is the definition of decadence with a soft and tender moist crumb. Frosted in the creamiest chocolate buttercream, you won’t believe this vegan chocolate cake is made without eggs nor dairy- and it keeps moist for 4 days!!


Ingredients

Scale

Vegan Chocolate Cake:

  • 1 1/4 cup (300 mL) vegan buttermilk, room temperature 
  • 3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour, sifted
  • 1 cup (95 g) all natural cocoa powder, sifted
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 3/4 cups (350 g) granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup (110 g) brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted vegan butter*, melted and cooled to room temperature
  • 1 cup (220 g) dairy free yogurt, room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (240 mL) hot water + 1 tsp dissolvable espresso powder (or 1 cup (240 mL) brewed coffee, decaf if desired)

Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

  • 2 cups vegan butter, softened
  • 45 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 cup cocoa powder

Instructions

  1. Be sure to read all instructions before beginning. Measure out all ingredients for the cake.
  2. Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F, and prepare three 8″ cake pans. You can use 6″ cake pans if you’d like. Grease the bottoms and sides of the pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside. Prepare the vegan buttermilk by mixing together the dairy-free milk and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl and set aside for 5-7 minutes to curdle. You can prepare the batter while the buttermilk is forming. 
  3. Make the batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside. In a large bowl and a whisk, whisk the vegan butter, sugar, and brown sugar until integrated.  Then add in the dairy free yogurt and vanilla extract, and whisk again until combined. To the mixture, add in about half of the flour mixture, along with half of the buttermilk. Whisk gently until the flour starts to combine with the wet. Add in the remaining flour mixture and buttermilk, and whisk again just before there are no more dry streaks. Slowly pour in the hot coffee, and whisk gently until the coffee has just mixed into the batter.
  4. Bake the cakes: Pour the batter into the three cake pans evenly. Place the cakes into the oven and bake for 33-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. If using three 6″ cake pans, the cakes will bake a bit longer. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them to cool in their pans for 10 minutes. Then carefully transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely, about 45 minutes.
  5. Prepare the chocolate buttercream: When ready to frost, beat the vegan butter until creamed, about 3 minutes. Then sift in the powdered sugar and continue beating until it becomes a fluffy vanilla buttercream. Add in the cocoa powder, and start by beating the cocoa powder into the middle so as not to create a dust around the bowl, then beat the entire buttercream mixture together with the cacao powder until full incorporated.
  6. Assemble the cake: place the bottom layer onto a cake plate and adding about 1 cup of frosting to the top of the cake. Spread it just to the edges, then add the second layer and repeat. Top with the third layer and frost with the remaining frosting. Decorate as you’d like, and enjoy!
  7. Storage: Store any leftovers covered at room temperature for up to 2 days or sliced in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Notes

Vegan buttermilk: The best result will be combining soy milk or almond milk with the apple cider vinegar. However, the cake will still rise wonderfully using oat milk or coconut milk.

Vegan butter: If you’re using salted vegan butter, omit the salt in the dry mixture.

To make this vegan chocolate cake gluten free: use gluten free 1:1 baking flour. Please ensure that the mixture contains xanthan gum.

For an entirely gluten free vegan chocolate cake made with just oat flour, check out this oat flour vegan chocolate cake here.

To make a three-layered 6″ cake: bake the cakes for 25-27 minutes, but check with a toothpick towards the end of the baking time.

To make a two-layered 9″ cake: bake the cakes for 32-37 minutes, but check with a toothpick towards the end of the baking time.

Check out more vegan cake recipes here! I also have an entire round up of our best vegan cake recipes

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 slice
  • Calories: 413
  • Sugar: 49 g
  • Sodium: 330.4 mg
  • Fat: 13.2 g
  • Saturated Fat: 2.9 g
  • Carbohydrates: 75.3 g
  • Fiber: 4 g
  • Protein: 5 g
  • Cholesterol: 0 mg