This is the ultimate vegan chocolate hazelnut cake recipe. It’s made in just one bowl, super easy, and is full of rich, nutty, and buttery sweet notes layered with a homemade dairy free chocolate buttercream frosting!

The easiest one bowl hazelnut cake recipe

If you love Nutella or anything hazelnut, then you’re about to become absolutely obsessed with this easy one bowl hazelnut cake recipe. It’s full of that wonderful nutty aroma, rich and buttery yet light and tender, and so easy to eat.

Not to mention, this chocolate hazelnut cake is entirely vegan, dairy free, egg free, and can be gluten free! Don’t let that scare you: it’s actually made with the simplest ingredients.

We’re talking hazelnuts, flour, applesauce (to replace eggs), and a homemade dairy free buttermilk.

You’ll be shocked at how easy this hazelnut cake is to make, and how amazing it is in taste.

Get ready for the best vegan cake recipe you’ll ever make!

How to make a vegan chocolate hazelnut cake

The full written instructions and ingredient measurements are found down below in the recipe card. However, we’ll go over the best tips and tricks for making sure that this hazelnut cake comes out amazing each time!

Like all of my vegan cake recipes, this vegan vanilla hazelnut cake is deceivingly easy and simple to make.

Use room temperature ingredients: this is crucial for ensuring that this hazelnut cake’s texture comes out light and tender. Using cold ingredients vs room temperature will drastically alter the texture of the cake.
Make it gluten free! You can easily make this easy hazelnut cake entirely gluten free as well by swapping in a 1:1 gluten free baking flour. I recommend Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour.
Whisk together the dry ingredients: and use an actual whisk for this!
Make your own hazelnut flour: you can absolutely use store bought, but making your own I think adds more of a hazelnut flavor than store bought. This is because it’s freshly made so the aroma of the hazelnuts hasn’t worn away. Just simply pulse the nuts in a food processor for 60 seconds until they become ground into a rustic flour. If your food processor is extra powerful and grinds it faster, go with that! You don’t want the hazelnuts to turn into a nut butter.
You can bake this cake into two, three, or four layers: I loveeee making super tall and elegant cakes. I went with four layers, but you can absolutely bake it into two 9″ layers, two or three 8″ layers, or three 6″ layers!
Make sure your cakes are FULLY COOL before frosting: no one wants to see a cake slip and slide onto the ground! The cakes should have absolutely no warmth to them when you’re ready to frost.

Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream

So on the inside of this hazelnut cake, as I mentioned, there’s actually a vegan chocolate hazelnut buttercream on the inside of this cake, along with a vanilla dairy free buttercream on the outside.

To make a dairy free buttercream, it’s actually quite similar to making a regular buttercream!

We’ll simply cream together the vegan butter until light and fluffy. Then add in the sifted powdered sugar and mix again until everything is smooth and fluffy.

layers of chocolate buttercream and hazelnut cake

Then to make the inside frosting chocolate and hazelnut, you’ll place some of the buttercream into a separate bowl and mix in cacao powder.

Then when frosting your vanilla hazelnut cake, you’ll spread the chocolate buttercream on top of the cake, then sprinkle a few tablespoons of hazelnut flour on top. Place another cake layer on top and repeat!

How to decorate this cake

This is my all time favorite part of the cake baking process. Making an art piece from your cake!

I went for a holiday theme because I made this cake during the holidays. However, you can go for a simple theme, or match it to the celebration or season that you’re in.

For my Christmas version of this vegan hazelnut cake, I piped the remaining frosting onto vegan ice cream cones, and studded them with vegan French dragees from India Tree.

I also used a vegan ganache as the drip, which can be found in my vegan Yule log cake recipe.

You can also pipe little swirls on to the top of the cake and top each with a whole hazelnut!

Or use the leftover hazelnut flour and press a bit of it onto the sides of the cake.

My favorite cake decorating tools are:

cake turntable
bench scraper
Wilton piping tips
piping bags
offset spatula
pretty cake stand or cake plate

Because my hazelnut cake was four layers, I decided to go with a cake plate because putting it onto a cake stand would make it a VERY tall cake ha!

I hope you absolutely love this vegan chocolate hazelnut cake as much as I do! If you make it, let me know how it goes down below in the comments section, as well as giving it a rating so that others may find it!

As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!

Happy hazelnut cake baking!

More vegan cake recipes:

Secretly Vegan White Chocolate Cake

Frozen Themed Cake

Vegan Christmas Cake

The Best Vegan Vanilla Cake

Vegan Yule Log Cake

Ultra Rich Vegan Chocolate Cake

Paleo Vegan Chocolate Cake

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

If you make something from The Banana Diaries, I would love to see your creations! Make sure to leave a review in comments section, as well as giving it a rating so that others may find the recipe. Also, follow along with me on Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Facebook for more vegan recipe inspiration!

One Bowl Easy Chocolate Hazelnut Cake (Vegan)

Author: thebananadiaries
Prep Time: 25
Cook Time: 29
Total Time: 54 minutes
Yield: 18 1x
Category: Dessert
Method: Baking
Cuisine: American
Diet: Vegan

Scale

Ingredients

3 cups cake flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour
1 cup hazelnut flour (made from 2 cups whole hazelnuts*)
1 cup coconut sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups dairy free milk with 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, room temperature
1 cup unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
1/4 cup vegan butter or coconut oil, melted but not hot
2 tsp vanilla extract or paste

Vegan Buttercream:

2 1/2 cups vegan butter, room temperature
5–6 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup cacao powder
2–3 tbsp dairy free milk, as needed
1/2 cup hazelnut flour from cake part
Decorations: vegan French dragees, vegan ice cream cones for trees, etc.

Instructions

Make sure you’ve combined the dairy free milk and apple cider vinegar first to begin, and allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes to curdle.
Preheat the oven to 350F and line 3-4 six inch cake pans with oil and parchment paper. You can also make this cake into an 8″ or a 9″ cake. However, the bake times in the directions are for a 6″ cake so you’ll need to bake for a few minutes longer.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, hazelnut flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.
Add in the dairy free milk mixture, applesauce, oil, and vanilla extract, and use a rubber spatula to fold the wet ingredients into the dry to create a consistent slightly runny batter. It should be thick but easily falls off the spatula.
Divide the batter evenly amongst the cake pans and bake the cake for 27-29 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean. The cakes should be lightly golden on top and be able to bounce back at a light touch.
Remove from the oven and let cool in the pans for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to fully cool for at least 30 minutes.
Before beginning to make the vegan buttercream, make sure that your cakes are completely cool to the touch. There should be absolutely no warmth on either side of the cakes. Once fully cool, you can make the vegan buttercream. Cream the vegan butter until light and fluffy using a hand mixer or stand mixer, about 2-3 minutes. Then add in sifted powdered sugar into the butter, and begin mixing again until you get a light and fluffy buttercream. You can use the tablespoons of dairy free milk here, adding 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired texture of smooth and moveable buttercream.
Divide about 1/3-1/2 of the buttercream (depending on if you’re doing 3 or 4 layers of cake. 1/3 of the buttercream for 3 layers, 1/2 of the buttercream for 4 layers) into a separate medium bowl, and use the hand mixer to mix in the cacao powder until it becomes a chocolate buttercream.
Frost the cake: add 1/3 of the chocolate frosting to the top of the bottom layer. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of flour on top of the buttercream. Place the second layer on top and repeat. Continue this process for the next two layers, and use any extra frosting to create a crumb coat around the cake. Place the cake into the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
When ready to frost the entire cake, remove the cake from the fridge and use the remaining vanilla buttercream to spread onto the top and sides of the cake. Any leftover frosting can be piped onto the cake for decoration.
Slice and enjoy! Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Notes

To make hazelnut flour: pulse the hazelnuts in a food processor for 60 seconds until they become a crumble flour. You want to stop it right before it becomes a hazelnut butter.

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