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slice of vegan chocolate caramel cake

One Bowl MOIST Vegan Chocolate Caramel Cake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 1 review
  • Author: Britt Berlin
  • Prep Time: 30
  • Cook Time: 33
  • Total Time: 1 hour 3 minutes
  • Yield: 16 1x
  • Category: Cakes
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan

Description

This is THE chocolate caramel cake for all caramel lovers!! Featuring extra soft chocolate sponge cake, made entirely without eggs and dairy free, with layers of gooey salted caramel and wrapped in an easy caramel ‘cream cheese’ frosting. The epitome of decadence, and you’d never know it’s vegan!!

Ingredients

Scale

Caramel:

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) Dutch-process 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 Caramel Frosting:

  • 1/2 cup (113 g) vegan butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup (220 g) vegan cream cheese, cold
  • 4 cups (480 g) sifted powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup (113 g) COOLED caramel sauce from above recipe
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

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 caramel: Prepare 2 separate batches of vegan caramel before beginning the cake process. This will allow the caramel to cool in time for the assembling of the cake. It’s important to NOT scale the recipe up and just make them as two separate batches, as it’s difficult to melt the sugar evenly without burning it when you scale the recipe up.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Make the caramel frosting: In a stand mixer bowl with whisk attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the vegan butter and cream cheese until creamy, about 3 minutes. Then add in the powdered sugar, caramel, and vanilla extract, and mix again until the frosting is creamy and smooth, about 3-5 minutes. Take pauses to scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.
  7. Assemble the cake: When ready to assemble with the crumb coat, place on cake layer onto a cake plate or cake turntable. Scoop about 2/3 cup of frosting onto the cake, and smooth the frosting with an offset spatula over the cake to touch the edges. Then using the offset spatula, create a well in the frosting, with just a little frosting as the wall along the border (see photos). Spoon 2-3 tbsp of caramel sauce into the middle, and spread the caramel to evenly touch the edges of the frosting wall. Be careful not to over-fill. It might not seem like a lot of caramel, but with another layer it will. Then repeat with the next cake layer, frosting and filling with caramel. Place the final cake layer on top, and frost the entire cake with a crumb coat, smoothing the edges. Chill for 1 hour in the fridge before applying the final coat and finishing with caramel on top!
  8. 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

See blog post for all tips & tricks!

Find it online: https://thebananadiaries.com/one-bowl-moist-vegan-chocolate-caramel-cake/