This ultra decadent vegan chocolate butter beer cake is baked with a butterbeer reduction, filled with butterscotch sauce, and topped with a silky dairy free butterscotch cream cheese frosting!

slice of vegan butterbeer cake on a plate

Why you’ll love this chocolate butterbeer cake:

If you want to basically apparate into the Three Broomsticks or the wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter in general, then you need to make this chocolate butterbeer cake.

Like my Harry Potter Cake, based off of Hagrid’s birthday cake to Harry, and my sorting hat cupcakes, this ultra moist and decadent chocolate butterbeer cake is perfect for any Harry Potter fan.

And yes, there is butterbeer baked into the actual cake. We’re using a butterbeer reduction (much like in my apple cider donuts!). This enhances the flavor of butterbeer and makes it more potent in the recipe!). 

slice of vegan butterbeer cake on the cake stand

This idea I got from Ginny at In Bloom Bakery, and it’s brilliant!

Unlike other butterbeer cakes, however, you don’t even need a stand mixer nor a hand mixer to make this cake. I also decided to go with a chocolate one. It complements the notes of butterscotch so well in the cake, and pairs wonderfully with the creamy and rich butterscotch cream cheese frosting.

And the butterscotch filling! 

Oh and another thing- this butterbeer cake is unbelievably vegan and dairy free. That’s right, no eggs nor milk nor butter is required to make this cake. And yet, as if by magic, it truly does take like an incredible cake that you get at Honeydukes (just don’t tell Mrs. Flume!).

sliced chocolate butterbeer cake on a cake stand laying flat

Is butterbeer vegan?

If you go to the Wizarding World at Universal, they do offer a vegan butterbeer now!

However, you won’t need to fly to Orlando in order to make this cake. I did some searching before making this cake. Finally, I founnd an entirely vegan butterbeer available on Amazon. Taste testers have reported tastes identical to the Universal version (I haven’t tried the Universal version, but this one is really good!).

bottle of butterbeer

If you want to, you can just use cream soda (which is vegan), and add a touch of my vegan butterscotch sauce to it.

Overview: How to make this vegan chocolate butterbeer cake step by step:

For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.

butterbeer reduction
We’ll first start with the butterbeer reduction. This takes about 20-25 minutes, and requires two bottles of buttebeer. Simply heat the liquid until it reduces down to 1/2 cup (or 120 mL).
making the butterbeer cake
Then we’ll make the cake batter! Simply whisk together the wet ingredients in a large bowl.
whisking in the dry ingredients
Add in the dry ingredients, and begin whisking.
making the chocolate cake batter
Pour in the vegan buttermilk, butterbeer reduction, and butterbeer coffee mixture (to enhance the chocolate flavor), and whisk just until the cake batter is mixed.
making the butterscotch sauce
While the cake is baking, we can make our butterscotch sauce. It’s much quicker than a caramel sauce. Simply heat everything together in a saucepan, then bring to a boil to thicken.
assembled vegan butterbeer cake
Once the cake is cooled, as well as the butterscotch sauce, you can assemble the cake!

A note on the caramel cream cheese frosting:

The butterscotch frosting is one of my favorite parts about the recipe. However, it’s sometimes tricky for newer bakers to mix a silky butterscotch into an already delicate dairy free cream cheese frosting.

If you’re comfortable with crumb coating, filling, and decorating, then I’d say go for it!

However, if you’re not quite there with layer cakes, I don’t want you to be discouraged! You can skip the filling and skip the integrating part of the butterscotch into the frosting.

sliced vegan butterbeer cake

Then just drip the butterscotch (or you could use caramel!) on top of the cake and use an offset spatula to edge the sauce over the sides of the finished frosted cake.

That way, you still get the flavor of butterscotch in the cake without the stress of having a failed cake!

…Which if we were all Molly Weasley, then we’d all be wizards in the kitchen as well and be able to fix any mistake with a bit of magic haha!

Can I make this recipe as cupcakes?

Absolutely! I would recommend reducing the recipe, however, to half of what it is, or you’ll end up with a lot of cupcakes.

The cupcakes only need to bake 20-25 minutes in the oven too, so it’s a much quicker route (almost like magic 😉 ).

slice of vegan chocolate butterbeer cake on a plate

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If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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slice of vegan chocolate butterbeer cake on a plate

Rich & Moist Vegan Harry Potter Chocolate Butterbeer Cake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 1 review
  • Author: Britt Berlin
  • Prep Time: 35
  • Cooling Time: 60
  • Cook Time: 35
  • Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
  • Yield: 16 1x
  • Category: Cakes
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: British
  • Diet: Vegan
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Description

This ultra decadent vegan chocolate butter beer cake is baked with a butterbeer reduction, filled with butterscotch sauce, and topped with a silky dairy free butterscotch cream cheese frosting!

Ingredients

Scale

Vegan chocolate butterbeer cake:

  • 2 355-mL glasses vegan butterbeer
  • 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
  • 1/2 cup (110 g) dairy free yogurt, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (110 g) vegan sour cream, room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup (120 mL) hot butterbeer + 1 tsp dissolvable espresso powder (or 1 cup (240 mL) brewed coffee, decaf if desired)
  • 1 batch vegan cream cheese frosting 

Vegan butterscotch sauce:

  • 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar
  • 1 cup (240 mL) vegan heavy cream
  • 8 tbsp unsalted vegan butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 2 tbsp (30 mL) golden syrup, corn syrup, or brown rice syrup

Instructions

  1. Prep: We’ll first start by making the butterscotch reduction, then we’ll move onto the cake. The butterscotch reduction will take about 20-25 minutes, so I wouldn’t preheat the oven until after I’ve made the reduction. You can line three 8″ cake pans with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Make the butterscotch reduction: Add the 2 bottles of butterbeer to a small saucepan and heat on medium high until it reaches a boil. Allow the mixture to boil and reduce down to 1/2 cup (120 mL) of butterbeer reduction. This will take about 20-25 minutes. Then pour into a glass and set aside.
  3. Cake prep: Preheat the oven to 350F. Make sure that the buttermilk is made and that you’ve mixed together the separate measurement for butterbeer and coffee (NOT the butterbeer reduction- this is an additional 1/2 cup of butterbeer).
  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 butterbeer reduction, and butterbeer and coffee mixture, and whisk gently until the coffee has just mixed into the batter.
  5. Bake the cakes: Pour the cake 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. While the cakes are baking, begin to make the butterscotch sauce
  6. Make the butterscotch sauce: In a medium saucepan, heat the vegan butter until melted. Then add in the brown sugar, vegan heavy cream, sea salt, and golden syrup. Stir to combine. Then bring the mixture to a boil, and boil for 4 minutes. This will help to thicken our butterscotch sauce. You can scrape down the sides as needed, but you really don’t need to stir anything here!
  7. Cool the butterscotch sauce: Once mixed, pour the butterscotch sauce in a separate baking tray (different from the one that is lined). This will help expedite the cooling process of the sauce. Then we can make the frosting once the cake layers have cooled.
  8. Make the cream cheese frosting: Follow the instructions for making the cream cheese frosting, adding in about 1/4 cup of butterscotch sauce to the frosting. You may need to add in a touch more powdered sugar to help ensure the frosting doesn’t split. Also please make sure your butterscotch sauce is truly cool and not at all warm!
  9. Assemble and frost the cake: You’ll need to work quickly here to ensure that the cake can get into the fridge to cool once the crumb coat is on. Place one cooled cake layer onto a plate on a turn table and scoop about 2/3 cup of frosting onto the cake. Spread the frosting around, creating a wall with the offset spatula for where the butterscotch sauce will go. Spoon about 1/4 cup of butterscotch into the middle, and place the second cake layer on top. Repeat for this cake layer, placing the third cake layer on top when finished. Quickly frost the sides of the cake (it doesn’t need to be perfect here- only a crumb coat that you’ll smooth later), and place the cake into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
  10. Finish the frosting: Remove the cake from the fridge and smooth the edges. Frost the rest of the cake as desired (you can leave almost like a semi-naked cake or frost it entirely). Pour the remainder of the butterscotch sauce on top and drip over the edges.
  11. Slice and serve! Serve immediately or store for later. Slice and enjoy!

Notes

Butterbeer: See blog post for how to swap out the butterbeer

Frosting: You can also use my vegan buttercream frosting instead if it’s easiest!

Caramel: Feel free to swap in my vegan caramel sauce if that’s easiest!