Super fudgy vegan chocolate peppermint cake with a dairy free vegan vanilla frosting for the easiest holiday cake recipe! Gluten free and dairy free, this fudgy chocolate cake will be a hit!
You guys. I did it.
I made the most decadent and rich chocolate peppermint cake that you wouldn’t even believe is vegan and gluten free.
I mean, the fudginess is quite literally off the charts.
And the peppermint flavor comes in so smoothly, it will give you all of the holiday feels 🙂
Make this cake for a holiday party or just because, and I promise you won’t regret!
The ULTIMATE Fudgy Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cake
So how in the heck do you make a gluten free vegan chocolate peppermint cake so moist and fudgy that you would think it’s just a straight up regular cake?
All in the ingredients. I truly believe that eating gluten free or vegan doesn’t have to be complicated or taste bad (I mean, these recipes are proof!), but it all comes down to what ingredients you use.
So for this vegan chocolate peppermint cake, we’re using:
- Cassava flour or gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour (or all-purpose if you’re not doing gluten free)
- Vegan chocolate (I recommend Lily’s Sweets or Pascha!)
- Cacao powder
- Unsweetened applesauce (this acts as the “egg” and adds a bit of natural sweetness, helping reduce the sugar)
- Coconut sugar
- Peppermint extract
- Vanilla extract
- Dairy free milk
- Vegan butter or coconut oil
Not outlandish ingredients, right? The only note I want to make is that if you’re nut free, definitely go with coconut or oat milk and the coconut oil!
Now on to actually making the cake, which is quite frankly just as easy as making a box mix cake.
Buttttt it tastes hella better 😉
So, what you’ll need to do is:
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease 3 6″ cake pans with coconut or olive oil.
- In a large bowl, melt your chocolate, either via the microwave or heat the chocolate in a saucepan on the stovetop.
- Add in the vegan butter or coconut oil, coconut sugar, and unsweetened applesauce, and use a hand mixer to beat everything together until well combined.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, and cacao powder and continue to beat the batter until it’s completely combined.
- Start to pour in the dairy free milk and continue mixing until well combined.
- Pour the batter into each cake pan evenly, and bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.
That’s it!
How to Make Vegan Vanilla Frosting
Making a vegan vanilla frosting has become my go-to for all of my cake recipes ever since my vegan vanilla cake. It quite literally is the best vanilla cake ever, and the frosting is a huge part of that!
Now, if you want to make your vegan chocolate peppermint cake with chocolate frosting, you absolutely can! I recommend this vegan Paleo chocolate frosting on my chocolate zucchini cake.
Personally, I felt that the chocolate on chocolate might be overwhelming because this cake is sooooo fudgy and rich. But my boyfriend, Jared, loves anything chocolate, and he prefers the double chocolate that way!
So back to the vegan vanilla frosting. You’ll need:
- Vegan Butter
- Powdered Sugar
- Vanilla Extract
Super simple, and you basically make it like any other buttercream frosting!
- First begin creaming the softened vegan butter in a large bowl with a hand mixer or stand mixer.
- Sift in the powdered sugar (and yes, sift! You don’t want clumps!) in 1 cup increments while continuing to beat the frosting.
- Add in a touch of vanilla extract and continue to beat until smooth and fluffy.
- Frost your cake!
Now for the fun part 🙂 I just LOVE frosting cakes!
I recommend using about 3/4 cup to 1 cup of vegan frosting in between the layers, and what you’ll want to do is spread the frosting to go just beyond the edges of the layers.
That way, when you’re ready to frost the sides, it’s a a lot easier to get the frosting on the bottom edges of the chocolate peppermint cake! I also recommend sprinkling a little vegan peppermint crushed candy on top of each layer!
Now, I like to decorate my cakes, so I topped mine with a mini vegan gluten free gingerbread house and a vegan frosting snowman!
But style your cake however you’d like 🙂 It really is one of my favorite easy Christmas cake recipes for a reason because it’s so elegant yet simple!
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! If you try this chocolate peppermint cake, let me know in the comments section below!
As always, I love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there 🙂
Happy baking, frosting, and chocolate cake eating!
More Easy Christmas Cake Recipes and Treats
Vegan Gluten Free Red Velvet Cake
Vegan Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
Almost Paleo Peanut Butter Blossoms
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PrintVegan Chocolate Peppermint Cake
Super fudgy vegan chocolate peppermint cake with a dairy free vegan vanilla frosting for the easiest holiday cake recipe! Gluten free and dairy free, this fudgy chocolate cake is a hit!
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 35
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
Ingredients
Chocolate Peppermint Cake:
- 2 3/4 cups cassava flour or gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour or all purpose flour (if not gluten free)
- 3/4 cup cacao powder
- 1/2 cup melted chocolate
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp peppermint extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 1/4 cups dairy free milk
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup vegan butter or coconut oil, melted
Vegan Vanilla Frosting:
- 1 cup vegan butter, softened
- 3–4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Optional: crushed organic vegan peppermint candies
Instructions
Chocolate Peppermint Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease 3 6″ cake pans with coconut or olive oil.
- In a large bowl, melt your chocolate, either via the microwave or heat the chocolate in a saucepan on the stovetop.
- Add in the vegan butter or coconut oil, coconut sugar, and unsweetened applesauce, and use a hand mixer to beat everything together until well combined.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, and cacao powder and continue to beat the batter until it’s completely combined.
- Start to pour in the dairy free milk, vanilla extract and peppermint extract, and continue mixing until well combined.
- Pour the batter into each cake pan evenly, and bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.
Vegan Vanilla Frosting:
- First begin creaming the softened vegan butter in a large bowl with a hand mixer or stand mixer.
- Sift in the powdered sugar (and yes, sift! You don’t want clumps!) in 1 cup increments while continuing to beat the frosting.
- Add in a touch of vanilla extract and continue to beat until smooth and fluffy.
- Frost your cake!
Notes
- Use cacao powder instead of cocoa powder. The flavor will be much richer!
- I recommend using Lily’s Sweets chocolate or Pascha chocolate for vegan chocolate brands.
- Using either cassava, gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour, or all-purpose works great at the same ratios!
- For the gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour, I recommend either Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur.
Keywords: vegan chocolate peppermint cake, chocolate peppermint cake, easy Christmas cake recipes
Your cake looks so beautiful and rich! I have never tried baking with Cassava flour but now I want to give it a try. 🙂
Much love, Ela
★★★★★
Aw Ela thank you thank you!! And I highly recommend it! It’s so easy to use 🙂 Enjoy!!!
This is bringing me all the holiday cheer 🙂 It’s like a peppermint hot cocoa in cake form!
★★★★★
Aw you are too kind!! Enjoy!!
Aw you are too kind!! Enjoy!
What baking time do you think for two 8inch cake tins? I don’t have six inch ones.
Hi Cate! I would suggest checking the cakes after 35 minutes, they’ll probably need about 40, but test with a toothpick at 30 or 35 minutes!