Chocolate cake on your mind? Ours too. This incredible, decadent vegan chocolate cake features a rich, moist interior and a fluffy buttercream filling. The best part? It’s topped off with a shiny ganache topping! You’re going to want to stop what you’re doing and run to the kitchen to make this: NOW! This legitimately incredible vegan chocolate cake is just sweet enough and the perfect birthday cake for chocolate lovers. The recipe is courtesy of our friend Gena of The Full Helping from her new book, Food52 Vegan. How to make it this beauty? Here are all of Gena’s secrets.
How to make vegan chocolate cake: a tutorial
Step 1: Make the chocolate cake layer.
This cake turns out so perfectly moist, you’ll never want to make another chocolate cake again! (This will be my birthday cake for all time.) In a standard chocolate cake, you’ll typically see butter, eggs, and milk. For this vegan chocolate cake, you’ll use coconut oil instead of butter. Coconut oil is a great substitute for butter because the texture is similar. No eggs are needed in this vegan chocolate cake because it’s been formulated with the right amount of liquid to to make for a beautifully moist, chocolate-y cake. For the milk, you can use the non-dairy milk of your choice. In our baked goods we like to use a high-quality almond milk. In this recipe, you’ll also add a bit of apple cider vinegar to the non-dairy milk to give it a little tang like buttermilk. Mix it all up in your mixer, pour into two round baking pans, and bake for about 25 minutes. Tip: After baking, make sure to let your cakes cool for a few hours until room temperature (or even overnight) before icing!
Step 2: Make the vegan buttercream.
On to the filling! This is where this vegan chocolate cake gets even more fun. Standard chocolate buttercream is made with, as the name implies, loads of butter! Since this vegan buttercream can’t use butter, it has a genius solution. The vegan buttercream is made of pumpkin puree, cocoa powder, maple syrup, and almond butter. Yes, pumpkin! And almond butter! These healthy, whole food ingredients combine into a seriously tasty version of buttercream frosting. And it’s totally plant based! Honestly, if you don’t have time to bake this vegan chocolate cake, it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to make the filling anyway. We’d eat it with a spoon! Tip: Using the pumpkin hear gives it a “fruity” undertone that pairs perfectly with the chocolate. When we served it to friends, they asked if there was raspberry in the cake! It took them about 100 guesses to get down to the fact that there was pumpkin in it.
Step 3: Make the chocolate ganache topping.
The final piece of this BEST ever vegan chocolate cake is the vegan chocolate ganache! I don’t think I will ever ice a cake again: this chocolate ganache finishes into a shiny hardened coating that’s loads better than any cake frosting out there. You’ve got to try it to believe it! A standard chocolate ganache is a mixture of chocolate and heavy cream. Here, the vegan chocolate ganache is made from bittersweet chocolate, coconut milk and maple syrup. You’ll melt it all together. And then, get ready for this: pour it over the cake and let it drip down the sides. Oh. MY! The result is unreal. After you’ve added the ganache, refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour. This helps the ganache to set: it will appear more “matte” at that point, though it’s still luminous and shiny. It makes for one beautiful, indulgent and over-the-top good vegan chocolate cake. Tip: Go slow and steady when you’re pouring the chocolate ganache. It can tend to pool on one side and fall off the cake stand if you’re not careful. (It did for us, but we were happy to lick it up!) And now, let’s eat cake.
About the book: Food 52 Vegan
This recipe is from our friend Gena of The Full Helping and her new book, Food52 Vegan. It’s an incredible collection of vibrant, enticing vegan recipes that eaters of all kinds can enjoy. If your dad is scared of eating vegan things (like mine), secretly make something for him from this book: he’ll never know it! Gena is an incredible cook and her recipes are always spot on. We could not recommend checking out her book more! Congratulations, Gena on this incredible cake. (Really. We are its biggest fans.)
This vegan chocolate cake recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.
Looking for vegan dessert recipes?
If you’re looking for more vegan dessert recipes, here are a few of our favorites: No reviews
3 cups (375g) unbleached all-purpose flour 2⁄3 cup (60g) unsweetened cocoa powder 2 teaspoons baking soda 3⁄4 teaspoon salt 2 cups (475ml) unsweetened nondairy milk, homemade or store-bought 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1 3⁄4 cups (350g) sugar 2⁄3 cup (160ml) melted refined coconut oil 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the filling
1 cup (245g) pumpkin puree 1⁄4 cup (20g) unsweetened cocoa powder 1⁄4 cup (60ml) maple syrup 3 tablespoons almond butter or cashew butter
For the ganache
6 ounces (170g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 1⁄2 cup (120ml) coconut milk 2 tablespoons maple syrup
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