Home » Desserts » Cakes » Layer Cakes » Moist & Rich Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe- Keeps moist for 4 days!!
posted by Britt Berlinon Jun 4, 2023 (last updated Sep 26, 2023) 101 comments »
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5 from 24 reviewsThis ultra lush and rich vegan chocolate cake is the definition of decadence with a soft and tender moist crumb. Frosted in the creamiest chocolate buttercream, you won’t believe this vegan chocolate cake is made without eggs nor dairy- and it keeps moist for 4 days!!
What makes this the BEST vegan chocolate cake to exist:
You are just going to fall in love with this vegan chocolate cake. In fact, it will become the only chocolate cake recipe you ever make.
It’s a bold statement that I’m fully prepared to back up. Don’t worry, I’ve come prepared.
This is thebest vegan chocolate cakerecipe you’ll make, not only for the fact that it tastes out-of-this-world amazing; truly. I’m avanilla cake lover, but after a bite of this cake, I feel like I’ve missed out for nearly 29 years of my life.
And I’ve tried a lot of cakes in my life (just check the chapter in my vegan cookbook dedicated to JUST vegan cakes).
We’re talking ultra moist and rich, decadent yet fluffy and light, and downright irresistible. This vegan cake tastes like the best chocolate cake you’ve ever had, vegan or not. Yet, because it’s dairy free, egg free, nut free, and soy free,everyonecan enjoy it.
Plus, we’re layering those perfectly tender cakes with a creamy and dreamy undetectably vegan chocolate buttercream frosting that will make you want to just ditch the cake all together andjust go for the frosting.
But trust me,it’s worth itto assemble the whole cake!
Don’t need that much cake? Try this super cute small chocolate cake that’s based off of this one! It’s only a single layer and 6″ in diameter. Or this super easy vegan flourless chocolate cake!
Learn how to bake *unbelievably* vegan desserts in 5 steps!
Want to make amazing vegan and gluten free desserts that no one will know are eggless and dairy free? Sign up for this free e-course to transform your vegan bakes!
What makes this vegan cake moist?
There arethree key ingredientsfor making a vegan cake moist:
- Unsweetened dairy free yogurt: I prefer this to using applesauce. In fact, dairy free yogurt is one of my favorite vegan egg substitutes in general because it adds extra fat to the recipe (read: lush, soft crumb once baked), and provides some acidity to react with baking soda, giving this vegan chocolate cake its epic rise.
- Vegan buttermilk:The best way to get a vegan dairy free milk to curdle like a buttermilk is to use either soy milk or almond milk. It can be done with coconut milk; however, the milk will not thicken quite like soy milk and almond milk. Your cakes will still rise though! In addition to the dairy free milk, you’ll use an acid, such as apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, or white vinegar.
- Strong hot coffee:addingstrong brewed hot coffeeis not only the key to abetter tasting chocolate cake recipe, but it also helps to keep this cake super moist and not dried out! If you need caffeine free, just make sure to use decaf coffee.
In addition to using these three key ingredients, I’ve found that using vegan butter instead of vegetable oil or canola oil actually adds not only moisture to the cake, but a much richer flavor.
Vegetable oil tends to be flavorless, while vegan butter will add that wonderful “buttery” flavor to the rich chocolate flavor.
You can use coconut oil in place of vegan butter, but I really do recommend vegan butter above all.
Overview: Step-by-Step how to make a vegan chocolate cake:
I really want to debunk this myth that vegan baking is hard, so let this be the recipe that shows you how easy a vegan chocolate cake can be. And if you want to make it a gluten free chocolate cake as well, we have that option!
To make a vegan chocolate cake, you can break it down intothree basic steps:
- Make the batter:make sure you whisk together the dry ingredients thoroughly before adding in the room temperature wet ingredients. If you’re using salted vegan butter, you can omit the salt. Again, room temperature is key! You can make this chocolate cake either in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer. I made this cake recipe for years by hand before I got a stand mixer, and it’s definitely doable.
- Bake the cake:this part is so simple- just bake the cake! You can make a two or three layer 8″ cake, as I did, or a two layer 9″ cake. You can also make a three layer 6″ cake as well. Just check the recipe card down below for specific instructions.
- Assemble the cake:making a vegan layered cake is also not scary or difficult! It really is simply just smearing frosting in between each layer, then frosting the outsides. You can use a bench scraper to make a pretty and clean look, or you can simply swirl your knife as I did. The major tip here isallow your cakes to fully cool before you assemble. Nobody wants a cake on the ground!
Easy Vegan Chocolate Frosting
Okay so I go back and forth: the cake is amazing,but so is the vegan chocolate buttercream frosting.
Honestly, I owe it all to the vegan butter these days. We really have it good, guys. My personal favorite for a vegan buttercream frosting is Miyoko’s Creamery. It’s soy free and palm oil free, which I personally like and try to go with.
However, I know many use Earth Balance baking sticks, and love those. I’m not really a fan, because I think it has a really processed flavor. Do NOT use the tub of Earth Balance. It will not work.
Either way, the vegan butter these days acts just like regular butter. So to make a vegan chocolate buttercream frosting, you’re essentially just making a chocolate buttercream frosting!
For the chocolate buttercream, you’ll need:
- Vegan butter
- Powdered sugar*
- Cocoa powder
I put the * there because you can actually make this vegan chocolate cake entirely refined sugar free. To do so, I make a powdered sugar from coconut sugar by just pulsing it in the food processor until it’s really fine.
Then just use it as you would regular powdered sugar!
For more tips and tricks on how to make the best vegan chocolate frosting, check out my vegan chocolate buttercream blog post.
Can I make this chocolate cake into cupcakes?
You absolutely can use this cake recipe for cupcakes, but you’ll yield a lot of cupcakes (between 24-30). We actually have avegan chocolate cupcakerecipe that’s based off of this recipe, and it will yield you a dozen chocolate cupcakes!
Or, if you need an even smaller amount, try thissmall batch gluten free vegan chocolate cupcake recipe!
Vegan Chocolate Cake Tips & Tricks:
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and the powdered sugar:a very much overlooked step for vegan baking, but very important, as this helps the dry ingredients be properly whisked together.
Use hot coffee: You don’t need to cool the coffee before integrating into your batter!
This chocolate cake will last for 4 days at room temperature IF wrapped properly: I allow the cake layers to FULLY cool before wrapping them tightly in plastic wrap. Then store them at room temperature or in the fridge.
My favorite gluten-free flour for this cake: I love using King Arthur Measure-for-Measure gluten free flour. I repeatedly make this cake for large groups of non-gluten-free eaters, and there is not a slice left with that flour blend. It’s amazing. Add in a tablespoon of cornstarch or arrowroot starch for texture!
How to store leftover cake
If youwereto have leftovers after baking this vegan chocolate cake (I highly doubt you will, but you never know!), I recommend storing the cake as a whole, covered and on the countertop for up to 2 days.
Alternatively, you can slice it and place the slices in an airtight container or wrap them and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
You are just going to absolutely love this amazing vegan chocolate cake! It’s so good, you’d never know it’s eggless, dairy free, and refined sugar free! If you try it, be sure to give it arating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️in the comments section below, as well as letting us know how it went for you!
As always, I love to see your beautiful creations onInstagramandPinterest, so be sure to tag me there!
Happy chocolate cake baking 🙂
More vegan cake recipes you’ll love:
Vegan Funfetti Cake
Vegan Black Forest Cake
Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cake
Harry Potter Birthday Cake
Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cake
Watch Vegan Chocolate Cake Video:
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
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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Moist & Rich Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe- Keeps moist for 4 days!!
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star5 from 24 reviews
- Author: Britt Berlin
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 32
- Total Time: 42 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This ultra lush and rich vegan chocolate cake is the definition of decadence with a soft and tender moist crumb. Frosted in the creamiest chocolate buttercream, you won’t believe this vegan chocolate cake is made without eggs nor dairy- and it keeps moist for 4 days!!
Ingredients
Scale
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) 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 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 Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
- 2 cups vegan butter, softened
- 4–5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 cup cocoa powder
Instructions
- Be sure to read all instructions before beginning. Measure out all ingredients for the cake.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Prepare the chocolate buttercream:When ready to frost,beat the vegan butter until creamed, about 3 minutes. Then sift in the powdered sugar and continue beating until it becomes a fluffy vanilla buttercream.Add in the cocoa powder, and start by beating the cocoa powder into the middle so as not to create a dust around the bowl, then beat the entire buttercream mixture together with the cacao powder until full incorporated.
- Assemble the cake: placethe bottom layer onto a cake plate and adding about 1 cup of frosting to the top of the cake. Spread it just to the edges, then add the second layer and repeat.Top with the third layer and frost with the remaining frosting.Decorate as you’d like, and enjoy!
- 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
Vegan buttermilk: The best result will be combining soy milk or almond milk with the apple cider vinegar. However, the cake will still rise wonderfully using oat milk or coconut milk.
Vegan butter: If you’re using salted vegan butter, omit the salt in the dry mixture.
To make this vegan chocolate cakegluten free: use gluten free 1:1 baking flour. Please ensure that the mixture contains xanthan gum.
For an entirely gluten free veganchocolate cake made with just oatflour,check out this oat flour vegan chocolate cake here.
To make a three-layered 6″ cake: bake the cakes for 25-27 minutes, but check with a toothpick towards the end of the baking time.
To make a two-layered 9″ cake:bake the cakes for 32-37 minutes, but check with a toothpick towards the end of the baking time.
Check out more vegan cake recipes here! I also have an entire round up of our best vegan cake recipes.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 413
- Sugar: 49 g
- Sodium: 330.4 mg
- Fat: 13.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 75.3 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
