Chocolate cake. Sometimes that’s all you need – a nice slab of it, nothing fancy, no fruit or mint nor hint of citrus. They say that chocolate mimics the euphoria of being in love, but how do they know that love isn’t mimicking chocolate? It could choose a worse role model.
This is my basic chocolate cake recipe, the same as the chocolate cupcakes in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. It’s rich and tender and just exactly what I want when biting into a piece of cake, moistness and melt in your mouth crumbs. I top it with an extra fudgy chocolate ganache that gets it delectible gloopiness from a couple tablespoons maple syrup. In this photo, I’ve doubled the recipe to make a two layer cake and added a little bit of a creamy cocoa buttercream that I’ve been working on. Another benefit to this recipe is that the cake doesn’t dome too much so it’s perfect for layer cakes.
Chocolate Cake
Makes one 8 inch circle cake
1 cup almond milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular (or a mix of both)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350?F.
Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla and almond extract and mix well.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).
Lightly grease an 8 inch springform pan. Pour in the batter and bake for 32 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted through the center comes out clean.
Gooey Ganache
2/3 cup almond milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)
8 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
In a small saucepan bring the milk to a boil then lower heat to a simmer. Add the chocoate chips and maple syrup and mix with a fork. Turn heat off and mix until thoroughly melted. Let cool for about 15 minutes before using.
To assemble:
Just pour the ganache over the cooled cake and kind of tilt the cake at all angles to get the ganache to drip down the sides. Refrigerate to cool and set the ganache.
May I ask how you make the buttercreme insides? It looks SO GOOD!
You know, I honestly don’t remember. It was something I was working on and then I guess I just forgot about. I *think* it was with coconut oil.
I made this cake today, and wow! We don’t really get to eat it until my son’s birthday party on Saturday, but it’s just obviously the best cake ever. (And my first time trying vegan baking, so I feel like I’ve suddenly been enlightened.) I snuck a little bite off the bottom of one layer; it was so good! I filled it just with some mixed berry jam and did the ganache; will decorate it right before the party. Also, just in case others are reading the comments, I wanted to mention that I made it in two well-oiled, non-stick regular cake pans (instead of a springform) and turned the cakes very carefully out onto plates; both came out perfect.
Made this cake last night, I’m in the first few days of being 100% dairy free and I’ve been struggling for some sweet treats that isnt fruit! So I made this with a buttercream icing using soya butter and it was delicious. I didn’t have any canola oil so I used peanut oil instead and it was lovely. I genuine love the taste of this cake, its like a little marziplan chocolatey heaven and no animals were hurt in the making 😛
this was so fantastic. I made it today and i can’t even believe how moist and fluffy it was. I’m newly vegan and hesitant about most of the vegan baking recipes I’ve tried but this went above and beyond! I had a little trouble with the grenache, it seemed too thin for me so I made a 2nd, different version with earth balance and agave syrup instead.
this will be my go-to chocolate cake recipe from now on. Thanks Chandra!
I made a double layered chocolate cake yesterday for my boyfriend’s birthday. He said it was the best vegan cake he’s ever eaten! 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!
this is THE BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER MADE. I have chocolate all over my face and can’t handle life. OMG.
TO DIE FOR! I made the cupcake version of this from ur book and it was better than any cupcake I’ve ever tasted. Just melts in your mouth and the non-vegans loved it and couldn’t believe it was vegan. I’m in lust.
Does anyone know what adjustment would have to be made if I use agave instead of granulated sugar??? Any suggestions would be appreciated! 🙂 Thanks in advance.
can I use any other flour to make it gluten free?
I made this after a friend recommended your blog…. To die for! Loved it! Thank you!
You know, I was just looking at the cupcake recipe from the book, and wondering what I needed to do to make it into a cake instead. On a whim, I checked this site, and voila! So now I know which cake I’ll be making for my daughter’s 1st b-day in a couple of weeks, thanks. 🙂
This cake looks great for brother’s upcoming birthday, but I have a congenital aversion to almond extract. Will something terrible happen if I don’t use it?
Nope, it’ll be good!
This cake is absolutely delicious! I had this as my birthday cake, with IsaChandra’s chocolate mouse frosting on top and a family recipe for peanut butter frosting in the middle, turned vegan. It is irresistible, even my dad who eats meat loved it! Rich, moist, and chocolatey…couldn’t ask for a better recipe! Thank you!!
I’m baking this cake for the 4th time … Can’t get enough of it! I usually double the recipe and bake two cakes for two layers… Would it be a better idea to bake one big cake and cut it in half?
Thanks for all the awesome recipes!
My ganache came out all drippy. 🙁 Despite this, my babies devoured these for my daughter’s first birthday. They took the daycare by storm! I have pictures of chocolate faces to prove it. This blog makes growing up vegan so much easier for my girls.
Holy crap!!!!!!!! Yesterday I made this recipe (but I made muffins/cupcakes instead of a cake) the first two I tried tasted really strange (just as if I had used stevia or artificial sweetener which I didn’t) but I couldn’t resist and had to take a bit while they were still warm. They also had some sort of strange crust on top… But theeeeeen about 2 hours later they smelled incredibly awesome and I ate another one. All I can say is: WOW I have no clue how or why but suddenly they tasted TOTALLY different. The “crust” was gone and those soft, sweet and amazing cupcakes were the best I’ve ever had!!! Thank you so so much for that recipe!!!!!!!!!!
Greetings from Germany
Sabrina
Just made this and it’s delicious! I didn’t have chocolate chips so I did a cocoa buttercream with Earth Balance, but the cake doesn’t even need it. It’s super moist, and I’m having a hard time only eating one piece.
If I DID want to make this as a layer cake like the one in the picture, how might I go about doing that and is there a recipe I could follow for the buttercream to put in between? Also, do you think it’s better served warm or room temp/cold? I really want to make this for my boyfriend’s birthday this weekend!! Thank you 🙂
how long to bake in 9″ round pans? I’m making a b’day cake…the cupcakes are yummy.
I doubled this recipe & made a layer cake yesterday for the vegans (including myself) attending my nephew’s birthday party. IT WAS AWESOME!! I say WAS because we ate it all already. I had some for breakfast. I don’t need to disappointment myself with another chocolate cake recipe ever again. 🙂 Thank you!
blooming_lotus: Just double the recipe & use two round pans! I ate mine the night I made it, after only chilling for an hour or less, and it was really good. But the next day after chilling all night, I thought it was even better! Straight from the fridge. (Try making the Ganache. It KILLS!!!)
I made this recipe over the weekend and fell in love with the result! I’d like to use it as a base for making a mint chocolate cake, and was wondering if you have any advice?
The aspects that I’m thinking about are whether to use liquid mint extract or some quantity of fresh mint leaves? Fresh mint leaves are much easier for me to get hold of. Also, would you use mint in the cake mix, in the ganache or in both? I’m inclined to use mint in both the cake and the ganache, but I’m concerned about creating an over-powering mint flavour.
Thank you very much for any inputs you might have!
PS: I made the cake in a bread loaf tin – it meant that it was easy to wonderfully even slices when it was cold out of the fridge.
I would probably just use the mint in the ganache. I’m not sure that the texture would be all that great with mint leaves. Can you order extract online? 1/2 teaspoon should do it here. I would also think a buttercream layer with a hint of mint would be delish.
is there any other substitute for canola oil , apple cider vinegar and almond milk???
Can I use normal semi skimmed milk instead of amlond milk. ??? I can’t seem to find canola oil and apple cider vinegar in the UK
jaymini – canola oil is rapeseed oil, but I always just use sunflower. I see apple cider vinegar in most big supermarkets as well as in little fancy food shops, it might just be labelled “cider vinegar” though (Sainsburys and Asda even have own brand versions! It’s not rare) It says in the recipe you can use any non-dairy milk. I am sure dairy milk would work but then the cake wouldn’t be vegan. You can get almond milk in H&B, Waitrose and other shops, but it’s quite expensive. Oat milk and soya milk are cheaper.
I love this recipe! I scale it down to fit into my cake tins (they’re only 7 inches, I have no idea how I managed to end up with them, no-one really sells them!). It’s just the perfect chocolate cake 🙂
Doubled this recipe, baked it in a bundt pan with a ring of crumbled chocolate from a dark chocolate orange bar, halved the vanilla and substituted natural orange extract for the other half. Used dark chocolate orange for the ganache. My boyfriend’s very large very non-vegan family raved about it, and I got a request to have that made for the next birthday in their family. This is a wonderful, simple recipe that wows. Thank you so much.
my oh my. this was the first vegan birthday cake i ever had, AND the best. it was delectable. i must admit i was a bit nervous about how it would turn out but it wowed everyone. it was so moist & chocolatey delicious. like hostess cupcakes on crack, which is a positive thing. the only thing my mom said she would do differently next time is tone down the shortening in the buttercream frosting. tasted great regardless. just unbelievable. i’m still drooling thinking about it.
Taste is delicious 🙂 Texture is super moister but not too spongy, which is what i’d prefer and it didn’t rose up much. Any suggestions to make it even more spongy and rise more? 🙂 (sorry my english)
Thanks!!!! (this is the third recipe i tried for chocolate cake and i’m so happy that it turned out great :))
This recipe makes absolutely perfect cupcakes and is probably the best chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever tried, vegan aside.
Best cake I’ve ever made, vegan or otherwise. I broke out my heart-shaped springform pan for the first time on Valentine’s Day, and baked the cake in it. Sliced it in half horizontally, filled it with mint buttercream (made with Earth Balance), and then topped it with that gooey ganache. HEAVEN. Seriously. Heaven. The gooeyness of that ganache made the whole cake sooooo…gooey and luxurious, velvetty. Wow. It was…WOW.
Maggie- If you want it to rise more, add extra baking powder.
I stumbled across your website and am so glad I did. This cake was easy to whip up, literally took 10 minutes to throw ingredients together. I even used Bobs GF Baking Flour and it still tasted fantastic. Moist and delicious! My ganache was ok – i used coconut milk(not the kind for curry), that is my non-dairy milk preference, don’t know if that had an effect. But it was chocolatey and good enough, just not quite ganache like. Thanks for posting this super easy, fast and fantastic recipe! Cant wait to try more of yours!!
Just made this and wow what an awesome recipe!!! I doubled the batch and made a two layer cake, with a middle of strawberry preserves. Super moist cake, and was easy to make! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the wonderful recipes!
HOLY CRAP! This cake was AMAZING! My husband called it the best one he has ever had. It is phenomenal. YUM!!!!!! THANK YOU!
Seriously. Best cake ever! I added some cinnamon and cayenne to both the cake and the ganache, which made it absolutely EPIC!! Thank you ISA!
just made – so good!! YUM YUM YUM!!
Got this in the oven now.. smells so good!!!
Mmm this turned out chocolatey and moist. I made a bundt cake and added a bit of cinnamon to the ganache. I think it really only needed about half of the ganache the recipe called for though.