Vegan Chocolate Cake – delicious, moist and full of chocolatey goodness!
It is said that “necessity is the mother of invention”. I imagine that not many good things came from The Great Depression, the economic tragedy which occurred during the 1930s, but this Vegan Chocolate Cake would be one of them. Butter, milk and eggs were luxuries. They were expensive and in short supply during those years but creative cooks managed to still produce delicious cakes. In this recipe baking soda and vinegar assist with the absence of eggs, thus giving the cake some lift. Vegetable oil (or sometimes lard) replaced butter and water took the place of milk.
It may seem hard to believe, but even though this cake does not contain eggs, milk or butter it is rich, moist and delicious.
This cake is ideal for people with food allergies or intolerances, and I’ve broadened its use by using gluten-free flour. Three days after baking, it is still lovely to eat.
Perhaps the greatest testament to this Vegan Chocolate Cake is that it has endured well beyond The Great Depression, and remains popular to this day.
The original recipe didn’t have frosting, and really it doesn’t need it, so if you don’t want to make it that way a dusting of icing/confectioner’s sugar will be sufficient. Here I serve the cake with berries and coconut yoghurt.
You may also like to enjoy the cake with our Vegan Cashew Cream. Looking for other great vegan recipes? Be sure to check out our Four Ingredient Fruit Cake and Vegan Chocolate Mousse!
Please enjoy this cake, and let me know in the comments below if you make it!
Xx Alex
This recipe has been adapted from sweetlittlebluebird.com
Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour I used Orgran
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa *
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar or apple cider
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil I used Grapeseed
- 1 cup water
For the frosting:
- 1 1/2 tbsp vegan margarine I used Nuttelex
- 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa *
- 2 1/4 cup icing sugar confectioner's sugar
- 3 tbsp boiling water approximately
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 Degrees C (350 F).
- Grease and line the base of an 8” cake tin with baking paper.
- Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, combine vanilla, vinegar, oil and water.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and, using a whisk, mix together until completely combined.Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a wire rack until the top of the cake feels completely cool to the touch.
- Remove the cake from the tin and place on a serving platter.
- The cake may be frosted or dusted with icing sugar
- For the frosting:Combine cocoa and icing sugar. Add the margarine and vanilla. Pour 1 tablespoon of boiling water onto the margarine and mix well. You may not need all the water so start slowly, and add more if you need to, to get a smooth spreading consistency. Spread the frosting on top of the cooled cake.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi! can I use regular cocoa instead of the Dutch processed cocoa? CanI doble the recipe to make a two layer cake??? Thanks for your feed back!!! 🙂
Hi Mariu,
You can use regular cocoa, yes.
We haven’t tried to double the recipe before – if you did it with two tins, I think it would be fine. I wouldn’t try to use a bigger tin with double the mixture as gluten-free cakes can have the tendency to sink in the middle, and as I haven’t tested it, I wouldn’t be too sure on this.
Two regular tins, however, I imagine would be fine.
Enjoy!
I’m not a vegan but I’m lactose intolerant so have tried many vegan cakes in the past. This is by far the best one I’ve tasted! It’s moist and has the perfect texture. I dusted it with some powdered sugar and served it with berries on the side. Next time, I’ll have to try it with the frosting! Yum!
Hi Isabella, I am delighted that you enjoyed this lovely Chocolate Cake, suitable for so many people with dietary requirements being gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan. A great all-rounder! 🙂
This recipe was so heavenly! And my dairy-free daughter thanks you too.
Thank you Krissy for the lovely feedback. I am delighted that you enjoyed the cake. 🙂
It is so yummy! I love chocolate and this cake is just as rich, chocolatey and moist as you mentioned 🙂
I am so glad you enjoyed it – thank you!
mmm, this is so delicious and you would never know it was vegan!
Thank you Brie for the lovely comments. 🙂
Yaass!! Yummy vegan stuff! It’s hard to find good recipes that are actually vegan. I’m a huge chocolover, so I was so excited to come across this delicious recipe!
Enjoy! Hope you’ll love it, Candace 🙂 xo
I’m going to make one of these for my daughter who is vegan. Minus a big old piece I’m going to enjoy before I take it to her, lol. I love chocolate cake.
Ha! That sounds like a great plan to me, Terri 🙂
It is so delicious!!! My sister just started being vegan too, and we had this as her birthday cake. So good!
Oh fantastic, Teresa!! Happy birthday to your sister!
This looks very similar to the cake my mom always made for us. We call it Nackey cake probably because there was a spelling mistake and it was supposed to be Wacky. It sort of tastes like red velvet to me.
Hi Catherine 🙂 That is a lovely memory 🙂 Thank you for stopping by!
Made this morning. Served with berries to friends at morning tea. Went down a treat!
Hi Brian, thank you for sharing. Glad to hear that you and your friends enjoyed the cake so much. Cheers!
Delicious, rich and moist. You would never know this was a vegan cake!
Fantastic to hear Alice, thank you so much for sharing. Pleased to hear that this recipe was a success for you. All the best!