This Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Recipe is an ABSOLUTE hit! It’s moist, decadent, fluffy and made with easy pantry ingredients so anyone can make this! It's foolproof, has the perfect texture and is bound to please!
1cupboiling water + 1 tablespoon instant coffeemixed in until dissolved stir these together right before you need it so it's still hot
Vegan Chocolate Frosting
1cupunsweetened cocoa powder
1/2cupunsalted vegan buttersoftened (or salted butter and skip the sea salt below)
1teaspoonvanilla extract
pinchsea salt
2 ½cupsto 3 cups powdered sugar
⅓cupvegan milk + 1 tablespoon extra if needed
Instructions
Vegan Chocolate Cake
Grease and flour 3 8” cake pans and line with parchment paper. It’s essential so that the cake doesn’t stick.
Heat oven to 350°F/180°C.
In a small bowl, add the apple cider vinegar and the soy milk together and stir to combine. It will curdle. Set aside.
Whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Add milk mixture, applesauce, oil and vanilla and the coffee water. Beat with an electric whisk on medium speed for about 2 minutes until everything is just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir one more time to ensure everything is incorporated.
Pour the batter equally into the cake pans and bake for 27 minutes. Remove from the oven. Place cake pans on the counter to cool and run your butter knife around the edges to loosen it from the sides of the pan. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour in the pan on a wire rack before removing from the pan and to the wire rack to cool completely.
Vegan Chocolate Frosting
Add the cocoa powder, vegan butter, 2 ½ cups of the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, sea salt and half the vegan milk to the bowl of an electric stand mixer or a hand mixer. Start mixing it together at slow speed, gradually increasing speed until it’s very thick and smooth. Add the ½ cup of the extra powdered sugar at a time until it reaches your desired thickness and consistency. If needed, add in the other half of the milk about 1 tablespoon at a time.
Putting it All Together
Frost cakes and decorate. The frosting will set at room temperature. Enjoy!
Place a little bit of frosting in the centre of your platter - like 1 tablespoon’s worth - to help secure the cake layers to the plate. Place 1 of the fully cooled cakes on a platter (or any plate wide enough) and dollop ⅓ of the frosting on top. Spread enough around the centre, don’t go to the edges (although if you do end up doing that, it’s not that big of a deal.
Place the 2nd cake layer upside and repeat. Place the remaining cake upside down on top of the frosted cake and spread the remaining frosting on the top and sides, blending the upper and lower portions of the sides as you go.
Decorate with some shaved chocolate or extra cocoa powder! The frosting sets at room temperature perfectly. Slice and enjoy!