The BEST vegan chocolate cake recipe! It's moist and deeply chocolatey, with a rich chocolate frosting made from a secret healthy ingredient.
This vegan chocolate cake recipe comes from my new cookbook, Love & Lemons Every Day. Today, I’m sharing it in honor of the book’s launch, but this vegan cake recipe would be perfect for any celebration. It’s moist and delicious, with a rich dark chocolate flavor. Topped in a luscious frosting, it’s a dessert that everyone will love, whether they’re vegan or not.
Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe Ingredients
This vegan chocolate cake tastes rich and decadent, but secretly, it’s healthy. Healthy for a cake, that is. 🙂 Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- All-purpose flour and whole wheat flour – They make the cake wholesome, but still moist and tender.
- Cocoa powder – It adds rich chocolate flavor.
- Baking soda and apple cider vinegar – They help the cake rise.
- Almond milk – Or any non-dairy milk you like. Soy milk or oat milk would work here too.
- Maple syrup – Instead of using refined white sugar, I sweeten this vegan cake naturally with maple syrup.
- Extra-virgin olive oil – For moisture and richness.
- Cinnamon and vanilla extract – They enhance the cake’s chocolate flavor.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Frosting Your Vegan Cake
But the real healthy secret to this recipe is in the frosting. Despite its creamy texture and rich flavor, it’s not made with powdered sugar or vegan butter. Instead, I use baked sweet potato!
As you blend the frosting together, the heat of the sweet potato melts chocolate chips into a smooth puree that’s finished with coconut oil and cocoa powder. While it may feel decadent, this frosting actually gets its luscious texture from a vegetable!
Of course, if you prefer vanilla frosting on your cake, that’s fine too! This vegan frosting recipe would work perfectly.
Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe Variations
You can make this vegan chocolate cake recipe three ways:
- In an 8×8-inch square pan. Follow the recipe below to make this variation. It will yield a vegan chocolate cake like the one you see pictured here. I make this variation when I’m just baking for Jack and me.
- As a layer cake. In the book, I make this recipe as a layer cake. To make it, double the recipe below and bake the batter in two round 8- or 9-inch cake pans. I love making this variation for parties and gatherings!
- As a sheet cake. Don’t want to bother with layers? I get it! Double the recipe below, and bake it in a 9×13-inch pan.
All three versions are delicious!
More Favorite Vegan Treats
If you love this recipe, try one of these vegan desserts next:
- Vegan Brownies
- Raspberry Vegan Cheesecake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- No Bake Cookies
- Best Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Or any of these 30 Best Vegan Desserts
Want even more vegan dessert recipes? Check out Love & Lemons Every Day!
Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Sweet Potato Frosting
- 1 large sweet potato, enough to yield 3/4 cups mash
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
- pinch of sea salt
Chocolate Cake
- 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup almond milk
- 3/4 cups maple syrup
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Supernatural Starfetti sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- Make the sweet potato frosting: Preheat the oven to 425°F. Use a fork to poke a few holes into the sweet potato. Place on a baking sheet or on a piece of foil and roast until very tender, about 60 minutes. Let the potatoes cool slightly, then measure 3/4 cups of the soft flesh. In a (small) food processor, puree the sweet potato, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, coconut oil, and salt. The heat of the sweet potato will melt the chocolate.
- Make the cake. Reduce the oven heat to 350°F and grease an 8x8 baking pan.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. To the same bowl, add the almond milk, maple syrup, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla. Stir until combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back when pressed or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the pan on cooling racks and cool for 10 minutes.
- Gently loosen the sides of each cake with a knife. Remove the cakes from the pan and place back on the racks to cool completely. Frost the cake and serve!
This chocolate cake looks so delicious and I would never have guessed it’s vegan. Can’t wait to try this recipe ♥
Is the frosting sweet? It looks like it doesn’t have sugar in it.
It is! There’s sugar in semisweet chocolate chips and also natural sugars in the roasted sweet potato!
It is sweet but if you wanted to make it sweeter you could add more chocolate, or a little milk chocolate too or just a drizzle of maple syrup? I also add a little vanilla
Wow..love this one. Amazing. Keep Glittering, love TGA by Misha ❤️😘👍
This cake looks delicious! I have yet to find the perfect vegan cake recipe as mine always seem to fail! x
Shannon | https://shannonmichelle1.blogspot.com
Hi! I got your cooking book and baking the chocolate cake right now. I made the frosting and it is absolutely tasty, but turned rather dark compared to yours. I used semisweet chocolate chips. Does it matter which kind of sweet potatoes are used? Thank you!
It’s pretty brown and dark and chocolatey… I photographed it next to a window so maybe it’s just the light reflecting that you see. I hope you like the cake!
This post was so timely. It’s my husband’s today and I was looking for a nice, simple, vegan chocolate cake to make. I made it this morning, sneaked a piece to taste before serving it tonight. It’s really delicious and you’d never know it’s dairy free! This is a keeper! Thank you!
Can you substitute soy milk for the almond milk?
I’m chocoholic and always search new chocolate cakes recipes but I must say this cake looks so spectacular and wait to try this.
This cake looks absolutely delicious! I love those sprinkles on top 🙂
Sweet potato to make vegan frosting?! Brilliant! I always struggle with how to make a solid vegan “buttercream” and it feels impossible. I have to try your method immediately. (Vanilla frosting would be a struggle just because of the color, but maybe I can get away with a white sweet potato? I have to try all of this right now…) I just feel like you’ve gifted me a revelation. Thank you!
Ha, yeah I don’t know if it’ll work as vanilla – the chocolate really masks the vegetal flavor of the sweet potato.
This looks and sounds delish! This is perfect for my daughter’s 2 year birthday! I was looking for a healthy yet decadent alternative. Two things:
1) Can I substitute oat milk for almond?
2) Does roasting the sweet potatoes affect the taste? Could I just steam them instead until soft enough to puree?
Hi Ela, yep, oat milk should work fine, and as long as the sweet potato is soft enough to puree steaming it should be fine!
Hi! This cake looks unbelievable and I’m literally drooling over here. I have a question, can I make the cake and frosting a day in advance and just frost it the day I serve it? Or should I prepare everything, frost it and put it in the fridge? Thank you!
Hi Hannah, it’ll work either way – if you frost it, leave it at room temp, covered. I hope you love it!
i love sweet potato and making the frosting out of it seems very yummy. i am definitely going to give this a try. thanks for this recipe.
chocolate cakes are always one of the best dishes and your looks absolutely delicious
Fantastic chocolate cake recipe! All in one bowl and relatively healthy (for cake!) so I make it with my toddler all the time, it’s super easy!
We aren’t vegan and I’m scared to make a cake without eggs for fear of it being too heavy, so I add three and it’s bouncy and moist and delicious! But I really do need to try making it without!
oh, ha ha, I’m glad you all loved it! It rises really well without eggs too :).
This was terrific! Doable and delicious – my new chocolate cake go to. Thanks so much!
I’m so glad you loved it!
I must try Vegan Chocolate Cake at home.
Vegan chocolate cake look vrey yummy. Your cooking is great. Thanks for sharing.
Can I use spelt flour or oat flour instead of whole wheat and all-purpose flours?
Hi Kat, you can use spelt flour for sure. Oat flour probably won’t work without other adjustments. Hope that helps!
Hello hello
Adoring your pictures and recipes!
A question about the frosting ingredients: may I substitute sweet potato purée with pumpkin purée? The where I live, they are unavailable…
Thanks
Hi, pumpkin puree should work fine – if from a can, it might be slightly thinner but I think it would still work. The frosting might have a slight pumpkin taste, but I don’t think that would be a bad thing.
Thanx
How can I change out the flours to make it Gluten Free?
I also would love to make this gluten free. Can we swap out the flours listed with GF flours instead? any specific ratios?
Hi Iee, I haven’t tested this recipe with GF flours, so I can’t say for sure but an all purpose GF mix like Bob’s Red Mill’s or Pamela’s should work.
The frosting is brilliant!! It tastes amazing. I still can’t believe that there is sweet potato in it as you can’t taste it at all. It’s important to use chocolate chips that you like the taste of as that’s the flavor that comes through.
This was so good!!! It tasted just like the Betty Crocker chocolate cake I used to love as a kid. I really loved the sweet potato frosting!
Hi Kavita, I’m so glad you loved it!
Hello. How much minutes to bake the cake??
Hi Noah, it’s in the recipe card at the bottom of the post (above the comments), in step 4.
I made this yesterday and holy guacamole! It is delicious! I steamed my sweet potato in the microwave simply to cut down on time and ended up needing to add 1 tsp. of almond milk to my frosting as it was a tad thick after processing.
Everything about this cake is fabulous but I must give special mention to the sweet potato frosting. I may never go back to anything else! A true stroke of genius. So good I contemplated not making the cake and just eating the frosting.
I’m excited to try this cake! Would the frosting still taste good without the chocolate chips? Or is there a different unrefined alternative I can substitute it with?
Also, is there a reason you chose olive oil for the batter or would coconut oil work the same?
Hi Irene, chocolate chips are necessary for the frosting, it wouldn’t be very chocolatey without them. You can use melted coconut oil for the cake batter, just make sure your almond milk is at room temp (not cold) before you mix everything together.
Baking soda isn’t something I can find in the store here. I replaced it with sodium bicarbonate although I know it’s not the same. The cake was falling apart, it was grainy, so it’s probably due to the lack of baking soda. Do you know with what I should replace it?
The taste was very great and the sweet potato frosting was amaaazing!
Thank you!
Baking soda and sodium bicarbonate are actually the same thing (NaHCo3 – this coming from a baking & chemistry enthusiast). The different one would be baking powder, which usually makes cakes fluffier due to its longer reaction time with the other ingredients (but it’s not called for in this recipe, so basically you did everything right)
Yummy vegan chocolate cake-made for hubby’s bday! I substituted dark chocolate chips since we don’t like it too sweet and it tasted great! I definitely recommend this recipe and plan to make it again! Even my non-veggie friend loved it!!
Made this today and it was great! Followed the recipe exactly. Didn’t have time to make the frosting but I’m sure it would be good.
Hey this looks delish, can I put the sweet potato through a sieve to make it a bit smother?
I think it might be too thick for that, the food processor gets it pretty smooth though!
Hello Hello!
I hope you are doing well! I am making this chocolate cake for my dads 70th birthday!
I recently made your peanut butter chocolate chip cookie bars and my dad LOVED the icing on those, with dates, walnuts and cocoa powder. Would that work on this cake as well? He doesn’t love icing that’s too sweet.
Thank you 😊
Hi Leah, I’m so glad he loved the bars! I think that icing would be hard to frost on the cake, since it’s so thick. The cake isn’t firm like those bars so it’ll be harder to spread without cake crumbs coming up. I’d give this sweet potato frosting a go – it isn’t too sweet, in my opinion.
Ever made the recipe for cupcakes? Any tips or advice? My daughter is wanting cupcakes for her birthday. Thanks.!!
Ps- I’ve made it as a layer cake and we loved it!
Hi Becky, I haven’t tried but I bet it would work. I’d bake them for less time – start checking around 18 minutes. (I’m not sure of the total yield)