The BEST vegan chocolate cake recipe! Easy to make in one bowl, it's super moist, rich, and topped with a decadent vegan chocolate frosting.
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This vegan chocolate cake recipe is moist, tender, and packed with rich chocolate flavor. It’s easy to make in one bowl with simple ingredients, and a decadent vegan chocolate frosting takes it over the top. Good luck saying no to a second slice. 🙂
I originally developed this vegan chocolate cake recipe for my second cookbook, Love & Lemons Every Day. It’s been my go-to chocolate cake ever since. If you ask me, it rivals any made with dairy or eggs. The cake itself is soft, fluffy, and flavorful, and the frosting (which is made with a secret healthy ingredient!) is practically fudge. Whether you’re baking for a celebration or just craving a sweet treat, I hope you love this vegan chocolate cake as much as I do!
Vegan Chocolate Cake Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this vegan chocolate cake recipe:
- All-purpose flour and whole wheat flour – They make the cake wholesome, but still moist and tender. Feel free to use 100% all-purpose flour if you prefer.
- Cocoa powder – It adds rich chocolate flavor.
- Baking soda and apple cider vinegar – The vinegar’s acidity activates the baking soda, making the cake tender and fluffy without eggs. If you don’t have apple cider vinegar on hand, regular white vinegar is a good substitute.
- Almond milk – Or any non-dairy milk you like. Soy milk or oat milk would also work.
- 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. A neutral oil like vegetable oil works well too.
- 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.
How to Make Vegan Chocolate Cake
I love how simple this vegan chocolate cake recipe is—the batter is easy to mix up in one bowl! No stand mixer required.
Just whisk together the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, and mix until combined.
Spread the batter in a greased 8×8-inch pan and bake at 350°F until a toothpick comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
Frosting Your Cake
My favorite part of this vegan chocolate cake recipe is 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.
Recipe Tips
- Spoon and level your flour. My #1 tip for avoiding a dry cake is spooning and leveling your flour. Here’s why: Flour can easily become compacted in a canister or bag. If you scoop it up directly with a measuring cup, it’s easy to accidentally use too much. For a more precise measurement, spoon it into your measuring cup, then gently level the top with a knife. Read more in this guide to how to measure flour!
- Let the cake cool completely before frosting it. If the cake is still warm, the frosting will melt!
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!
How to Store Vegan Chocolate Cake
To store: Store leftover cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
To freeze: It also freezes well, even with the frosting. Wrap tightly in foil or plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Transfer to the fridge to thaw overnight before serving.
More Favorite Vegan Treats
If you love this recipe, try one of these vegan desserts next:
- Vegan Brownies
- Raspberry Vegan Cheesecake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Or any of these 27 Best Vegan Desserts!
Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Vegan Chocolate Frosting
- 1 large sweet potato, enough to yield ¾ cup mash
- 6 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
- Pinch sea salt
Chocolate Cake
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Supernatural Starfetti sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- Make the 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 cool slightly, then measure ¾ cup of the soft flesh. In a 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. Line the bottom and two sides with a sheet of parchment paper.
- 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 a cooling rack and cool for 10 minutes.
- Gently loosen the sides of the cake with a knife. Remove the cake from the pan and place back on the rack to cool completely. Frost the cake and serve!
My niece is vegan, and I wanted to make dinner for her. This was the piece de resistance at the end of the meal! Everyone commented on how moist the cake was and loved the frosting, too. My only substitution was vegan white chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet, which I’m sure gave it a touch more sweetness. (I discovered the first plant-based semi-sweet chips I purchased were not vegan, so had to go back to the store!) Thank you for this easy and delicious recipe!
Hi, I’m so glad everyone loved the cake!
Is it possible to swap flours for gf flour?
Hi Justin, I haven’t tried, but it might work with an all purpose GF flour.
Regarding your Vegan Chocolate Cake,do you need to let the almond milk sit at room temperature before adding it in?
Hi Susan, it’s not necessary, but it’s fine if you do!
Just made this cake for my husband’s birthday! He loved it! The cake turned our very moist and the frosting turned our very smooth and tasty! Thank you
I’m so glad he loved it!
Hey! Looks yummy but I can’t have apple cider vinegar! Any tips on what to substitute for that?
lemon juice!
This recipe looks delicious!
Is there any way I could make it 100% whole grain and oil free?
Do you have any recommendations to avoid that characteristic chewy, dense texture of low fat desserts?
Thank you!
Hi Madelyn, it’ll be much more dense with all whole wheat flour, but you could try spelt flour instead (it’s a bit lighter than ww). I don’t really have any tips for oil free baking – I went through a fat free phase once and felt super deprived, so that’s not my specialty 🙂
oh boy, the recipe that I copied from the website did not include the all purpose flour for the cake. I thought it rather odd that the batter was so thin. It is presently in the oven without the additional flour. I decided to look it up and yes the flour should have been added.
We shall see how this will turn out??
let you know in 30 minutes.
That recipe should be changed on the website.
Wow, so yummy Thank you.
This recipe looks wonderful!! Im just wondering if I can make the frosting a couple of days in advance and keep it in the fridge because I am planning to make a layer cake with it. Thanks!
You can! It’ll thicken in the fridge so just let it sit at room temp for a little while before you frost it.
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)
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.
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!
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.
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!!
Hi. What did you substitute the chocolate chips for. Can we use only cocoa powder to make this frosting
Hi Namita, it sounds like she used dark chocolate chips instead of semi sweet chocolate chips. They’re necessary here to make the frosting gooey and chocolatey, I don’t think it would be the same with just cocoa powder.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.