Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake

Hi baking friends!

If you’re here it’s because you LOVE chocolate cake! I do too and it’s why I made this completely fuss-free easy vegan chocolate cake. This cake is completely egg-free and dairy free and I’m not going to give you a list of weird ingredients to use as substitutions. This is actually my version of a very common vegan chocolate cake recipe called the “Depression Cake”.

During the Great Depression in the 1930s there was little to no access to eggs or dairy, so a chocolate cake recipe was created that uses very basic kitchen ingredients. It’s amazing really that they were proving 100 years ahead of the curve that cakes didn’t *need* eggs or dairy and ultimately theres no reason to include them whatsoever. I’ll leave that essay for another day though!

This recipe makes two large 8” layers or three 6” layers. I personally like to spread the batter across four shallow 6” cake pans to get thinner layers (about 1-1.5″ thick) for tall layer cakes.

Despite its unsophisticated roots, this really is a knock-out recipe and my go-to recipe for all chocolate layered cakes.

Some baking tips:

Warming the plant milk is essential for 2 reasons:

• When mixed with the cocoa and espresso powder, the heat will bring out the rich chocolate flavour we come to expect from chocolate cakes!
• Heating the milk will in-turn heat the rest of the batter which will allow the cake to cook evenly and easily in the oven. Placing cold batter in the oven is a rookie error as the batter will take a long time to heat up and the edges will burn before the middle has time to cook.

Instead of adding espresso powder and the plant milk separately, you can brew a large cup of coffee (with milk) and add that instead!

Stick with natural cocoa powder and not dutch processed cocoa powder. Dutch processed cocoa powder is treated with alkaline solutions to neutralise the acidity of the cocoa. Since we are using baking soda as the raising agent (an alkaline), we need the other ingredients to be acidic to cause the reaction that creates an airy sponge. This is why apple cider vinegar is included in the recipe!

Vegetable oil vs melted butter:

If you’re making a tall layer cake then it’s recommended to use melted butter. Vegetable oil makes for a super moist cake, which is not ideal for tall layer cakes as the layers may crumble during construction.

This recipe can be made gluten-free by substituting your preferred gluten-free flour and 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum if the mix does not already include it.

5 from 3 reviews

Easy Simple Vegan Chocolate Cake

March 28, 2020

Servings: 8

Difficulty: Medium

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Delicious and simple vegan chocolate cake for every occasion!

By: Project Vegan Baking

Ingredients

• Chocolate Cake:
• 420g all purpose (plain) flour
• 420g sugar
• 50g cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp espresso powder
• 1 tsp salt (~5g)
• 450ml warm plant milk (soy, almond, oat, etc.)
• 2 tbsp Apple Cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 175g vegetable oil
• American Chocolate Buttercream:
• 200g vegan butter (room temperature)
• 150g hi-ratio vegetable shortening (100% fat, room temperature)
• 600g icing sugar
• 50g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2-3 tbsp plant milk

Directions

• Step 1 Cake Layers: Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
• Step 2 Sieve together all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, espresso powder and salt) in a large mixing bowl.
• Step 3 Warm up the plant milk. 60 seconds in the microwave should be enough.
• Step 4 Add the apple cider vinegar to the milk to make a “buttermilk”. Leave to curdle for 10 minutes.
• Step 5 While you wait, line 4 6-inch cake tins with parchment paper (or 2x 8-inch).
• Step 6 Add the remaining wet ingredients (veg oil and vanilla) to the buttermilk.
• Step 7 Create a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in. Whisk vigorously for 20 seconds until fully incorporated.
• Step 8 Pour the cake batter into the cake tins and put them in the oven for 20-25 minutes (or 25-30mins for 8 inch tins). Use a toothpick at the 25-minute mark to see if they are cooked (should come out clean after a few pokes).
• Step 9 Take out of the oven and leave to cool for a couple hours.
• Step 10 Put them in the fridge to chill overnight (or for at least an hour or two).
• Step 11 Once fully chilled, use a large bread knife to cut the domes off the top of the layers (optional) to get flat clean layers.
• Step 12 Buttercream: Cream together the vegan butter with the hi-ratio veg shortening until light and fluffy (5 minutes in a stand mixer).
• Step 13 Sieve together the icing sugar and cocoa powder until fully incorporated.
• Step 14 Add the icing/cocoa powder to the creamed fats in 3-4 batches, adding 1 tbsp of plant milk each time to prevent the buttercream from getting too thick and dry. Also add the 1 tsp of vanilla extract. If the buttercream is too thick and grainy you can smooth it out by warming up a cup of the buttercream in the microwave for 5-8 seconds and adding it back to the rest of the buttercream to raise the overall temp.
• Step 15 Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag.
• Step 16 Lay the first layer of cake at the base and pipe a swirl of buttercream on top. Feel free to add compote or fresh fruit on top of the buttercream before adding the next layer. Repeat with remaining layers.
• Step 17 If you want to coat the cake entirely, smear buttercream around the sides and use an offset spatula or knife to get it even. For a smooth finish, dip the spatula in warm water, dry it off, then carefully scrape away at the icing to get an ultra sleek smooth finish.