Ann Reardon

Best Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe

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I tried many times to make a truly delicious vegan cake but every recipe seemed to promise much and deliver little. So a few months ago, I put on my food scientist hat and got to work developing my own recipe. Well, after LOTS of experimentation and a few flops along the way, here it is finally … a beautiful vegan chocolate cake that will really wow your friends and family. The main hurdle in a vegan cake is the lack of eggs. Eggs give structure to a cake, so without them it is hard to get the same texture but the two recipes below are really good. The first recipe is for the fudgey cake in the video and the second is for a cake that is more airy.

 
 

RECIPE 1. A fudgey vegan cake recipe

(as shown in the video, quite a dense but yummy cake)
Makes 2 round 8in (20.32 centimetres)ch (20.32 centimetres) cakes

3 cups or 648g (22.86 ounces) sugar
2 1/4 cups or 400g (14.11 ounces) flour
3/4 cup or 90g (3.17 ounces) cocoa powder
3 tsp baking powder
6 tablespoons flaxseed meal
3 tsp vanilla
300millilitres (10.14 fluid ounces) or 1 1/4 cups minus 1 Tbsp canola oil
600millilitres (20.29 fluid ounces) or 2 1/3 cups plus 1 Tbsp water

Pre-heat the oven to 180C (356 degrees Fahrenheit).

Place the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and flaxseed meal into a bowl and whisk together to get rid of any lumps and aerate the mixture. Make a well in the centre and add the oil, water and vanilla. Mix together with electric mixers until just combined.

Pour into two lined and greased baking 8in (20.32 centimetres) round baking tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes. The cake is done when a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.

ann's vegan chocolate cake recipe
 
 

RECIPE 2. A more airy textured vegan cake recipe

(lighter and but not as chocolatey flavoured)
275g (9.7 ounces) or 1 3/4 cups plain or all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
175g (6.17 ounces) or 3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp sugar
3 tsp cocoa powder
300millilitres (10.14 fluid ounces) or 1¼ cup minus 1 Tbsp almond milk
150millilitres (5.07 fluid ounces) or 3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 Tbsp or 57g (2.01 ounces) golden syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 180C (356 degrees Fahrenheit)
Grease and line two 8in (20.32 centimetres) round baking tins.
Sift together the dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre. Add the wet ingredients and then mix with electric beater until just smooth.

Bake for 25-30 minutes
 
 

Vegan frosting recipe

Vegan Ganache
70millilitres (2.37 fluid ounces) almond milk (or you could use soy milk / rice milk)
204g (7.2 ounces) vegan chocolate
Combine the almond milk and chocolate and heat in the microwave for 30 second increments, stirring each time. Once smooth leave to chill.

Vegan buttercream

630g (22.22 ounces) or 5 cups icing sugar
240g (8.47 ounces) or 1 cup plus 2 tbsp vegan margarine
Beat together the icing sugar and margarine until smooth.

Add the ganache to the butter cream and beat together well for a rich vegan chocolate frosting.

Decoration

how to make a chocolate bow ann reardon
Tempered Chocolate (how to temper) for the bow and lid.
50g (1.76 ounces) or 1/2 cup almonds for the lid
350g (12.35 ounces) or 2 cups of assorted fresh fruit, washed and dried.
See the video for how to create the bow and the lid
Copyright 2016How To Cook That

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

107 Comments View Comments

  1. Rating: 4

    Hi, im just looking at recipe 1 and it says baking powder in the ingredients list, but baking soda in the instructions….
    which one should I use?

    Thank you!

  2. Rating: 5

    Hola, que tipo de harina se utiliza? Nunca había preparado pastel vegano, ya tiene mucho tiempo en el horno y sigue crudo, estoy pensando que me equivoqué en la harina, usé harina de coco

  3. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann, can I switch sugar for Stevia? If so, at what analogies? do i need to add bulking agent? perhaps yogurt or banana?

  4. Rating: 3

    Hi there!
    I tried the airy recipe today and the cakes didn’t rise very much. What have I done wrong? I thought I might have over-mixed the batter.
    (Ignore the star rating, i haven’t tasted it yet)

  5. Rating: 5

    I made this for my birthday this weekend as cupcaked. The cake itself is lovely and moist. It’s not sweet, so pairs perfectly with the rich frosting.
    This recipe makes 32 cupcakes.
    Thank you so much Ann for coming up with an easy and delicious vegan recipe! ♡

    • Do you have a good recipe for vegan frosting?

  6. Rating: 5

    Can I use psyllium husk instead of flaxseed meal?

  7. Which icing do I make for the fudgey vegan cake?

    • Hi Hayden, This cake is so beautifully fudgy it doesn’t need frosting, however you could top with chcolate if you like.

  8. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann.
    I’m not vegan but I love the decoration and the look of this cake. Can I make it using your sponge cake recipe and a non vegan frosting?

    • Of course you can.

  9. Rating: 5

    Hi, Ann. Made this cake today and it is really good; moist, fudgey and so good. Satisfied my craving for a no- egg chocolate cake. I need your opinion as to my oven temperature. Baked it at 356F, as directed; however, the top was crisp and the 4 sides (I used a rectangular pan) formed crusts. It took approximately more than an hour to bake the cake. The inside and bottom of the cake stayed moist and fudgey but the problem is the top and sides. Not sure if I will have the same problem if I used a round pan. I am thinking of lowering the baking temperature to 325F and bake it for an hour? Your thoughts, please. Thanks.

    • Hi Marite, It will depend a little on your oven, but anything large will take a while to cook and will tend to dry out on the edges. Round cakes cook more evenly and you could bake it in two round tins and then layer. This will improve the results and shorten the cooking time.
      Another tip to try is placing an empty baking tray on the shelf above your cake in the oven. This can help reduce the crisping of the edges.

      • Rating: 4

        Hi, Ann. Made the cake again and used round pans this time. It came out perfect! You’re right as I biaked the whole batter in one rectangular pan, it took a long time to cook. This is now our FAVORITE recipe. Thanks a lot. Happy new year to you and the whole family. God bless you.

        • That is great to hear Marite. So glad you have a recipe that works for you.

  10. Hey Ann, we are making this cake for a friends birthday but we can’t seem to find the amount of tempered chocolate we need. The recipe doesn’t specify an amount, would you be able to point us in the right direction? 🙂 thank you so much!

    • Hi Elizabeth for the frosting the recipe states about 200g of vegan chcolate. For the decorations, quantites will vary. To make the lid you will need another 200g. I always have more than I need just in case anything goes wrong

  11. Hi, can you please tell me how many kcal’s does a slice and / or the whole cake? thank you in advance

  12. I’m going to try this out for my office’s Thanksgiving this month, since I have vegan coworkers. Thank you so much for coming up with this and I look forward to trying it out.

  13. I baked this cake at the right temperature and time, it’s still not cooked ): what do I do?!

    • Hi Anna, the texture of these cakes is not the same as say as a sponge. Depending on what version of the recipe you are using, perhaps use Ann’s pics as the best guide of the texture you are after. If your cake is not cooked in the time suggested, cook it for 5 minutes longer then check again. As ovens vary a lot, and you may have a different depth of tray, your cooking time will vary from Ann’s. I find that I usually have about 5 mins less cooking time with my oven, but perhaps your oven runs a little cooler and therefore you will need to bake longer.

  14. Hi ? I am making a vegan cake for a wedding cake and am wondering which cake would work better for a wedding cake as I will need to make it a day or 2 before the wedding please?

    • Hi Jody, I would go for the first recipe.

  15. Rating: 4.5

    This recipe is so good. My housemate is vegan and I keep making this for her and it just turns out so well!! Thanks you!!!

    H

    • Thanks for letting us know Harry. So glad it is working well for you.

  16. Rating: 5

    Loved the recipe!

    However quick question. If I was to make this recipe with eggs, how many eggs would I need to replace the flaxseed meal?

    Thanks!

    • Hi Shay, It is not an exact/direct replacement where you can swap one out of the other. The ingredients have to balance to get the best results. So swapping eggs in might result in the cake being too gooey. If you are happy to use eggs, then I would go with this recipe: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/chocolate-cake-recipe/ .

  17. Hi Ann, I’m making the thomas the tank engine 3D cake. Could I use this cake recipe instead of the rich chocolate cake recipe. I have food allergies to cater for so would be using gluten free flour. Would you suggest recipe 1 or recipe 2 for the thomas cake? Thanks!

    • Hi Jess, I would probably go for recipe 1, though I think I would trial the recipe with gluten free flour first as it really will impact the texture of the cake. The best ever chocolate cake recipe works well with a good gluten free flour too.

  18. Rating: 4.5

    I made this with rye flour because I didn’t have the normal kind. It worked as well, just so everyone knows 🙂
    When I made the buttercream, I used half butter and half peanut butter, so it was a peanut buttercream. Really, really, really good!

    • Sounds yummy Sevilay!

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