Vegan Chocolate Cake

Happy 1st Birthday to A Spoonful of Vanilla! Of course, the only way to celebrate is with a slice of cake. This chocolate cake is…

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Happy 1st Birthday to A Spoonful of Vanilla! Of course, the only way to celebrate is with a slice of cake. This chocolate cake is vegan, the buttercream is made using dairy free spread and I decorated it with some of my favourite betties.

It was one year ago today I posted my first ever recipe. It was for my Velvety Vanilla Cupcakes. I had no idea then just how much A Spoonful of Vanilla would grow, how many of you would bake and enjoy the recipes I posted, and how many incredible people I have met.

I decided to make a Vegan Chocolate Cake as a lot of my friends and family are doing Veganuary this year and I wanted to be able to celebrate with them, socially distanced of course.

Vegan Chocolate Cake

I decided to make this cake a three layer naked cake. The buttercream is a lot softer compared with non-vegan buttercream and I was worried that covering the cake in buttercream would make it less stable. If you do want to cover the outside of the cake in buttercream I would suggest adding dowels to the centre of the cake. All the instructions you need can be found in the alternatives section below.

To make the cake I started by adding all my dry ingredients to a bowl and mixing them briefly to ensure it is evenly distributed. . I decided to use dark brown sugar as it gives the cake a more caramelly taste. You can swap this for caster sugar if you would prefer.

Next I add in all the wet ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.

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Split the mixture evenly between your cake tins and bake in the over for 35-40 minutes. You will know the cakes are ready because they will spring back when touched.

You will also know the cakes are ready if a cake skewer entered into the thickest part of the cake will come out clean. If it comes out and there is cake batter on the end of the skewer pop the cakes back into the oven and bake for 3-4 minutes. Repeat until the skewer comes out clean.

Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 15-20 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Top Tip If you put the cakes upside down on the cooling rack then they will flatten any dome of the top of the cake meaning you won’t need to level them.

While the cakes are cooling make the buttercream.

Buttercream

In a large bowl mix together the dairy free spread, icing sugar and cocoa powder and vanilla extract and mix together until incorporated.

Spoon the buttercream mixture into your piping bag. I used a Wilton 1M Piping Tip. As this is a naked cake, you can decorate it straight onto your serving plate. Place your first cake onto the plate and pipe the buttercream on. Repeat this until all three cakes are stacked. Decorate the top of your cake with fruit or any decoration of your choice. I used Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries and Freeze-Dried Strawberries.

I also decorated using this acrylic cake topper from Wild Reene.

Equipment

Scales

Mixing Bowl

Spatula

Cake Tin

Piping Tip

Piping Bag

Cake Topper

*I earn a small amount of money if you buy any of these products. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Thank you for supporting A Spoonful of Vanilla.

Ingredients

The ingredients in this cake are slightly different compared with a non-vegan cake, although I did try and keep the recipe as similar as possible. I used White Wine Vinegar as a replacement for eggs in the recipe. I also used almond milk to ensure the cakes were moist.

Alternatives

If you want to cover the cake in buttercream, stack your cake as you normally would and then add 4 dowels to the centre of the cake to keep it stable. Then follow the steps on my Cookie Dough Showstopper Cake to decorate the outside of the cake.

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5 from 7 votes

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Happy 1st Birthday to A Spoonful of Vanilla! Of course, the only way to celebrate is with a slice of cake. This chocolate cake is vegan, the buttercream is made using dairy free spread and I decorated it with some of my favourite betties.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Decorating Time40 minutes
Servings: 16 servings
Author: Sarah Mark

Ingredients

For the Cake

  • 600 g Self-Raising Flour
  • 150 g Cocoa Powder
  • 500 g Dark Brown Sugar
  • 650 ml Almond Milk
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 300 ml Vegetable Oil
  • 1 tsp White Wine Vinegar

For the Buttercream

  • 250 g Dairy-Free Spread
  • 600 g Icing Sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 100 g Cocoa Powder
  • Berries

Instructions

To Make the Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 180C (160CFan) and line three 8” round cake tins with parchment paper.
  • In a large bowl add your flour,sugar and cocoa powder and mix until evenly distributed.
  • Add in your milk, vanilla, oiland vinegar and mix until completely combined.
  • Split the mixture between thethree tins and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes.
  • Once baked leave them to cool.You will know they are ready because a cake tester inserted into the thickestpart of the cake should come out clean.

To Make the Buttercream

  • Add your spread, icing sugar,vanilla and cocoa powder to a bowl and mix until completely combined.
  • Place your first cake on yourcake board or serving plate and pipe the buttercream on. Add your next cake ontop and repeat until your cake is fully stacked.
  • Decorate with fresh fruit.

If you do have any questions about this Vegan Chocolate Cake or any other recipes on my blog you can contact me either by sending me a DM on social media or an email. You can find all my details on the right-hand side of this page. 

38 comments

  1. Congratulations on your first year!! You absolutely made a delicious looking treat to celebrate! I am a huge fan of chocolate cakes and this looks absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for sharing x

  2. This looks delicious! I’m not vegan myself, but I do have a few friends who are. So recipes like this are great if you want to be inclusive of dietary requirements. I have tried a vegan cake before and it was lovely, so I’ve no doubt this tastes as good as it looks x

  3. 5 stars

  4. 5 stars

  5. Wow this cake looks delicious and super moist. I would never think it was vegan. This recipe will come in handy when baking for vegan loved ones.

  6. 5 stars

  7. Alright, so I’ll admit: I’m not a huge chocolate fan. I don’t hate it, but I also don’t have any serious cravings for it. HOWEVER, this chocolate cake looks phenomenal and I’m drooling a bit just reading about it. You’re making me think I need to give chocolate another go 😉

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