This vegan gluten free chocolate cake is rich, made in one bowl, moist and loved by all types of eaters! This is my go-to recipe to impress a crowd or for any special occasion.
Like many other gluten free and vegan recipes on the blog (hi vegan brownies), this vegan chocolate cake was a true labor of love!
It took quite a few trials, with many, many different flour combinations before landing on the perfect recipe.
And when I say perfect, I mean it! This recipe is incredibly easy to make (one bowl!), vegan, gluten free, perfectly chocolatey and a favorite among all types of eaters.
With chocolate cake, you want to strike a balance between light, fluffy, rich and dense. Unlike a vanilla cake, a chocolate cake should have some degree of density to it. But not so much that it overwhelms your palate.
That’s a hard balance to strike, especially with a vegan gluten free cake, but we did it! This recipe is perfect for any celebration, or just a delicious dessert that’ll impress your friends! If you love this recipe, try my vegan chocolate donuts or mini chocolate cake next!
How to make this recipe
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two round 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper and set aside. See notes about using 9 inch pans.
Combine the room temperature milk with the vinegar and mix together in a glass. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl (mixing is easier if the bowl is extra large!), sift together the almond flour, all purpose flour and cocoa powder. Whisk in the remaining dry ingredients.
The espresso powder is optional, but it really enhances the chocolate flavor. I promise it won’t taste like coffee at all!
Add in all remaining wet ingredients and whisk together until smooth. Add the batter to the prepared cake pans, trying to keep them as even as possible to ensure even baking. Let sit for 5 minutes.
This isn’t something you usually do with cake batter, but I always do it when baking a vegan gluten free cake. It allows the batter to rest for a second and absorbs some excess moisture so the cake isn’t too dense.
Add to the oven and bake for 34-42 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
You don’t want to underbake since the cake will sink in the middle or end up dense, but over-baking will lead to a dry cake, so start your timer at 34 minutes, and add just a couple of minutes at a time until the toothpick has a few crumbs but isn’t wet.
Remove from the oven and let cool in the cake pans for 30 minutes.
Carefully flip onto a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting. I usually stick them in the fridge to cool, which takes about 90 minutes.
Prepare the vegan buttercream, then frost the top of one layer, add on the second layer, then frost the top and sides of the cake.
Enhancing the chocolate flavor
A lot of chocolate cake recipes call for coffee. I prefer using boiling hot water as I find it helps “activate” the cocoa a bit more and give the cake a really rich flavor.
However, with water you miss out on the richness that coffee gives to a cake. To make up for that, I always suggest using espresso powder!
Just 1-2 teaspoons in the batter will bring out the rich chocolate flavor but won’t give off any coffee flavor. It’s optional, but I recommend it if you can!
Pan sizes
I baked this cake in two 8 inch round cake pans, but you are welcome to use two 9 inch pans OR one 9×13 pan. If using two 9 inch pans, the layers will be thinner than what’s pictured and the bake time will be about 10 minutes shorter.
If making a sheet cake, the bake time will be about 10 minutes longer. Sally’s Baking Addiction has a great all about cake pan conversions!
A note about flour
For this recipe, you’ll need gluten free all purpose flour and fine blanched almond flour. Whenever I bake cakes/cupcakes that are gluten free and vegan, I often include almond flour because it adds a lot of moisture and airiness that you miss out on when you don’t include eggs.
For the all purpose flour, I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour, which I recommend. You can use other GF blends, just make sure it has xanthan gum. If you aren’t gluten free, regular all purpose will work too!
Frequently asked questions
How should I store cake?
This vegan gluten free chocolate cake is very moist and will stay that way with proper storage! You can easily make this ahead of time and wrap the (cooled) layers in plastic wrap before frosting for 24 hours.
However, once frosted, the cake will keep for 3 days at room temperature. I usually keep it covered on a cake stand, but you can also wrap it tightly in aluminum foil with good results.
Can I make it refined sugar free?
Yes! This recipe calls for both maple syrup and white granulated sugar to sweeten. You can sub the white sugar for coconut sugar if you prefer. The flavor and texture may be slightly different, but still delicious!
Try these next!
- Chocolate Mug Cake
- Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Almond Flour Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Brownies
Lastly, if you want more recipes straight to your inbox, be sure to subscribe to my email list. As always, if you make this recipe, leave a comment below so I can see your creation!
Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Wet:
- 1 cup room temperature non-dairy milk I used almond
- 1 cup boiling hot water
- ¾ cup oil I used avocado
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp apple cider or white vinegar
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 ½ cups white granulated sugar*
Dry:
- 2 ½ cups gluten free all purpose flour
- 2 cups fine blanched almond flour
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1 ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1-2 tsp espresso powder optional
Buttercream:
- 1 batch vegan chocolate buttercream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line two round 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper and set aside. See notes about using 9 inch pans.
- Combine the room temperature milk with the vinegar and mix together in a glass. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl (mixing is easier if the bowl is extra large!), sift together the almond flour, all purpose flour and cocoa powder. Whisk in the remaining dry ingredients. The espresso powder is optional, but it really enhances the chocolate flavor. I promise it won't taste like coffee at all!
- Add in all remaining wet ingredients and whisk together until smooth.
- Add the batter to the prepared cake pans, trying to keep them as even as possible to ensure even baking.
- Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Add to the oven and bake for 34-42 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out with a few crumbs. You don't want to underbake since the cake will sink in the middle or end up dense, but over-baking will lead to a dry cake, so start your timer at 34 minutes, and add just a couple of minutes at a time until the toothpick has a few crumbs but isn't wet.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the cake pans for 30 minutes.
- Carefully flip onto a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting. I usually stick them in the fridge to cool, which takes about 90 minutes.
- Prepare the vegan buttercream, then frost the top of one layer, add on the second layer, then frost the top and sides of the cake.
Annmarie says
This is the easiest and best vegan gluten free cake ever, even my dad who doesn’t like choc cake likes this cake. I’ve put the single mixture into a sheet tray and it works well also. I’ve also used a choc fudge ganache on top and the butter cream recipe filling for filling and on the sides its great and makes a triple choc cake.
Thank you for the great recipes, I am making it again next week for my grandson christening.
Claire Cary says
Makes me so happy to hear! Love the idea of ganache on top, I need to try that!
Jenn says
Is it possible to use one 9×12 pan for this? I don’t have the round cake pans and wasn’t sure if this would work with a 9×12 or what the adjustments in baking time would be. Thank you!
Claire Cary says
You may be able to use a 9×13, but vegan and gluten free cakes bake very differently and sometimes larger pans just don’t work as well. If you try it, you will need to increase the bake time, probably 10-15 minutes.
Georgena says
What do you put in place of the almond flour
Claire Cary says
The almond flour is really key in this recipe, I don’t recommend any subs!
Emma says
Thank you so much for sharing your amazing recipe! It came out delicious the first time, and I was able to make a cake that all my son’s friends could eat and enjoy (multiple allergies among them). He loved it, so it is here to stay. And it kept really well in the fridge and we finished it the next day.
A happy mum.
Claire Cary says
Thank you Emma! Makes me so happy to hear!
Annmarie says
This is the best recipe i have ever tried for vegan gluten free choc cake. I used my own blend of gluten free flour and added two teaspoons of xanthan gum, i also used odourless coconut oil for the oil. The buttercream is the best also. I have to make it again everyone loved it.
Thank you for sharing your excellent recipe
Claire Cary says
Thank you so much for your kind recipe, so happy this recipe was a hit!
Tehzeeb says
Hi Annmarie, could you please share what flours your use for your gluten free blend? We don’t get bobs red mill easily in my country, so would be great to know a blend that works! Thank you!
BRANDI says
Would I be able to make this oil-free by subbing applesauce? I didn’t know if it would impact the texture too much.
Claire Cary says
I do not recommend that! The oil is key in this recipe.
Veronica Barrios says
Hello!
Can you freeze the layers? I wanted to make in advance.
Claire Cary says
Yes! Just let them cool completely, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze until you’re ready to frost.
Tracey says
This was my first attempt baking vegan gluten free and it was absolutely delicious even though I made the mistake of not sifting the cocoa powder. It even passed the test of my 3 year old grandson!! Thank you for doing all the hard work and sharing your recipe!!
Claire Cary says
Amazing! Thank you Tracey!
Heather says
Made this cake for my husbands birthday. Love that I had all the store cupboard ingredients to hand and how nicely the cake turned out. We’ve tried many GF and vegan recipes and this one is just lovely!! You can’t tell it’s GF or gluten-free which is perfect. Beautiful sponge thank you
Claire Cary says
Amazing! So happy you all enjoyed it. Thanks Heather!
Amy says
So easy to follow and so yummy! No too rich but just enough. I’ll use this recipe often. Thanks!
Claire Cary says
Thanks Amy! So glad you enjoyed it.
MaryAnn says
Have you ever used coconut flour instead of almond flour? I can’t have almonds
Claire Cary says
No, unfortunately that won’t work here!
Erika says
Can you just make a cup of coffee instead of the instant powder and boiling water?
Claire Cary says
Yes, the boiling water can be subbed for brewed coffee.
Jessica says
Hi – this recipe looks perfect for our wedding cake! I would really like to use it. The only problem is I think our Australian cup measurements are different to American and I’m just wondering if you had the weights for your ingredients by any chance? Or know a good way to convert them?
Many thanks.
Claire Cary says
Hi! You should be able to click on metric in the recipe card and it should convert it all for you.
Jacquelyn says
You mentioned in the ingredients list using 1cup boiling water, however, in reading the instructions, I didn’t see when you add the boiling water. I’m afraid of ruining the cake. If I don’t dilute the espresso powder in the boiling water, then what liquid replaces the boiling water? And if I do use the boiling water, when do I add it? Thanks!
Claire Cary says
You add in the espresso powder with the dry ingredients, and the boiling water when it says to add the wet ingredients!
Mari says
I am in the middle of making this recipe and when I added the vinegar it immediately separated the milk! This can’t be right just wondering if you have run into the same problem.. not sure what I did wrong 🤔
Claire Cary says
What kind of milk did you use? When you mix it back up how does it look?
Christina says
Could I use this recipe as cupcakes?
Claire Cary says
I would suggest using my vegan and gluten free chocolate cupcake recipe instead!
Mandy says
Hi there, your website is becoming my go to place for recipes, so thank you very much for sharing. I have been baking vegan for a while but increasingly now need gluten free vegan and it’s so hard to find reliable recipes. I have binned many attempts and wasted ingredients and money. Also, some of the ingredients are nearly impossible to source 😕
Just wanted to say a big thank you to you for keeping it simple, reliable and delicious! 😊
Claire Cary says
Thank you Mandy! That really makes me so happy to hear 🙂
Rikke says
I baked this cake with no substitutions, just half the recipe in one 8-inch pan, and it was done in 32 minutes. I am really impressed with the texture! As others have said, you’d have no idea it was vegan and gluten free. The flavor isn’t to me very strongly tasting of chocolate, but I think I will try it with the buttercream next time and buy Valrhona cocoa powder.
Claire Cary says
Perfect! Definitely recommend including the buttercream, it really enhances the flavor of the whole cake.
Corinne Marotta says
I made this cake for a birthday (without testing it first) and I was OVERWHELMINGLY impressed! You would have NO IDEA that it was vegan or gluten free!
Claire Cary says
LOVE hearing that!! Thanks for trusting me without the test run 🙂
Janelle says
Recipe looks delicious! If I’m trying to make this recipe nut free also, will substituting the almond mill with gf flour work?
Claire Cary says
You wouldn’t want to sub 1:1 because almond flour behaves very differently than other kinds of flour, but you can try subbing the 2 cups of almond flour with 3/4 cup of GF all purpose flour. I’d also suggest baking in two 9 inch pans rather than the 8 inch. I haven’t tested it with this substitution, so I cannot guarantee the result, but let me know if you try it!
Alice says
This is delicious in every respect!! Love the flavor and texture but yours looked so much prettier than mine did!! Maybe I cut into it and started eating it too soon😄
Claire Cary says
Yay!! Hahah I don’t blame you, but it definitely needs to cool before slicing into it to look good 🙂 SO glad you enjoyed it though!