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, buuuut we did it! This recipe is perfect for any celebration, or just a delicious dessert that’ll impress your friends!
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 32-40 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 32 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 works too!
Does it keep well?
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.
More recipes for the chocolate lover!
- 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
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 32-40 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 32 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.
Corinne Marotta
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
LOVE hearing that!! Thanks for trusting me without the test run 🙂
Janelle
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
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
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
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!