Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
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.
Why you’ll love this recipe
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, 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, vegan gluten free cinnamon rolls or mini chocolate cake next!
How to make vegan gluten free cake
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 aside from the boiling water and whisk together. Whisk in the boiling water. This will help “activate” the cocoa powder.
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 35-45 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 35 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 about 20 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 buttercream, (just be sure to use vegan butter and milk) then frost the top of one layer, add on the second layer, then frost the top and sides of the cake. Try my raspberry chocolate cake next!
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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 baking flour and blanched almond flour.
Whenever I bake cakes/cupcakes that are gluten free and vegan (like my vegan gluten free vanilla cupcakes), 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. I don’t recommend any swaps for the almond flour here, it’s key for the texture!
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!
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 vegan desserts next!
- Chocolate Mug Cake
- Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
- Almond Flour Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Brownies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Mousse
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
Equipment
Ingredients
Wet:
- 1 cup room temperature non-dairy milk
- ¾ cup oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon apple cider or white vinegar
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 1 cup boiling hot water
Dry:
- 2 ½ cups gluten free all purpose baking flour
- 2 cups fine blanched almond flour
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1-2 teaspoon espresso powder optional
Buttercream:
- 1 batch 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 aside from the boiling water and whisk together.
- Whisk in the boiling water. This will help “activate” the cocoa powder.
- 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 35-45 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 35 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 about 20 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 buttercream, (just be sure to use vegan butter and milk) then frost the top of one layer, add on the second layer, then frost the top and sides of the cake.
Notes
Comments
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Hi!
So the sugar is listed in the ‘wet’ ingredients list, should i mix it with the milk and so? Or with the flour and such ?
Tsm for this recipe!!-
You mix it with the wet ingredients!
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Thanks so much for your recipes!
I’d like to make this recipe, but really only need it egg-free and gluten-free, not fully vegan. Should I use regular milk (or buttermilk), or stick with a non-dairy milk?-
You can use regular milk here!
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Best vegan GF cake I’ve ever tried. Everyone loved it and I’m making it again for a party tonight! I’m going to add vegan chocolate chips for the top.
Thank you so much!!
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Thank you, Darby!
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Thank you for this recipe!
What a great GF vegan option.
We made it in a bundt cake pan and left in the oven for 48 minutes. It turned our beautiful. Great texture, a little fudge. Just perfect.
My daughter loved her birthday cake. We topped it with a simple vegan ganache.-
Sounds perfect, thanks so much Hinda!
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Can I use this recipe to make cupcakes? What adjustments would you recommend?
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Yes, should make about 2 dozen! No adjustments, just bake at 350 and start with about 18 minutes or so and adjust from there.
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Hello! Looks amazing and I hope to make it tomorrow for an event. Is it possible to make it in a bundt cake? What would I change? Thank you!
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That should work! Bake temp will be the same, but for time I would start with 40 minutes and adjust from there.
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Would this work as a large sheet cake? If so do you know what temp and how long is best? Thank you!!
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It should! 350 Fahrenheit, I’d start with 40 minutes and adjust from there!
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Hi! If I don’t want to use the coffee, would I also omit the 1 cup of boiling water?
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No, you would use boiling water in place of coffee!
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My husband is vegan and gluten-free, and I wanted to surprise him with a Valentine’s Day cake – this recipe did not disappoint! I’m not a baker by any means, but I found it easy to follow and relatively forgiving (it was up against my dodgy oven and inability to differentiate teaspoons and tablespoons). I’ve never tasted vegan, gluten-free chocolate cake like this. So delicious and perfectly rich. I’ll definitely be trying more of your recipes. Thank you so much!
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Thank you, Fern! So glad it was a success.
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I’m gluten free and my nephew has allergies that make him vegan. My other nephew is allergic to tree nuts so I was wondering what I could use in replace of the almond flour? Really want to make this for Christmas. Thank you!
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You can try oat flour!
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My husband has many sensitivities to food so I have made many many gluten, dairy, egg, and yeast free recipes over the years. This vegan and GF chocolate cake recipe is hands down the best chocolate cake recipe I’ve found. I’ve made it many times now and it never disappoints!
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Thank you so much, Elizabeth! Makes me so happy you found something you love!
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10/10 fantastic!!! Greater recipe.!! Thanks so much!! Finally an amazing gluten free and vegan cake!
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So glad you enjoyed it, Sophie!
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Hi! I couldn’t find the recipe for vegan chocolate butter. I’m going to make this wonderful cake tomorrow! Thanks!!!!
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Can you please help with the buttercream to make it vegan? The link you have in here for vegan buttercream goes to a recipe of yours that calls for butter! Please help!
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You just need to use dairy free butter, I suggest Earth Balance!
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Can I substitute the maple syrup for more sugar? Does this recipe make into cupcakes too? Thanks
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I recommend sticking with maple syrup as it adds more moisture than the sugar. And yes, cupcakes work! Start with about 18 minutes for bake time and adjust from there.
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I tried this cake last night and it was so tasty but mine came out more like a brownie and not a fluffy cake. I halved the recipe because it was a trial, I didnt want to waste all the ingredients and I used a 9inch round pan. I also omitted the coffee. I followed all other instructions exactly. What could I be doing wrong? Any suggestions? Is it underbaked? toothpick was clean and sides appeared to be pulled away from pan. I need to find a cake for my little girls birthday and thought this one would be it! any tips? thanks for the recipe!
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Sorry to hear that! I would maybe try baking a little longer! Even if the toothpick is clean, you do get more of that cake feel when the moisture draws away a little more. I’d add about 5 minutes and see how that goes.
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