Vegan Chocolate Cake
January 16, 2021 | By Jeremy Scheck | 8 Comments
This vegan chocolate cake base is adapted from The Minimalist Baker. A lot of the ratios are the same, but the size and egg replacement are different. This cake uses banana and flax for binding. The banana flavor complements the chocolate extremely well, but it is not masked, so if you don’t love banana, this might not be the best cake for you. What I like about this cake most is the texture — when you eat it, it just feels like a normal cake and you wouldn’t even know it’s missing eggs.
Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) hot coffee
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) unsweetened almond milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) avocado or vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 mashed banana
- 1 tablespoon flax seed
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2/3 cup (133g) organic sugar
- 1/2 cup (50g) cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp (160g) all purpose flour
For the frosting
- 1 can of full fat coconut (place in fridge ahead of time)
- 2 cups vegan chocolate chips
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F, line a 8x8" square baking pan with foil or parchment and spray with cooking spray.
- Brew the hot coffee, set aside. Mix the almond milk and vinegar, set aside (this is like a vegan buttermilk). Mix together the mashed banana, flax seed, and water.
- Whisk together the oil and sugar. Add the banana/flax mixture and whisk well. Add the vanilla extract, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk well, until there are no lumps.
- Add in the flour and almond milk/vinegar mixture. Stir gently just to incorporate. Stream in the hot coffee, and stir just to incorporate.
- Spread into the prepared pan and bake at 350° 20-25 minutes, or until through. As it cools to room temperature, make the frosting.
- Melt the chocolate chips in a heat safe bowl in 30 second increments in the microwave. Once the chocolate is 80% melted, stir to let the residual heat melt it the rest of the way. Transfer the melted chocolate to a new (room temp), mixing bowl.
- Open the cold can of coconut milk over a strainer. Strain out the liquid and keep the solid coconut cream. Add the coconut cream to the melted chocolate. Mix them together so that the coconut cream melts into the chocolate. Add a pinch of salt. If the chocolate isn't TOO hot, the mixture should be around room temperature. (If it still feels very warm, let it chill longer in the next step)
- Using electric hand beaters or a stand mixer, whisk the chocolate-coconut mixture 2-3 minutes. Pop it in the fridge 10-15 minutes, then repeat mixing until very fluffy.
- Once the cake is cool, spread on frosting and enjoy.
Jeremy Scheck spent high school perfecting his signature cupcakes, making quiches and coffee cake by the dozen at a local bakery, and teaching cooking demonstrations at Williams-Sonoma. As a 10th grader in 2016, he began documenting his favorite recipes on a blog called The After School Bakery. In college, Jeremy learned to make 50 gallons of ice cream in the food science lab, how to prune grape vines in the teaching vineyard, the best way to milk a cow in Northern Italy, and why film photography is an art worth saving. As a sophomore in 2020, he traded blog photos for video and became a TikTok culinary sensation. Jeremy has been featured on the Today show, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, BBC Radio, People, and Access Hollywood, among others. Jeremy is a graduate of Cornell University with a double major in Spanish and Italian, and significant coursework in food science. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. Learn more about Jeremy.
To say the least, this was incredible. The whole time my little brother was begging to have one more lick of the frosting. It was so simple to make and yet so good. I have never really made a vegan cake before so I didn’t know what to expect but I was more then pleased with the result! The cake itself was very moist and light, the frosting was one of the best I have ever made. Thank you Jeremy!!
I’ve made several different vegan chocolate cakes in my three years dating a vegan. This one looks insanely moist – definitely will be trying for v-tines day.
Such an amazing recipe! Made these into cupcakes and baked them for about 16-18 minutes at 350. Turned out very moist and decadent! My friends and family had no idea they were vegan, and after telling them, they were intrigued and asked me to make more vegan foods! 10/10
Thank you so much for sharing!
So so so good! Cake is super moist and not too sweet. My family loved it too. Will make again!
This was so good! I made it as my birthday cake and told my family it was a normal, not vegan cake and they believed me! I did half and half sugar and maple syrup so that it would have less refined sugar, still delicious! With chocolate ganache and cherries, it was perfect. Thank you!
I’ve tried making vegan chocolate cake two other times this month… as they say, third time is a charm! This recipe is delicious. You can definitely taste the banana but it was pleasant to me. Didn’t change a thing and I would recommend.
Hi!! I’m excited to try this but was wondering no if it matter what coffee I use?