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A close-up of a slice of rich, moist vegan chocolate cake with chocolate frosting between three layers, served on a white plate.

Vegan Chocolate Cake (Devil's Food Cake)

Joanne Molinaro
This is the best vegan chocolate cake on the internet. A true devil's food cake, this vegan chocolate cake recipe has a tender, but fluffy crumb and a truly intense, complex chocolate flavor. Frosted with a light chocolate buttercream frosting, this is the vegan chocolate cake of your dreams. Perfect for the holidays or a birthday, you'll never need another vegan chocolate cake recipe again. I promise!
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Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 18
Calories 646 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients
  

Vegan Chocolate Cakes.

  • 1 1/2 cup vegan butter (340 grams)
  • 1 1/2 cup coffee (340 grams)
  • 1 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder (85 grams)
  • 1 cup dark chocolate (170 grams)
  • 2 1/4 cup light brown sugar (454 grams)
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 2 2/3 cup all purpose flour (320 grams)
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt (can omit if using salted butter)
  • 1 1/4 cup high protein vegan yogurt (300 grams)

Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.

  • 1 3/4 cup vegan butter (400 grams)
  • 1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder (45 grams)
  • 1/3 cup melted dark chocolate (50 grams)
  • 1 1/2 cup light brown sugar (300 grams)
  • 1 tsp espresso powder
  • 2 tbsp vegan heavy cream

Instructions
 

  • Prep Your Cake Pans.
    Preheat your oven to 350° F. Take out all the ingredients for your buttercream frosting so they are at room temperature when you make the frosting. Then, generously grease the bottoms and sides of three (3) 8-inch pans with vegan butter or cooking spray (I prefer the former--it works better). Then, line the bottoms of each with parchment paper. Set aside.
  • Combine Your Wet Ingredients Over Heat.
    In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt your butter. Next, add the coffee and cocoa powder. Whisk until the cocoa powder has fully dissolved. Next, add your chocolate and continue to stir until that too has fully melted. Then, add your brown sugar and stir until it has fully dissolved. Make sure that your wet ingredients are chunk free (the brown sugar can be sneaky). Lastly, add your vanilla extract and remove from heat, allowing the contents of the pot to cool for about 10 minutes.
  • Combine Wet Ingredients with Dry Ingredients.
    To a large bowl, add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt (unless you're using salted butter, then nix the salt). Whisk to eradicate any clumps of baking powder or baking soda. Then, add your vegan yogurt and the remaining wet ingredients. Whisk until everything comes together into a smooth, dark, glossy batter with no white clumps. Divide the cake batter evenly into the three prepared pans (my cake batter was around 1890 grams, yielding 630 grams per pan). Bake in the center rack for 28 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Prepare Cakes for Frosting.
    Your vegan chocolate cakes will be extremely fragile. Therefore, in order to frost them, we will need to prepare them. First, allow them to cool completely before attempting to remove them from their pans. This will take around 20 to 30 minutes. To remove them, run a sharp knife or offset spatula gently around the edge, taking care to wipe your tool clean after each cake. Place a large plate over the top of your cake pan and carefully flip the cake upside down. If you properly prepared your pans, the cakes should easily fall onto your plate.
    Then, gently and carefully wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in the refrigerator. Do not stack them on top of each other.
  • Prepare Your Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
    Make sure all the ingredients for the chocolate buttercream frosting are at room temperature (which they will be if you followed step 1). Add the softened butter to the bowl of a stand-mixer or a large mixing bowl if you're using a hand mixer. Mix on low and then increase speed to medium. Add the brown sugar through a sieve if you want to avoid clumping (if you don't care, then ya don't care!). Next, add the cocoa powder, melted dark chocolate, vanilla extract, espresso powder, and heavy cream. Increase speed to high and continue mixing until frosting is smooth, light, and soft.
  • Frost Your Vegan Chocolate Cake.
    Remove your cakes from the refrigerator and very gently release them from the plastic wrap. Carefully place one cake layer on your cake stand or plate.
    The recipe for the chocolate buttercream frosting is more than enough for double frosting the cake--meaning, you should frost each cake layer and apply frosting on the top and sides. The amount of frosting you like on a cake is subjective, I realize, but I've done this cake with both one and two coats of frosting and found that the latter works better in terms of a good cake to frosting ratio. If you are going to do a second coating of frosting, place your semi-naked cake (i.e. cake with only one coat of frosting) in the refrigerator for at least one hour before applying your final coat.

Nutrition

Calories: 646kcalCarbohydrates: 73gProtein: 6gFat: 40gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 10gMonounsaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 6gCholesterol: 0.1mgSodium: 446mgPotassium: 242mgFiber: 5gSugar: 50gVitamin A: 2IUCalcium: 106mgIron: 3mg
Keyword vegan chocolate cake
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