1-Bowl Vegan Chocolate Cake

So, my daughter has a new science tutor. She is retired, used to lecture in astronomy and she said she doesn’t want to be paid in money but a nice vegan chocolate cake would be good once in a while. I came across your recipe and decided we would give it a go. We aren’t vegan but we love to bake in this house. We used soya milk as that’s what we had, and 2 mashed bananas instead of the fruit puree (not sure if there is an equivalent to unsweetened apple puree in the UK and didn’t have time to make our own). We also didnt use coffee as we werent sure if this lovely lady liked coffee
the cake turned out to be the best chocolate cake we have ever had! It was moist, and chocolatey and so delicious, we kept one half and just gave her the other half with frosting on the top.. give it a go – you won’t be disappointed.

I just made this cake for a new parish member’s birthday celebration – it is a wonderful cake and I got lots of compliments on how tasty it is. It absolutely had to be vegan and I looked at several well-rated recipes online. This recipe attracted me because of a lower content of sugars. My mom who hates sweet things and treats cakes with suspicion, said that surprisingly, it was well balanced and not overly sweet! Thank you.

Its soooo easy & delicious & fancy!!!!! 💣.com!!!!

This is my favourite chocolate cake recipe, I use a gluten free flour and have made it three times, the gluten free flour I use is Cup 4 Cup Gluten free all purpose flour and it works great for this recipe, I am making it for the fourth time and am infusing the almond milk with lavender and making a lavender buttercream or whipped cream instead of the chocolate buttercream.

The frosting on this recipe is Gods-Honest-Truth Life Changing™. I’m not even a frosting fan, and I lovingly eat it from a spoon, no cake. (I mean, it’s also unreal on cake.)

This is my go to birthday cake simple but looks impressive.
Thank you for the recipe.

I have been baling vegan for 6 years now, and this remains my favorite chocolate cake recipe. It is super versatile, and it always comes out the best chocolate cake ever!!!

This recipe is a keeper! I started making the cake before realizing that my applesauce was moldy, so I subbed smashed banana. It gave the cake a banana flavor, which is nice but I’ll try it as written next time. The cake itself isn’t very sweet, so if you do a pan cake which uses less frosting than a layer cake, I’d recommend a couple tablespoons more sugar or using sweetened milk. Other than that, it was wonderful! Rich and flavorful, not too dense, and the frosting is delicious.

Made this for my mothers birthday and everyone loved it! Probably the best vegan cake recipe, im definitley gonna make it again, I thank you a lot for this recipe

Oh my goodness – light, fluffy amazingness. Not too sweet so everything balanced out in the mix. I tested the recipe with cupcakes, piped raspberry puree into the centre and stuck with a frosting recipe that I love that doesn’t use icing sugar (from Lisa Fabry’s, Divine Vegan Desserts)… but that cake was so soft and with a good level of moisture on its own. It totally won, hands down, the competition for my brother’s 50th birthday cake. You’re such gems – thank you!

Made this recipe as it is written for potluck but didn’t have applesauce so I used eggs; I didn’t like the texture as much but everyone else said it was good and wanted it again. I made sure I had all the ingredients next time and made it as a sheet cake. Much better! Now, they say next time I need to bring TWO sheet cakes, and could I please share the recipe. Guess it’s a hit!

Such a great recipe for a quick cake! I added shredded coconut on top, because we love chocolate and coconut !!
Thanks again for sharing such amazing vegan recipes!

This is my go to dairy free/egg free birthday cake recipe – I’ve made it dozens of time now. Super easy to make, super yummy,to eat and always gets a ton of compliments. I sub in normal canola oil and soy milk to make this nut free too, and make a very basic butter cream with dairy free butter. Thanks so much for this recipe – its make many kids very happy!

I baked this following the recipe exactly about a day and a half before having guests. It was exceptionally good! We all loved it. I happened to have a fair amount of leftover frosting, but I’m so happy with the results. This was the first time I baked a cake from scratch.

I made this for a little get together and everyone loved it! Super easy and tasty cake

this is the best cake recipe I have ever used. Everyone loves it and it is so moist and tasty.

You rock my socks off! Every recipe I try is delicious, simple, inspiring, and gorgeous in every way.

This cake recipe has been my go to for years! I made it for my daughter’s 3rd birthday and now she requests it often. We usually make it as cupcakes and leave off the frosting for a quick sweet treat. All my friend’s who have tried this cake love it, vegan and non. Thank you for such a wonderful recipe.

I just made this cake for my husband’s birthday this weekend, and it turned out AMAZING! Literally the perfect cake. The recipe is easy, healthyish, and so, so much better than anything from a store. 10/10 recommend!!

This has been my go-to cake recipe ever since I first discovered it 4 years ago. I make this for my vegan and non-vegan friends alike and everyone asks for the recipe, including my “conventional baking” friends! Even my friend who is a trained professional pastry chef uses this recipe.

I’ve tried this with about every reasonable substitution you could make; different vinegars, many different oils (even olive oil is delicious!) the addition of different extracts and liqueurs, different kinds of sugar, numerous different fruit and veggie purees, and its always turned out AMAZING.

Cannot recommend this recipe highly enough. Thank you Dana.

This is my go-to birthday cake. I have been making it for three years now, and it comes out great every time! I use extra almond milk instead of adding coffee and use granulated sugar. It is definitely more moist and dense than the average cake, but I love that. I have made the frosting with vegan butter and with margarine (we’re not strict vegans…) and both turned out great – definitely have to make sure the cake has cooled all the way first! I made that mistake the first time and the frosting was a mess – but still delicious!
I’ll be making this recipe into cupcakes this afternoon!

Okay… I’m not usually one to hop back on and write a review after the bake (out of pure laziness up to this point), but this was SUCH a winner, it made me a review believer. My vegan girlfriend’s been craving cake lately, so I turned to ol’ reliable Minimalist Baker and looked for the simplest recipe I could find. I replaced the coffee with more almond milk and used granulated sugar, mixed everything by hand with a whisk, and did the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls. After 30 minutes on the top rack of the oven, mine was perfectly baked! I made my own vegan homemade vanilla buttercream recipe to ice.
When I say that my girlfriend fell out of her chair when she tried it, I’m not exaggerating. Anyone on my social media can attest. It was fluffy and moist, extra chocolatey, and just the right amount of sweet. We ate our slices with some dairy-free almond whipped cream and it was out of this world. As a non-vegan, this is just one of the best chocolate cakes there are — and my girlfriend is already asking me if I can make it again for her birthday in October. Let this be your sign to bake this cake, seriously. You won’t be sorry!

PHENOMENAL chocolate cake!!!! I made this for my mom’s birthday and the whole family agreed it was the best chocolate cake we have ever eaten. For the cake, I used avocado oil, 1 and 1/4 cup sugar, spelt flour, and raw cacao powder. The texture was absolutely perfect. HIGHLY RECOMMEND <3

Stop your search for recipes and make this cake! I just made it (with your date chocolate frosting- amazing, by the way) for my son’s birthday and everyone in my family LOVED it. My husband kept complimenting me like I was an amazing baker…when really my 2 kids helped me make it, it was so easy. I’m not even a cake person and I loved it. Ok, enough gushing. Thank you so much for the delicious and simple recipes!!

Love this cake! I’ve made it multiple times and it’s my favorite vegan chocolate cake. Thanks for your fab recipes!! <3

This cake is sensational and I thank you for the recipe.

As a north American that didn’t grow up in North America I mostly avoid cakes because they are too sweet or (too much baking soda). I made this cake for my vegan husband and all of us ended with a sugar coma. I made the frosting with one cup of sugar. I have to say that the cake had a great texture, but too sweet for us.
I had a problem with vegan butter while I was mixing it, it separated in two phases, it was like cheese curd with vanilla water. I used the butter that I found in my supermarket and apparently it wasn’t a good one. To fix it, I put the mix in bain Marie for five minutes and next, I put it in the fridge for 20 min, then I removed the water and put it in the mixer again and it was great.

Cake rose in the oven but sank down flat while it cooled, final texture was like a gummy brick. Needed more salt and more sugar too, so the flavor was flat too.

After reading the reviews I decided to give this cake a go for my Birthday. It turned out really well! The best vegan cake I have made so far and even my anti-vegan husband had a second piece ;) I went for 1 cup coconut sugar only and for the icing added more melted chocolate and 1,5 cup icing sugar. It also freezes well! Thanks for all the great recipes!

Absolutely Delicious!!

I am not exaggerating when I say, this is the best chocolate cake I have ever had, vegan or not! As an avid baker and cake decorator, I loved how moist it was yet dense enough to carve and decorate. Thank you for this recipe!

Everything about this cake was delicious! I would absolutely make it again

This was the best vegan cake I’ve ever made. I used only 1 cup of sugar and added 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips according to one of the comments which was a brilliant idea.

I shaped it into a robot cake for my son’s birthday :)

thank you!!

This cake came out very fluffy and moist and is a perfect snacking cake! I decreased the sugar by half, used roasted and mashed squash, used extra milk instead of coffee, and added a 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips. My oven runs hot so it took about 23 minutes. Great recipe!

A yummy, moist, perfect texture vegan chocolate cake with not too fancy ingredients! Thanks! After tasting the frosting I added some salt, it increased the rich flavour.

I made some minor tweaks from the recipe since I lack the same ingredients but it turned out well. I used Almond Breeze Chocolate Milk, made my own applesauce, and coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar. I also used less sugar to lessened the sweetness. I omitted the coffee since I’m not a fan. But since I used 100% cacao powder and 55% dark chocolate coin instead of a semisweet chocolate for the frosting, the bitter taste of it complimented the sweetness of the cake. My family loved it and I will surely make this again. Thank you for this recipe. Looking forward to trying other recipes too.

Delicious! Made just the cake last night to have around as a snacking cake and it came out so fluffy and perfectly chocolatey. I didn’t have applesauce so I used canned pumpkin purée and I also used 1 to 1 gluten free baking flour. Thanks for the great recipe!!

This is the BEST vegan cake ever – I never thought I would be able to bake one at home but alas this recipe is here! Followed the recipe exactly. Super moist and delicious. This was a favorite for vegans and non vegans alike!

Hello! I just wanted to say that this recipe is delicious! I needed a recipe for my mom’s birthday, and this was perfect! Thank you so much for making all these delicious recipes!

Honestly, This cake is a masterpiece. I was hesitant at first, I mean it’s a vegan chocolate cake how good it could be? But it was the best chocolate cake I ever test, and I am a chocolate cake lover. I made this recipe with hazelnut cake frosting because it less butter, and the result is: Just WOW. Everything is just perfect: the texture, the sweetness, the moisture. Literally A MASTERPIECE!

I made this to take for a pre Christmas catch up with friends, one of whom has recently gone vegan. Everybody loved it and kept asking me if I was sure it was vegan! It was moist and dark and chocolatey and tasted fabulous. The frosting was amazing.
I used standard plain white flour and reduced the sugar (used white caster sugar) to 1 cup and I used grapeseed oil. I also doubled the amount of dark chocolate in the frosting.
I did have to bake it for about 10 more mins to cook through (i think splitting this into 2 tins is a good idea to help it bake through).
The frosting quantities allowed me to put a thick layer on top and in the middle but there wasn’t sufficient to frost all over, which was fine as I liked the rustic finish.

This cake was so good! Perfectly moist and chocolatey but not overly rich. I used coconut sugar as that’s my preferred. My cake pans are 10 inches, so I used one and then made six cupcakes with the leftover. Bake time was 15 mins for the cupcakes and 30 for the cake. I didn’t have chocolate chips on hand, so I added a bit more cocoa powder for the frosting, and only 1/2 cup of butter. I froze the leftovers so I can make this again! (Reposting this as i forgot to star)

This cake is SO good! Perfectly moist and delightfully chocolatey, but somehow not too rich. I only have 10 inch cake pans, so I made the recipe as written and made one layer and six cupcakes. Cook time was about 15 mins for the cupcakes and 30 for the cake. I also used coconut sugar as that’s my preferred sugar. I’m not vegan, so i used regular butter for the frosting as it’s what I had. Only used 1/2 cup and it made plenty. Also didn’t have chocolate chips so i just added a bit more cocoa powder. I froze the leftover frosting so that I can make this again!

Have made countless times. It’s very dark and rich I do use quality choc but low cal spray oil. No coffee and gluten free flour. Apricot jam and coconut milk as filling. Dark choc melted over top. You can thin with soya milk. Bake 30 / 35 at most. It’s a large cake and family love it

I just want to say thank you for this recipe. I made it for my son’s birthday and he loved it. I left out the coffee and used half oat milk, half almond milk.
I only made the base cake in a large rectangular mould and then split it in half to make 2 layers (working with what I have!).
I didn’t make the frosting from this recipe since I didn’t have vegan butter or icing sugar, so I made a frosting from another recipe which contained vegan chocolate, oil, sugar, peanut butter and oat milk and it turned out delicious with the cake.
Just added some sprinkles and smarties and it was very Mum-made but satisfaying! Thank you again!

Good cake! I frosted it with Dana’s recipe for the peanut butter mousse. People loved it and said they wouldn’t have known it was vegan! Accurate bake time- mine were done in 26 minutes

My first time making a vegan cake! We found out recently that my daughter has a lot of food allergies so I went on a mission to find a cake recipe that didn’t have many common allergens. The only thing I did differently was substitute the almond milk for coconut milk because my daughter is allergic to almonds. This cake tastes amazing!!! We’re chocolate lovers and this has a great chocolatey taste!

I shared this with my family and everyone loved it! None of us has a vegan cake before and everyone agreed that this tasted better than a “regular” cake!

Love this cake! I put in 2 teaspoon of instant coffee instead of strong coffee, it worked great. My kids could not believe it is vegan. Awesome.

this is hands down the best chocolate cake recipe in the world. Only me and my partner are vegan and when our family have it they can’t get enough of it. Only thing which I have found is it takes my cakes around 40mins to cook to come out clean.
Thanks for the recipe!

I made this recipe for my dad‘s birthday. He’s vegan, but all of my friends that I shared leftovers with were blown away. I converted the recipe into cupcakes and then sliced a little hole in the top and dropped raspberry jam inside. Then I frosted the cupcakes and topped them with jam-glazed raspberries. Everyone said it was one of the best cupcakes they’ve ever had. I added some extra sugar to the batter because I think the coffee I used was quite bitter (the recipe does say to taste the batter first to check for sweetness). I also cut the baking time down to about 20 minutes and added extra melted chocolate to the frosting (because yum!). A half batch of the frosting covered a dozen cupcakes well. Thanks for the awesome recipe!

Hi Dana!
I am a chef and made this for a kosher group retreat. I made the applesauce and used espresso powder. I also did not have a mixer so I did it entirely with a wooden spoon and whisk. Woah. Best chocolate cake ever!
Thank you very much.

The word decadent aptly describes this amazing chocolate cake recipe. So easy to make. Most of the ingredients I already had in my pantry. I love that it is all made in one bowl. I made it for my son’s birthday. He didn’t believe that I made it and didn’t believe it was vegan. I’ve made other vegan cakes. This was–by far–THE best and THE best chocolate cake I’ve ever made.

Thank you for putting together delicious, quality recipes that allow us to omit animal protein.

I have made this cake a number of times now and it is perfect. I am not a vegan and I love to put butter in everything, but this cake competes with the best chocolate cakes out there. I have substituted coconut oil for plain vegetable oil when I ran out of that ingredient, but the coconut oil adds a better aftertaste. The cake comes out fluffy and very tasty. Follow the recipe as is and you will not be disappointed. My go-to chocolate cake and its vegan.

My cake is in the oven while I write this. I may or may not of made a mistake. Instead of using 2 circle pans, I used a circle cake pan. I went to put in my toothpick after 30 minutes and still not ready. I left it in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes all together. The toothpick came out clean. I’m using this cake as a birthday cake for a friend of mine…..maybe kinda crazy using a recipe for the first time for an important event. Now the icing and I sure hope everyone is going to love it.

I’ve done it and I loved it, but I tried the “chia chocolate cake” from This Baker’s Soul on YouTube and I love how fudgy it is with the chia, it’s incredible. Could you please make a version with chia?

Made this as a birthday cake in a 9×13 pan, which took 40+ minutes to bake. It tastes great, not too sweet, but do know that this makes a very heavy and dense cake. The texture was interesting – the bottom half was very compact and fudge-y, while the top half was much lighter and crumb-y. I might consider using slightly less coconut oil next time. Thanks for the recipe!

Had a weird texture and no flavor at all! It was a pudding-like substance, not becoming vegan soon!

I was looking for a chocolate frosting for a chocolate cake base i did for a birthday of a friend, I love minimalist baker’s recipes so I searched for one here first and OH MY GOD! I have never tried such a delicious frosting in my life. TOTALLY RECOMMEND! Everyone at the party was blown away by its softness and creaminess! Will save the recipe.
The only difference is I only had 250gr of powder sugar that I had bought thinking it would be enough so I skipped the milk and the result was superb, not too sweet and perfect texture to fill the cake without it falling from the sides (the cake was decorated on top so it had quite some weight on it)
THANK YOU!!

I’ve made this cake so many times over the last few years. Pretty much every family birthday and it is always a winner!! The most delicious plant based chocolate cake and very easy to make!

I made your cake for my daughter B.D. as she requested exactly this recipe. The frosting was so far the best chocolate frosting I have tasted in my life. I even ate the left over with a spoon next day.
But my cake sadly baked in two different textures!!!! underneath was gooey and gummy but the top half was fine. I kind of see it in your close up picture.
I can’t figure out why this happened!

This chocolate cake is Amazing! Truly restaurant worthy. Don’t change a thing for perfection. I’ve only served it to non-vegan friends and each one has said it’s the best chocolate cake they’ve ever had and have begged for the recipe. Thank you!

This cake is the bomb! Definitely one of those, ‘I can’t believe it’s vegan moments’.

I used rice bran oil instead of coconut and bought some apple baby-food to use for the apple sauce.

This is the single nicest chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten. I didn’t have a fan forced oven so I added a little extra heat and about 8 mins extra. It was perfect all the way through.

This is my new cake for all occasions!

The cake was decent, but nothing extraordinary. It is dense and moist and rich – all good, though maybe I’ll add some melted chocolate or chopped chocolate to the batter next time. Only sub I did was oat milk for almond milk as I don’t like the aftertaste of the latter.

The frosting however was fabulous and IMO made the cake. I am not vegan, but I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between this and buttercream made with real butter. I added the minimum amount of powdered sugar, a little less cocoa powder too, plus a few dashes of instant espresso powder. There was no need to add milk.

The combination of the cake and the frosting is definitely a winner.

Oh. My. God. This is the most amazing cake ever! me and my non-vegan family loved it!!! I used 2 frostings, the one listed here, as well as your oil free chocolate frosting. Awesome tasting and fool-proof, this cake is a must try for everyone!

Despite following the instructions to a tee the cake was far too moist and dense and it did not cook properly (I left it in for 1 hour and was still getting a soggy bottom). It was a bit of a disappointment as I made it for someones birthday. Fortunately we discovered the next day that it was much better delicious warmed up- it was like a melt-in the middle chocolate brownie pudding! mmmm. Flavour was amazing but recipe definitely needs a bit less moisture or oil.

The most delicious chocolate cake I have ever made! So tasty and moist! Thank you 🥰

I made this for a friend’ 50th birthday who is diary intolerant. This was to share with a friend who is vegan. I am not a great cook but this was a hit with everyone, including my dairy friends and family.
I even made the buttercream frosting- something i am definitely not good at especially as I don’t like frosting, but this was delicious- I even lick the bowl with the left overs!
Definitely one to make again.

Will this cake work with peppermint frosting?

I made this cake for my non-vegan boyfriend’s birthday, along with the vegan chocolate frosting. I halved the recipe since I was low on a few ingredients, added a few dark chocolate chips, and used strong brewed vanilla almond black tea instead of coffee. Baked it for 27 minutes and it could’ve gone a minute or two longer because it was a little fudgey, but honestly it was SO delicious! It was gone in 24 hours!

I’m gonna be completely honest, when I was making this cake I was thinking this is just not gonna work. The way the ingredients mixed just seemed odd to me, however I carried on and I can honestly say this is the best vegan cake i’ve ever made. Everyone loved it and it will now be my go to cake for future. If you make it and you think it all seems a bit odd, I encourage you to carry on! So yummy. I couldn’t find unsweetened apple sauce so just used a standard supermarket applesauce. So good… Thank you!!

The cupcake part was good. I only used a cup of sugar and it was plenty sweet. Also, the frosting was way too sweet. I would maybe try to use a less intense frosting next time

I made this today with my girls (7 & 9) for my husband’s birthday. It turned out perfect. The cake was fluffy and lightly sweet, and the icing was thick, sweet, and creamy. I think next time I will make the icing a different flavor, but that’s just to try out new things. This will be my go-to cake recipe from here on. Thank you!

I made this cake with slightly less sugar (1 cup), sieved the dry ingredients twice, and used only one cake pan instead of dividing the batter into two pans. It came out perfectly sweet and light! Love your recipes. Thank you so much!

I made this for my child who is allergic to eggs and dairy. She loved it so much! My husband said it was soooooo good that it’s better than store bought ones. 🙀

I never post comments but am because this cake turned out perfectly!! :) The only change I did was add 1 cup unsweetened applesauce (instead of 1 and 1/4 cup due to other people saying it was too moist with the full amount), and I used a combo 1/3 c. olive oil and 1/3 c. coconut oil and slightly less sugar (maybe 1/8-1/4 c less) as those are just my personal preferences. Baked for exactly 30 minutes at 350 in 2, 8 in. pans. It was super moist and delicious and even the kids that had it couldn’t get enough of it. As well, like many other people say, I only made half the frosting recipe, and that was plenty for icing, I even had some leftover! Overall, it was a great hit!

I’ve made this cake five times now for various birthdays and it’s always SO GOOD! Extremely moist and delicious. My dad, a 65 year old omnivore/dairy lover, told me that this was the best cake he’s had in his entire life. The cake keeps exceptionally well in the refrigerator. One thing I will say is that it definitely isn’t a “one-bowl” recipe for me, but that’s no big deal. I’ve cooked it with both avocado oil and coconut oil. Make sure you give it plenty of time to cool off before icing. I’ve been cooking in a 9″ pan for about 32 minutes each time.

I made this with AP flour and omitted the coffee. WOW. Thank you for this amazing recipe! The coconut oil brings a lovely flavor to this cake!

Love the site but made this recipe on a whim not thinking too much and WOW- this cake is SO GOOD!! It’s absolutely my new favorite and go-to. I love that the cake is fudgy without being too dense, but also isn’t too delicate (sometimes I feel like chocolate cake looks chocolately but then it just falls apart without much flavor or oomph). The frosting is the perfect complement- creamy and rich and not too sweet. I used regular flour and decaf coffee in the cake and regular butter and milk in the frosting and halved everything for a single layer. Thank you for such an awesome recipe, I seriously didn’t know chocolate cake could be this good!

Hands down THE best vegan chocolate cake I’ve ever made! Having tried many different recipes over the years, the results have always been a bit “meh”. This recipe, has secured its place as my new go to!

As a side note, after cutting I stored the cake in the fridge it was still fantastic the next day! Apple sauce isn’t as prevalent here in New Zealand, so I used 3x 120gm tins of puréed apple baby food. Also, I didn’t have the recommended vinegar, so used what I had which was rice vinegar, that worked just fine.

This cake is so good, it really rivals its dairy based counterparts!

Hi Liv, I added 2 tbs of vegan yoghurt, it gave the butter cream and extra lightness and richness at the same time. I like the almond and vanilla – as the sweetness with a little bit of maple syrup goes a long way and didn’t need to add any sugar. I made a big batch and left it in the fridge and used it for other cakes, puddings too.

Your recipes are always amazing, and this one was no different. Thank you for always providing such fine work.

We loved it! It was our first vegan cake at home and was totally worth it. Thank you! It came out a perfect chocolatey cake.

I made this cake. It was so delicious. I used coconut milk. And banana sauce instead of applsauce. My family like it too much

I made this cake yesterday with great success and a few tweaks:
1. I followed the metric measurements and ended up with a moist and decadent cake. It isn’t as light and airy as I expected but I would still consider it a cake, not a brownie.
2. I used oat milk, instead of almond milk and coffee.
3. I only had 1 8 inch springform tin so i poured half the mixture in, cooked, cooled, released from the tin and did it all over again. The first half weighed 783g – at 25mins it was wet in the middle still but at 35mins the toothpick came out clean. The second half weighed ~740g – at 25mins the toothpick was not clean, but at 30mins this half was ready. I treated the 25min mark as a time to check and see how much longer your cake will need.
4. For the frosting, I only needed half the amount to achieve the desired sweetness.