This is the most delicious Vegan Chocolate Fudge Cake you’ll ever taste!
One of my great childhood memories will always be chocolate cake for breakfast…sigh. It was a wonderful thing! But that was in the days of Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker when mixes somehow began taking the place of homemade cakes. Now I’m not knocking the mixes, everything has its time and place, and they did come up with some pretty darn good cakes. But even as good as they were, they’re not homemade.
I came across an old recipe for a Vegan Chocolate Cake, although at the time they had no idea it was Vegan, or even what a Vegan was, but they knew what delicious was! It was a simple recipe using oil, and vinegar instead of eggs and butter….who knew?
Well evidently those bakers from the depression knew, and when they couldn’t get eggs or butter, they still came up with a recipe for the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had.
With my quest to eat healthier, I’ve been changing my dietary intake whenever possible, using Greek yogurt instead of heavy cream and sour cream, and using coconut oil instead of other oils.
So what could I do but make my favorite chocolate cake of all time, using coconut oil.
I decided to throw a fudge layer in between the layers and used coconut oil instead of butter and it was fudgelicious!
To keep the cake Vegan I finished it with mounds of whipped coconut cream…….. it was a beautiful thing!
If you’re not into whipped coconut cream you can always dust the cake with powdered sugar.
If you enjoyed this recipe you may also like these:
- The Original Pumpkin Crunch Cake
- Chocolate Valentines Cake
- Pomegranate Mousse Cake
- Chocolate Mousse Cake
Vegan Chocolate Fudge Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup Coconut Oil
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups cold water
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
- 1 cup coconut oil
- 1 cup cocoa powder unsweetened
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon hot coffee
Whipped Cream
- 14 oz Coconut cream
- ⅓ cup confectioners sugar (10x)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl.
- With your mixer on low speed beat in the coconut oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into the two 9″ prepared pans, coated with pan spray.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Do not over bake the cake. It should be firm to the touch, and a cake skewer inserted in the middle of the cake should come out clean.
- Put the cake pans on cooling racks and cool for 15 to 20 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans to cool completely.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
- mix all ingredients in the bowl of your mixer and whip until well blended
Whipped Cream
- Refrigerate can of coconut cream, 8 hours or overnight. Place a metal mixing bowl and beaters in the refrigerator or freezer 1 hour before making whipped cream.
- Open the can of coconut cream, taking care not to shake it. Scoop out the coconut cream solids into a cold mixing bowl. (Reserve remaining liquid for another use)
- Beat the coconut cream using an electric mixer with the chilled beaters on medium speed for a few minutes then turn to high speed. Beat until stiff peaks form, about 7 to 8 minutes.
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract to coconut cream; beat 1 minute more.
Assembly
- place one layer on cake plate and add layer of chocolate fudge.
- place second layer on cake and fill in any spots in the chocolate fudge layer.
- coat sides of cake with chocolate fudge (wet the blade of your spatula while smoothing it will help)
- top cake with whipped cream, cut and serve!
Malorie
Hi, does it make a difference if the cake is cooked in one tin or does it have to be split in 2 tins?
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Malorie
its going to increase the cooking time if you use only one tin, and may affect the cake by having it be drier on the outside. I haven’t had much success with making one big cake as opposed to layers
Kim
Can I substitute apple cider vinegar for the white??
Chef Dennis Littley
yes you can Kim.
Patty
I made cupcakes from this recipe topped with a cream and honey icing and fresh blueberries. The cupcakes were divine and the recipe was perfect and easy. A no fail chocolate cake. Also, the cakes were slightly red. Thank you!
Vardit
Great tasting cake. Made it today for the first time especially for my vegan son, but the whole family loved it. One little problem: I refrigerated it and the frosting, as it hardened has white spots from oil separation. This in no way effected the taste of the cake and no one except for me noticed it. Did I not mix the frosting enough?
Chef Dennis Littley
it could have used a little more mixing, or possibly your coconut oil was not soft enough to blend in thoroughly.
Vardit
I live in a warm climate. My coconut oil is completely liquid. Maybe that is the problem. It had a hard time blending with the cocoa powder. I mixed it for a long time until the texture became smooth. Next time, and there will be a next time, I will refrigerate the oil for an hour or so. Thank you!
Manuela
Hi Dennis, this cake looks gorgeous! Can I substitute maple syrup with honey?
Chef Dennis Littley
you should be able to without any problems Manuela, glad you like the cake!
Kristen Y
Hi Chef,
Thank you for this recipe. Eeveryone is always amazed when I tell them there are no eggs or butter! This is my go to chocolate cake recipe! Everyone LOVES it! I am making this for a friends birthday and I grabbed a bag of Valrhona Dutch processed cocoa.I didnt realize there was a difference between the dutch processed and the natual! Should I alter anything with the mix? Would you recomend that I not use it?
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m happy to hear that Kristen, it is a chocolate wonder. You may notice less flavor with the dutch cocoa but other than that you shouldn’t have any problems, but I can’t tell you for sure since I’ve only used the Natural cocoa
Nisha
Hi Chef,
I tried your recipe for my husband’s b’day and it came out very well… thanku for the recipe 🙂
Chef Dennis Littley
You’re welcome Nisha, thank you for letting me know!
Melissa
Hi Chef Dennis,
I just made your cake for my husband’s birthday and it is the most moist cake I’ve ever made. I even used one cup of whole wheat flour (hard white). It wasn’t even a bit crumbly, and just what we were looking for. 10/10.
Thank you!
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the cake recipe Melissa, thanks so much for letting me know!
Alix
Can’t wait to try making this cake! Quick question – should the coconut oil be melted before mixing in to the cake batter and into the fudge frosting?
Thanks!
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Alix
it doesn’t have to be melted, it just shouldn’t be hard. If you leave it out at room temp it should be easy to incorporate it into the mix.
borigitana
So, if one wants to make this cake with eggs since I don’t happen to have vinegar in the house, how many eggs would I use?? I was specifically looking for a good chocolate cake made with coconut oil for my daughter’s birthday tomorrow and found yours..but have everything sans vinegar. Can I make it without the vinegar without destroying it?
Chef Dennis
I’m sorry but for this specific recipe, I don’t think leaving out the vinegar will give you the desired results and I don’t know what the equivalent of eggs for vinegar would be.
irmina
Se ve delicioso.
Un saludo.
Christine
Found you on Pinterest… This cake sounds delish! I want to make for my husbands birthday this week but had a question. The cocoa in the cake ingredients, is that the powdered, unsweetened kind? Just wanted to clarify since it said that for the fudge part but not the cake. Thanks for your help! Going to try making the whipped cream from canned coconut milk (another pinterest recipe). Yum I can hardly wait!
Chef D
Thanks for stopping by Christine and yes the cocoa in the cake is just regular unsweetened, I use Hershey’s most of the time, but any brand will do. You can also substitute olive oil or any other oil in the cake instead of the coconut oil, if you like. The coconut oil, did make the cake a little more firm when chilled.
If my wife liked coconut, I would have topped the cream with some toasted coconut too….sigh I love coconut, but if mama ain’t happy, nobody happy!
let me know how it turns out.
Dennis
Christine
Ooh, this turned out so good! The fudge frosting was amazing. I used Agave instead of Maple syrup since I was almost out. I couldn’t control myself from sampling, I was hoping there would be enough left to frost the cake ! Thanks for a yummy cake my whole family can enjoy together (I’m vegan, hubs not, and one kiddo with egg/dairy allergy). And the ingredients are staples in most kitchens. Kudos!
Chef D
I’m so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed the cake! It’s one of the first cakes I teach my students since its so easy and so good!
thank you!
sanam
Your website and the blogs I found on it have been my newest obsession for a few months. What makes it so special is the stories. There’s a down to earth, homey charm to them that makes every recipe a little treasure. Too bad they don’t sell coconut oil where I live. Can I just use canola instead or maybe butter?
Chef D
Thank you, I’m very happy to hear that you enjoy my blog! You can use canola oil, or olive oil in the cake, and I would use butter in the fudge.
Cheers
Dennis
sanam
Thanks, I did as you said and it turned out great! I just had to try it because there were no eggs involved. Everyone at home thought it was going to be a failure, and they were absolutely amazed at how it turned out! I felt like a magician haha And the frosting… to die for!
Chef D
Thanks for letting me know how well it turned out! It is a wonderful cake, its also the first one I teach my students. They’re always amazed at how good it is!
Katherines Corner
Oh how divine ,I think it would be perfect for breakfast too, giggle. What a fun memory to share. I love the idea of this healthier recipe. I invite you to share your yummy recipes at my Thursday hops ( it’s still open today) Hugs P.S. thank you for your friendship on Google plus.
Chef D
Thanks Katherine, It’s been a pleasure getting to know you, and I hope to see you in our community when you have time.
Cocina Silvia
Una receta genial, me encanta como ha quedado. Fantastica. Felices Fiestas!!!!
Dionne Baldwin
I LOVE vegan recipes and inspirations. This cake would make both Yannick and I happy. He loves chocolate. 🙂 Merry Christmas to you my friend!
vanillasugarblog
that is a gorgeous cake dennis!
Rita
I have not been here is a very long time; so nice to see you on Google+ Your chocolate cake is a master piece. I also have been using coconut oil; really healthy and tasty. I can imagine it would work really well with a cake recipe. Glad I found you again; always enjoyed your journey at the Academy.
Rita
Jean | DelightfulRepast.com
Dennis, that’s a beauty! I have developed a number of vegan recipes for friends. And it’s a good thing – another family I know (parents and teenage son) have just gone vegan. I’ll have to share this post with them.
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
How stunning, I love the fudge layer!