Out of all the cakes I’ve tried in my lifetime, chocolate cake is one of my favourites. Now that I’m mostly vegan, I knew I would need a vegan version of this. After a few tries of modifying my original recipe, I created the best vegan chocolate cake!
When you think about vegan cake, you might think it will be dry, crumbly and will not satisfy that cake craving but this vegan chocolate fudge cake is a three-layer monster of pure fudgy, chocolatey, deliciousness topped and layered with an insane choc-peanut butter frosting. Then, topped with salted peanuts and chocolate sprinkles. So, this is a large cake and it can feed a crowd! It’s great as a vegan birthday cake, (or party cake, family reunions, baby showers) or an everyday cake!
The best part of this cake is, it is so moist and rich in flavour and if you didn’t mention that it’s vegan, people would honestly never know. And that’s the point! It’s like a super-amazing, delicious, decadent chocolate cake that just happens to be vegan! In fact, people will praise it for its moistness!
This is not a light and fluffy or spongey the way a regular cake would be. This is a little bit denser and ultra-moist. A couple of things make this cake that. Applesauce, flaxseed meal and vegetable oil help. Don’t worry, you cannot taste the applesauce here. I used heaps of cocoa powder so that it is rich in chocolate flavour to the extreme.
I feel like we should get into the real business now.
Ingredients
For the cake;
- 2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- ⅔ cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 1/2 cups soy or almond milk
- ½ cup apple sauce unsweetened, at room temperature
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp instant coffee powder brewed in 3 tbsp warm water
- 2 tbsp flaxseed meal (optional)
- 1 ½ tbsp of apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice or white vinegar)
For the frosting;
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup peanut butter
- ½ cup vegan butter or margarine
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 4- 5 tbsp milk
- salt (optional)
Method;
For the cake
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Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and grease 3 8-inch cake pans.
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Add one cup of milk into a small bowl. Then add vinegar and stir slightly. Set aside to curdle.
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In a large bowl or the bowl of your standing mixture, add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk well to combine.
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In a small bowl, add the oil, applesauce, vanilla and the remaining almond milk and mix with a spoon mixture. Add this mixture into the flour mixture.
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Add the vinegar mixture and the coffee liquid into the flour mix.
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Mix on medium speed with a hand mixer or stand mixer with until well combined.
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Divide the batter evenly between your cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. After 10 minutes of cooling in the pan, carefully remove the cakes from the pans and let cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
For the frosting
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Stir in the powdered sugar, cocoa, salt and enough milk to achieve a spreading consistency.
Put it all together
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You will need a platter or a cake stand. Place a small dollop of the frosting in the middle of the platter so the cake will stick onto to the platter.
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Spread 1/4 of the frosting on the first layer and repeat for the second layer as well.
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Add the third layer. Top it with the reminder frosting covering the whole cake.
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(Optional) sprinkle some chocolate-sprinkles and salted peanuts.
A cup of white coffee or a glass of cold milk is really all you need to wash down this vegan chocolate beauty. Enjoy!