This is such an easy recipe for gluten free and vegan chocolate cake, and it has a great texture and a rich, fudgy flavor. This delicious and simple cake is perfect for a birthday party, holiday, or any day that you want a sweet treat!
If you’re new to gluten free and allergy friendly baking, one of the first things you need is a great cake recipe. Because you may have a birthday coming up, or you might just want to bake one afternoon. You need an easy recipe that’s no-fail and delicious. This recipe checks all those boxes and more.
This gluten free and vegan chocolate cake uses basic ingredients and it is so easy to throw together. Mix it up and pop it in the oven, and 30 minutes later you have a fresh-baked chocolate cake ready to go. It can’t get any easier than that.
Don’t be afraid of this cake, non-vegan friends. The vinegar and the baking soda combine so nicely to give it a nice lift, you would never guess that this cake does not contain eggs. It is really, really marvelous – and it’s a recipe that I have made again and again over the past 10 years.
Be sure to read all my tips if you’re new to gluten free baking. I know it can be really different to bake with gluten free flours and no eggs. But you can still make an amazing cake even without wheat, dairy, or eggs.
And if don’t need to be gluten free, go right ahead and use all-purpose flour! It works very well in this recipe – the cake will be a little lighter and less dense. Whatever flour you choose to use, this dessert is sure to be a big hit.
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Ingredient Notes
- Gluten Free Flour Blend – This recipe should work well with different gluten free flour blends. I like to use Namaste Perfect Flour Blend, which results in a rich, moist cake with a great texture.
- Cocoa Powder – We use Hershey’s Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, and it works well in this recipe.
- Oil – This works well with organic canola oil, but I have made it with other oils as well. You can use coconut oil or another oil if you prefer – you can even use melted vegan buttery spread.
- Dairy Free Mini Chocolate Chips – I like adding some mini chocolate chips to the batter for a little more richness.
Special Equipment
- I recommend making this in an 8 or 9 inch square baking dish or cake pan.
- If you’re worried about the cake sticking to the pan, lining it with parchment paper can help prevent any sticking. If you’re using a round pan, line the bottom with a circle of parchment, then grease and flour the bottom and sides of the pan as well.
- You can also make this in a round pan, or use this recipe to bake cupcakes. I recommend parchment paper liners for baking gluten free cupcakes.
Step by Step Instructions
- Sift the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients and the chocolate chips and stir well.
- Smooth the batter into a cake pan or baking dish. If you want to remove the cake from the pan, line it with a piece of parchment paper that hangs over two sides of the pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30-33 minutes.
- Once the cake has cooled completely, dust with powdered sugar and slice into squares.
Tips for Success
- Sift the dry ingredients so that the batter doesn’t have any lumps.
- Line your cake pan with parchment paper if you’d like to remove the cake from the pan. That way you can easily pull the cake out using the parchment.
- It’s okay to use a different gluten free flour blend, but it could change the amount of time required for baking. Test the center of the cake with a toothpick to see if it’s done before you remove it from the oven.
- If you use a different flour blend and find that your batter seems unusually thick or dry, try adding a little more water until the batter is easier to stir. Different gluten free flours react differently to liquid.
- If you find that your baking time is consistently shorter or longer than the time suggested in recipes, you may want to check your oven temperature to make sure that it’s accurate.
FAQs
No, that won’t work – you generally need eggs in order for coconut flour to be light and fluffy. If you use it in this recipe, you will have a dense, flat cake.
If you want to use some almond meal, you can try using half almond meal and half gluten free flour blend. The cake will be a bit denser, and possibly more moist. I would not recommend using ONLY almond meal.
I haven’t tried that. I would expect that the texture of the cake may change, and you would also need to use less water. If you’d like to avoid refined sugar, you could use coconut sugar, that would work just fine.
If your cakes sink in the middle, it’s likely because the middle wasn’t quite done baking. Stick a toothpick in the middle of the cake to see if it’s done – it should come out clean or with just a few crumbs. It should not have wet batter on it.
Storage/Freezing
Store leftover cake tightly wrapped or in an airtight container. It should stay fresh for about 3 days.
If you’d like to freeze this cake, wrap it well in plastic wrap, then place in a freezer bag. It should stay fresh in the freezer for up to 3 months.
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Recipe
The Easiest Gluten Free and Vegan Chocolate Cake.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups gluten free flour blend if you're not gluten free, all-purpose flour is just fine
- 1 cups organic cane sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup organic canola oil or melted coconut oil, or melted vegan buttery spread
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 cup cold water
- ¾ cup dairy free mini chocolate chips
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. If you'd like to remove the cake from the pan once it's baked, I recommend lining the baking dish with parchment paper so that it hangs over two sides of the pan.
- Sift the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. (This step is important, especially with gluten free flour. Otherwise you’ll have lumps!)
- Add the organic canola oil (or melted coconut oil), vanilla, vinegar and water. Mix together by hand, and don’t over mix. Stir in the dairy free chocolate chips.
- Pour into an 8 inch square baking dish and bake at 350 degrees F for about 30-33 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Dust the top with confectioner’s sugar once the cake is cool.
Notes
Nutrition
This post is part of my series, 31 Days of Gluten Free, Dairy Free, and Egg Free Comfort Food.
Mary
Hi! I was looking at this recipe for my friend who is dairy and gluten free but not vegan. Would using regular white sugar work just as well with this recipe?
Thank you!
Kelly Roenicke
Yes!
Catherine
Very good. I made this recipe (with AP flour/not GF) and made the chocolate cake recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking and ate them side by side (don’t judge ). Yours was my favorite. Are you on Instagram? I couldn’t find you so I used #theprettybee.
Kelly Roenicke
So glad you loved it, thanks for letting me know!
amanda l perea
can i use gf all perpose baking flour?
Kelly Roenicke
Yes you can!
Sue Baker
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and recipes. I am a new vegan due to health reasons. I made this for my birthday cake being a chocolate person and missing a slice of cake. I made substitutions for my diet I used unsweetened applesauce for the oil and maple syrup for the cane sugar. This is a wonderful recipe anyone should be able to enjoy.
Kelly Roenicke
So glad this worked for you! Thank you for letting me know!
Emma
Hi!
A friend is allergic to many things, including gluten and eggs, and I was happy to have found this recipe.
So I tried this recipe for making cupcakes, except they taste absolutely horrible. What kind of cacao did you use? Because I think the horrible taste comes from the huge amount of cacao in this recipe. I’m in The Netherlands and so I’m able to get the very high quality Dutch processed cacao that has an incredibly strong taste.
Also, I used a organic glutenfree flour blend that’s specifically of baking and it smelled of nothing, so I don’t think the taste could have come from the flour…
It also was pretty dense, though that may be because I switched the vinegar to lemon juice and needed a bit more of that then of vinegar (I personally detest the taste of vinegar and can taste even if there’s a tiny amount there so that’s why I used lemon juice). I might try this again with less cacao and hopefully it’ll taste better…
Kelly Roenicke
I used unsweetened cocoa powder, so maybe that’s the difference. I’m sorry you had trouble! What type of flour did you use?
Susie
Just made this cake. It was really delicious! Followed the recipe exactly with 1-1 flour mix. Only issue I had was it was extremely crumbly. Like, when I put a fork into it the cake started to crumble apart and was hard to eat.
Do you think this was an issue of over baking? Any suggestions so I can get a more moist texture would be appreciated as I will definitely try making this again in the future. So easy and good! Thanks!
Kelly Roenicke
It could have been overbaked. What brand of flour did you use? What type of oil?
KT
Hi Kelly
I have made this recipe twice now and followed the ingredients and amounts exactly. Unfortunately my cake doesn’t rise a super amount it’s not flat but certainly doesn’t look as risen as in your pictures.
Any idea’s the flour blend I use is:
brown rice flour.
potato starch.
white rice flour.
tapioca flour.
1 tsp guar gum
Any thoughts would be great
Thanks
KT :)
Kelly Roenicke
It could be the flour blend or it could be your oven – could the temperature be off slightly? What size pan are you using?
Jessica Liddy
Kelly, this was awesome! I used 1 cup of 1to1 Bob’s and 1/2 cup of Bob’s almond flour. I also replaced the water with coconut milk.
Came out very moist like brownies. I am slowly moving to GF and trying to find recipes my family will buy into.
Thank you!
Shelly Firebaugh
I have this in the oven baking now! Can’t wait to try it! I used Bob’s Red Mill GF 1 to 1 Baking Flour.
Kelly Roenicke
I hope it turned out for you!
Julia Jones
If I wanted to make a 6″ round cake to be covered in fondant/sugar paste would it stand up ok as a 5″ deep wedding cake top tier (also do you have a buttercream recipe that is suitable for under said sugar paste/fondant.
I have never been asked to make a GF/vegan cake before and am nervous as it is for a wedding cake of a colleague!
Thank you
Kelly Roenicke
I think it would stand up, but I’m not totally sure! I have a buttercream recipe here: https://theprettybee.com/first-birthday-smash-cake-gluten-free-allergy-friendly/
Sowmya
Hi, can I use lemon juice instead of white vinegar
Kelly Roenicke
Yes, that will work!
Anita
Hi, do you think almond flour may work in this? Thanks
Estwr
My brothers birthday is coming up I a few days and I’m usually the one who makes the food and I need something quick, so I saw this amazing recipe and was overjoyed, but I don’t and can’t have gluten free flour so can I use almond or coconut flour instead? Please let me know as soon as possible
Ester
Kelly Roenicke
Almond flour may work, but coconut flour will be too dense.
Caitie Hurley
Just curious… no baking powder in the recipe? I see the baking soda…
Thanks!
Kelly Roenicke
No baking powder! It’s not needed in this recipe.
Tali
Was amazing!! Check out my daughter loving it on my Instagram page! @photography_by_tali
Kelly Roenicke
So glad to hear it was a hit!
Karen
Finally! A recipe that actually is Fluffy and doesn’t taste gross and isn’t gummy you’re a miracle worker thank you thank you thank you
Kelly Roenicke
So glad you liked it, thanks for letting me know! :)
Diane
Question: Will this work with oat flour in place of a GF flour blend? I’m having trouble finding a GF flour that isn’t made on shared equipment. I have a highly dairy allergic child coming over and I think the oat flour I have should be fine. Please let me know if you have experience. Thank you!
Gillian
Hi I’m in the U.K., would it be ok to use gf self raisin Flour that has the xantham gum in, and if using sf gf Flour would I still put the baking soda and vinegar in?
Kelly Roenicke
If it already contains baking soda, then I would not add more. Vinegar would be ok though.
J Paskoff
look into Authentic Foods brand as far as the dairy free flours. I had the same problem with soy. And that brand is where I buy all my flours for my flour mixes
neel
Hi
Thank you for sharing the recipe. I am baking a cake for the first time! I followed the steps and the cake looks amazing.
However, the colour seems dark than usual. Also, the borders look crusty. Is this okay? I haven’t yet tasted it.
Thank you
Kelly Roenicke
It could have gotten a little overbaked, but it should be fine to eat!
Anna
Hello! May I use rice flour with this recipe?
Kelly Roenicke
I don’t think you could use straight rice flour. Most gluten free baking recipes require a blend of flours to produce a light and fluffy result.