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.
Michelle
I want to make this but only have vegetable oil. Will that work?
Kathleen
I really like this cake. I have made it several times and it has always turned out good. I use a homemade flour blend that is a mix of rice flour, oat flour, and starches. I added just a bit of xanthan gum to the recipe since it’s not in the mix. Thank you for sharing so many allergy friendly recipes.
Kristin
I have loved your recipes for years! I wanted to add that I modified this recipe to include honey (removing processed sugar) and added sourdough starter (adjusting the flour and liquid). Although a little stickier, this turned out to be a go-to dessert for me! Thank you for providing excellent recipes consistently for many years!!
(Reading through the comments, I saw someone who made this in a crockpot. I might have to try that!)
Kelly Roenicke
Thank you for letting me know that your adjustments worked! That’s good to hear.
BJ
Used the Trader Joes gluten free flour and the cake came out with such a weird texture, it was not good. My guests said it reminded them of kinetic sand. Threw most of it away.
Patricia
Will distilled white vinegar Work?
Kelly Roenicke
Yes!
Valerie
She’s right, quick, easy cake, and delicious. I made two changes to the recipe. I had to use the regular size chocolate chips instead of the mini. I also used turbinado sugar instead of confection sugar. I used my electric coffee grinder to turn the turbinado sugar into a powder.
Karen
What do you use to grease the pan?
Kelly Roenicke
Use vegan buttery spread or coconut oil, either will work.
Maria
I have mixed feelings about this recipe. I made it for a two-layered birthday cake so doubled the quantities as suggested. However, when I took one layer out of the tin, it completely crumbled! I remade it with a few substitutes: better quality gf flour and olive oil instead of the sunflower oil I originally used, which made the cake weirdly crunchy the first time around (I’m based in the UK and canola oil is harder to come by here). It turned out better with these substitutes, and the vinegar & soda combo resulted in a lovely rise. Also, I couldn’t really detect the choc chips in the finished product (not a problem necessarily, just surprised me)
Roseane
wow! For a gluten Free, lactose Free and Egg free, this cake is absolutely delicious very tasty, I made a chocolate sauce not so thick and put over the cake as soon it was baked when cooled down I grated some dark chocolate on the top and served it with raspberries on the top so nice, it gives the cake a little lift. Definitely I will do it again and again.
Kelly Roenicke
That sounds really delicious!
Danny Gainsburg
Two things about the chocolate cake.
First, in the FAQ you talk about gluten free baking powder (which I went out to buy as I was making this for a friend with celiac) yet it’s not one of the ingredients listed in the recipe.
Second, you state five minutes as the time to make the cake. When you take into account the fact that you have to sift the ingredients, I think it’s ridiculous to think you can whip up a cake that fast. Not a big deal, but I often find authors underestimate how long it takes to make things, and I know my way around the kitchen.
Amber
I was SO skeptical of this recipe! BUT WOW!…trust me in saying as a professional that it was AMAZING and everyone LOVED IT! The only thing I did different was use bittersweet chocolate chunks for chocolate chips and I left out a tinny bit of the sugar to balance out the super sweet buttercream I made for it. It’s a perfect death by chocolate cake. Save this one!!! It’s amazing!