This decadent, moist, and rich vegan chocolate cake will be your new go-to recipe! Loaded with lusciously easy chocolate frosting, it is every chocolate lover’s dream while being entirely eggless and dairy-free.
For accuracy, I highly recommend measuring your ingredients in grams using a digital kitchen scale.
Preparation: Preheat your oven to 160°C/320°F fan (180°C/356°F conventional). Line the base of three 8" cake tins with a circle of parchment paper and liberally grease the sides with oil or vegan butter.
To make the vegan buttermilk add the soy milk and apple cider vinegar to a jug, stir, and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
Mix dry ingredients: Sift the plain flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt into a large mixing bowl, whisk, and set aside.
Mix wet ingredients: To a medium bowl, add the vegan buttermilk, olive oil, yogurt, and vanilla. Whisk until combined.
Make the batter: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until well mixed. Carefully pour the hot coffee into the batter whilst mixing until combined. The batter will be runny - this is what you want!
Bake: Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans and bake for 25-35 minutes. The cakes are ready when a toothpick comes out clean with a few crumbs but without any wet batter.
Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 15-20 minutes and then carefully turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool further. Refrigerate the cakes in an airtight container if you don’t plan on using them right away.
Frosting: Heat the vegan heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat until gently simmering, but not boiling.
Pour the heated cream over the chocolate and allow it to sit uncovered for 5 minutes. Whisk in the vanilla extract and sugar.
Using an electric whisk or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, start adding cubes of butter to the chocolate mixture. Whisk to incorporate each cube of butter before adding the next.
Whisk in the powdered sugar. Cover the surface of the frosting with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour until it reaches a spreadable consistency. Gently whip it up again with a whisk before frosting.
Assembly: Place a tiny amount of frosting on a cake turntable and secure the first sponge layer on top of it. Use an offset spatula/pallet knife to spread a layer of the frosting on top of one cake and top with the other cake layer - repeat for the next layer. Spread or pipe the remaining buttercream around the sides and top of the cake.
Storage: Keep the cake at room temperature on the day of serving. If you plan on serving it at a later stage, place it in an airtight container and refrigerate for 4-5 days. Remove from the refrigerator an hour before serving to allow the cake and frosting to come back to room temperature.
Notes
Soy Milk - You can also use almond milk or oat milk.
Hot Coffee - You can substitute this with boiling water.
Vegan Heavy Cream - You need double cream such as dairy-free Schlagfix or Emlea which are designed for whipping. Alternatively, use full-fat coconut milk or coconut whipping cream.
Vegan Heavy Cream - To add a coffee kick to your frosting, replace 30ml of cream with espresso.