Easy gluten-free vegan chocolate cake with peanut butter! Served with a simple frosting, this dessert is very chocolatey, fluffy and moist, as well as oil-free. No complicated preparation methods required! Perfect with a cup of tea or for special occasions.
Happy 2019 everyone! I hope you all had an incredible festive season and enjoyed your time, whether that’s with friends, family or by yourself. I loved spending time with my family over the holidays, but now I’m excited to get back to my normal routine and go back to uni in a couple of days’ time.
These last couple of days have consisted of a lot of planning and setting myself up for a good year, and I have to say that I am looking forward to 2019 after all the turbulence 2018 involved haha.
In my opinion, there’s no better food to get the year started with than chocolate cake. Yeah, on one hand January is when everyone goes on diets, but if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m not about that life. I’m all about balance, eating healthy the whole year round as well as treating myself whenever I please! I love my green smoothies for sure, but cake is always a brilliant idea too.
Not to mention a chocolatey, decadent vegan cake. Yep, this beauty is made with no oil/butter, eggs, or dairy!
About this easy gluten-free vegan chocolate cake
I actually started testing this recipe right before Christmas, and when we made it on Christmas Day the cake disappeared within a couple of hours! Yes, it really is that yummy.
I think the thing that really takes it to the next level is the addition of peanut butter. You might wonder how to achieve a wonderful spongey and moist texture without eggs, butter or dairy, and that’s where the peanut butter comes in.
The cake also has just the right amount of sweetness, which works super well with the frosting.
I used ordinary gluten-free flour (not self raising) for this recipe. I wouldn’t recommend swapping it for anything else, because in itself it’s quite neutral in flavour and achieves the best texture. When I gave it a go with buckwheat flour, it was still tasty, but a little bit more dry. However, if you decide to change it for anything else, do let me know how it goes.
The cake is sweetened with coconut sugar (my favourite sweetener at the moment) and is super chocolatey thanks to cacao powder. Feel free to add some vegan chocolate chips to up the chocolate factor even more!
The frosting is probably my favourite thing about this cake. It was quite hard not to eat all of it by itself lol. And it’s ridiculously simple, requiring just two ingredients, which are coconut cream and vegan chocolate. Super decadent, super indulgent, super creamy. Because this coconut frosting is so versatile, you could add it to other treats too, such as brownies or cookies.
What’s to love about this cake?
This gluten-free vegan chocolate cake is…
- Incredibly yummy and flavourful.
- Very chocolatey. I mean, the more chocolate the better.
- Fluffy and moist.
- Gluten-free.
- Oil-free.
- Easy and beginner-friendly. Trust me, you need no baking experience to make this!
- Perfect for sharing. (Although, you probably won’t want to).
- Great for special occasions.
How to make gluten-free vegan chocolate cake
Firstly, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/150 degrees F. Whisk together the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, cacao powder, coconut sugar, ground flaxseed and baking powder). In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the wet ingredients (peanut butter, almond milk, vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar).
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix them together really well, before transferring to two 8 inch round cake tins. Bake in the preheated oven for around 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the frosting (not forgetting to leave the coconut cream in the fridge for 24 hours beforehand). Drain away the liquid from the coconut cream, then whisk using a handheld electric whisk while pouring in melted vegan chocolate.
I used a mixture of sweet dairy-free chocolate and dark chocolate to achieve a good balance of flavour, but you can adjust this depending on your preference (e.g., using no dark chocolate will result in a very sweet frosting). If the frosting looks too liquidy at the end, leave it in the fridge for around 10 minutes.
Once the cake is ready, allow it to cool for at least 15 minutes before arranging. To arrange, spread a thick layer of the frosting on one of the sponges. Place the other sponge on top followed by another layer of frosting. Decorate as desired and serve immediately. This cake keeps well in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Other vegan dessert recipes
- Gingerbread cake with coconut frosting
- Sweet potato brownies
- Peanut butter cookies with tahini
- Cranberry orange muffins
- Berry and almond polenta cake
Let me know in the comments – what’s your favourite dessert at the moment? If you give this gluten-free vegan chocolate cake a go, be sure to tag me on Instagram (@earthofmariaa) so I can see your creations!
Gluten-free Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 170 g gluten-free flour
- 50 g cacao powder
- 220 g coconut sugar
- 20 g ground flaxseed
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 120 g peanut butter
- 250 ml almond milk warm (heat it on the stove for a few seconds)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
For the frosting
- 150 ml coconut cream canned, refrigerated for 24 hours
- 100 g dairy-free chocolate melted
- 50 g dark chocolate melted (see recipe notes)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/350 F.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flour, cacao powder, coconut sugar and ground flaxseed. In a separate mixing bow, whisk together the peanut butter, almond milk, vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together really well.
- Transfer the batter to two round 8 inch cake tins and bake in the oven for around 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the middle is spongey. Leave to cool for at least 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. Drain away the liquid from the canned coconut cream, add it to a mixing bowl and whisk until fluffy using an electric whisk. At the same time, pour in the melted chocolate. If the frosting looks too liquidy, leave it to solidify in the fridge for around 10 minutes.
- Arrange the cake. Spread a thick layer of the frosting on one of the sponges. Place the other one over it, and spread another layer of the frosting on top. Decorate as desired and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Made the cake today for my husband’s birthday as he loves chocolate cake. I used wholemeal flour as we are not gluten free – it was just so delicious! As you said it was easy as anything. Thank you very much for this recipe, I am going to write it in my cookbook.
Aw I’m very happy to hear that you liked this recipe! I guess chocolate is always the way to go! Thank you very much for trying it out 🙂
Not a cookbook I am writing but the one I use a lot – just to be clear!