The BEST chocolate cake ever...that happens to be VEGAN. I kid you not!

Step 1 Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar

Chocolate Glaze

1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp soy milk
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract

Note: if you don't care to make it vegan, or don't have soy milk or margarine, you can use butter in place of the margarine, and whatever milk you prefer in place of the soy.

Comments

[akenney06]

I made this cake--my first vegan cake since I started my macrobiotic/vegan diet in November 09--and it was a hit for my birthday this weekend. I used brown rice flour instead of white flower, and per previous comments, replaced oil with unsweetened apple sauce. The people at my party gobbled the cake down. It was so tasteful. I added strawberries, blueberries and sprinkled walnuts on the top. Thanks everyone for this recipe and the great comments. The only thing I would change next time is to use either coconut sugar (low gllycemic index) or grated carrots to provide the sweetness.

[jj.inc]

 mmm... BEEF, CHICKEN, BACON, and EGGS! 

[LindsayMMB]

I love this cake recipe ! I'm the only vegan in my household and served it to my non-vegan family. It was a huge hit. I used an unsweetened applesauce snack cup in place of the vegetable oil to make it a bit healthier and it was amazing. I much prefer it to the cake I made the first time with the vegetable oil. Great recipe !

[aliciak]

 Hooray!!! Did you use the same amount of applesauce as oil, or a little more? I'll have to try that.

[LindsayMMB]

I ended up using just a little more, but the same amount would have worked great too. Sweetened applesauce would've been amazing.

[aliciak]

 Ahh good to know! I'm going to make this for a birthday next week, and may double it and use circular pans instead. Mmmm.

[kirstenskitchen]

This was a great cake.  I didn't make it in the pan though, instead I used a medium sized bowl for the dry ingredients and a small bowl for the wet. Poured the wet into the dry and mixed it that way. Greased a 8x8 pan, baked it for about 45 minutes.
For the glaze, I removed the cake from the pan, placed it on a cooling rack with a plate underneath and poured it over, I used earth balance for the glaze.
I found it more to be like a ganache.
It was inexpensive to make and the results were delicious!
kirstenskitchen.ca

[jshinn]

I baked a similar cake Wednesday and didn't frost it. In mixing a cake in a baking pan you can end up with lumpy batter. One the novelty wears off try the following: Grease or oil your baking pan. In a large blender bowl put in the water, oil, vanilla and vinegar. (Start with the liquids first so the reaction between the soda and vinegar won't work together too soon.) Then layer the dry ingredients on top of the liquids. Then start up the blender on low and scrape down the sides. Continue blending till the mixture is smooth. Then pour the batter into the pan and bake. I learned of this cake back in the 60's and still make it. js

[cogni]

Trans-fat free Crisco!! Now that is an innovation. Crisco is great for the texture of baked goods--makes them light--BUT I thought by definition, all fats that are solid at room temperature are hydrogenated and hence full of trans-fats. I will investigate this! I will bake you recipe tonight (but with butter--I'm not vegan and would rather have a bit of superb saturated fat than trans-fats, which the body doesn't metabolize well.

[aliciak]

Hehe I use butter too sometimes. :)

[jenwhet]

Awesome recipe! i just baked it for my son's b-day. Haven't tasted it, but the batter was to die for! Can't wait til after we sing happy birthday!

[Marojale]

Make sure your margarine is vegan! I know that Becel margarine has milk ingredients in it. For most of my vegan baking, I use vegetable oil shortening. To me it tastes almost exactly the same as using unsalted butter. Crisco makes a trans-fat free version if you can find it. This looks great though!

[jellybean0k]

I was actually wondering this myself. I am not vegan or vegetarian, but I have family who are, and I always thought that margarine was made with dairy produce. Glad you mentioned it

[aliciak]

Yeah, I use shortening a lot too...actually, a lot of people grew up making pie crusts with butter, but we always used shortening and I thought it tasted great.

[aliciak]

Yes, very true, make sure it is vegan! Same with the sprinkles too, I guess, but they are optional.

[theRIAA]

I was gonna call you on the sprinkles, beat me to it D:

[jhfortier]

This is the BEST cake ever. We've been making it in my house for years and years. How kind of you to share the recipe, I'm constantly being asked for ours :) Great instructable.

[g2010a]

I personally love the taste of lard...

[James (pseudo-geek)]

/agree

[Lyceia]

lmao