Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
Two layers of rich chocolate cake are adorned with dreamy chocolate frosting and packed with intense chocolate flavor for the best vegan gluten free cake! The best vegan gluten free chocolate cake and my absolute favorite.
The Best Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever
For real. Today’s vegan gluten free chocolate cake is the best one ever! Think: rich chocolate cake, creamy, dreamy chocolate frosting, and beautiful cake layers… all for the best vegan gluten free cake you’ve ever made (and/or eaten!). This cake recipe is not only one of the most popular recipes on Beaming Baker, it’s also the highest rated. Wanna see what the fuss is about? Grab your cake pans, a big ‘old container of your favorite cocoa powder and head into the kitchen with me. It’s time to make cake!
All the Ingredients You Need to Make Vegan Gluten Free Cake
For the Cake
- Gluten Free Oat Flour
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- Water + Non-Dairy Milk
- Melted Coconut Oil
- Coconut Sugar + Pure Maple Syrup
- Baking Soda, Salt, Vanilla Extract
For the Frosting
How to Make Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
Prepare the Frosting
First things first, prepare the frosting. You’ll want to follow every step up until you’re about to whip the frosting. Don’t whip the frosting until your cake is cooled and ready to be frosted.
Make the Cake
Preheat
I start every recipe by preheating the oven, then preparing my baking pan. Head on over to your oven and preheat it to 350°F. Grease your cake pans with coconut oil. Then, dust with cocoa powder until completely covered. Or, use a parchment paper circle at the bottom of the pan.
Sift
Set out a large mixing bowl and sift together your dry ingredients: gluten free oat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set it aside for later.
Heat
Add the water and milk to a microwave-safe bowl. You’ll heat the two ingredients together just until it’s warm—this will prevent the melted coconut oil from solidifying once it touches these liquids.
Whisk the Wet Ingredients, Add the Dry
Set out a medium mixing bowl and add in all of the wet ingredients: the heated water and milk, melted coconut oil, coconut sugar, maple syrup and vanilla. Whisk all the wet ingredients together until its well mixed. Now, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl. Make sure to use a rubber spatula to scrape the wet ingredient bowl clean. Now, whisk the wet and dry ingredients together just until no flour patches remain. You’ve just made your vegan gluten free cake batter!
Pour Batter & Bake
Pour the batter evenly into the two cake pans you prepared earlier. Bake for about 24 minutes.
Cool
Remove pans from the oven and cool for about 25 minutes in the pan, but on a cooling rack. Then, gently remove the cakes from the pan and transfer directly onto the cooling rack to complete cooling, about 1 hour.
Frost, Slice and Enjoy!
Now, it’s time to whip the frosting! Whip until creamy and smooth, then frost the cake, slice and enjoy the best vegan gluten free cake!
The Taste: Vegan Gluten Free Cake: Chocolate Edition
This vegan gluten free cake is one of the most popular on the internet for a reason. It’s GOOD. Like, hella good.
The Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake: is moist and fluffy with rich, deep chocolate flavor and the perfect crumb. It’s not too light and not too dense—landing somewhere perfectly in between.
The Vegan Chocolate Frosting: rich, creamy and delightfully chocolatey. While the cake portion of this vegan GF cake is lightly sweet, the 2 ingredient vegan chocolate frosting is on the sweeter, creamier side to balance out the dark chocolate flavors of the cake.
Together, these two components make for the best vegan gluten free cake recipe ever. Try if for yourself and see. 😉
How to Store this Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Recipe
To store after frosting: store your cake in an airtight container like this one for 1-3 days, in a cool environment. Keep out of direct sunlight and way from heat sources.
To store before frosting: you may freeze the cake and frost before serving (up to 3 days before). Wrap cake layers in parchment paper or plastic wrap and store in an airtight, freezer-friendly container. Do not make frosting until you are ready to whip and frost the vegan chocolate cake.
Tips for Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
Here are a few tips to making your vegan gluten free chocolate cake a success!
Do not make substitutes.
I designed this recipe specifically around the ingredients and amounts listed. If you make any substitutes at all, the recipe is different and I can’t guarantee the results. Any small change, even if it’s swapping one flour for another, can cause terrible results. And definitely do not use almond flour, coconut flour or any other kind of flour expecting ideal results. All of those flours work very differently in this recipe. 🙂
If using homemade oat flour, remember to sift, sift, sift!
It is difficult to grind homemade oat flour to the degree that big companies with fancy equipment can. So, if you’re making your own, making sure to sift out coarse bits that can cause your chocolate cake to become crumbly, or overly moist. Then, after sifting, measure your oat flour and use.
To “Butter” Pans with Coconut Oil
Start with slightly softened coconut oil. Drop about 2 teaspoons onto a cake pan. Using a rubber spatula, spread coconut oil. The more you spread, the softer and easier the coconut oil will be to work with.
To “Flour” Pans with Cocoa Powder
- Use a sifter to evenly drop cocoa powder over pan (or else you’ll just get big clumps)
- Then, tap the pan around to get the cocoa powder to spread.
- For the sides, you have to aggressively tap and hold the pan on its side, getting the cocoa powder to fall down onto the opposite side. Rotate as you tap so the cocoa powder will fall and coat more and more of the side of the cake pan.
For a Visual Guide + Tips on Making Homemade Chocolate Frosting
- Check out this post: How to Make Homemade Chocolate Frosting.
Best Tools for the Best Gluten Free Dairy Free Cake
- Black Stoneware Plate & Black Cake Server – there’s just something about black stoneware & black utensils that scream “cool” and understated elegance. 😉 These two are the plate & server you see in all of the photos.
- Vegan Chocolate Chips – the key ingredient in my 2 ingredient vegan chocolate frosting.
- Cake Essentials: Frosting Spatula | Cake Stand | Cake Carrier
- The frosting spatula is actually secretly my go-to tool for doing everything in the kitchen. It precisely picks up everything like a champ, and, shocker, it’s awesome at spreading frosting! 😉
- The Cake Decorating Set + Stand make frosting the cake so, so easy. It grips the counter like a boss and allows you to spin the cake around smoothly so you can frost the cake like a pro.
- The Cake Carrier with Locking Lid is what I’ve used for years to transport my carefully made cake from one location to another. Also, it’s basically a big, perfectly shaped Tupperware for storing your vegan chocolate cake so you can enjoy it tomorrow! 😉
- KitchenAid Stand Mixer – one of the most quintessential baking favorites of bakers around the world. It’s sturdy, lasts decades and is the gold standard for bakers everywhere. 🙂
- KitchenAid Hand Mixer with Hand Mixer Whisk Attachment – let’s be honest, not all of us have the counter space in our kitchens for a stand mixer. That’s when this handy little guy comes in. I’ve lived in all of the small city apartments and this hand mixer was my go-to tool for whipping up the perfect vegan chocolate frosting. More importantly, you’ve got to get the hand mixer whisk attachment. Yep, I’ve tried using the attachment it comes with, and nope, it didn’t work! Boo…
- Where to Buy Ingredients: Vegan Chocolate Chips | Coconut Oil | Coconut Cream | Gluten Free Oat Flour | Maple Syrup | Coconut Sugar
Vegan Gluten Free Cake Recipes & More
- Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
- Gluten Free Vegan Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes
- 50+ Gluten Free Dairy Free Desserts!
- 35+ Best Vegan Gluten Free Desserts
- Chocolate Espresso Martini
- 3-Ingredient Cream Cheese Frosting
Who Says You Can’t Have Your Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake and Eat It Too?
Ignore the haters! Haha. Just, don’t think that you can’t have your vegan gluten free cake and actually eat it too. This one’s not gummy, not weird, and totally can sneak by as a “traditional” chocolate cake. If you make this recipe, make sure to leave a comment and rating below. You know I love hearing from you! ‘Til our next sweet adventure…
Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️
🍰 📸 🍫
Did you make this vegan gluten free cake recipe? Take a pic and share it on Instagram with the hashtag #beamingbaker & tag @beamingbaker. I’d love to see it!
Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 9 minutes
- Yield: 12-16 slices 1x
Description
Two layers of rich chocolate cake, adorned with dreamy chocolate frosting and delicious chocolate flavor for the best vegan gluten free cake! The best vegan gluten free chocolate cake!
Ingredients
FROSTING
- 2 batches Vegan Chocolate Frosting
CHOCOLATE CAKE
Dry Ingredients
- 3 cups gluten free oat flour – if using homemade, make sure it’s very finely ground (not coarse)*
- 1 1/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1 cup non-dairy milk
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare the frosting: The night before, begin preparing a double batch of this Vegan Chocolate Frosting. Do not whip the frosting until the cake is cooled and ready to be frosted.
- Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare two 9-inch round cake pans as follows: coat with softened coconut oil, then dust completely with cocoa powder. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: oat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Add water and milk to a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 10-second increments until just warm. This will prevent the melted coconut oil from solidifying once mixed with these liquids.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients: water, milk, coconut oil, sugar, maple syrup and vanilla. Whisk until well incorporated. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Whisk until just incorporated, making sure no flour patches remain.
- Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans. Tap the pans several times to even out the batter and release bubbles that have formed in the batter. Bake for 22-26 minutes. Mine took 24 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick—it should come out clean when done.
- Place pans on a cooling rack to cool for 25 minutes. Afterward, use a plastic knife to cut around the interior edges of the cake pan to loosen the cake. Shake the pan a few times until you hear the cake pop loose. Place a large plate or cooling rack upside down, on top of one cake pan. Grasping both the pan and the plate tightly, flip the cake onto the plate/rack. Repeat with second layer. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting (about 1 hour).
- Frost the cake: Whip the frosting as instructed. Frost the cake. Enjoy! Storing instructions below!
If you prefer cupcakes, try these Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes or these grain-free Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes!
Equipment
Buy Now → 
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Whisk Attachment for Hand Mixer
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Buy Now → Notes
*If using homemade oat flour, make sure to sift the flour to remove coarse bits of oats that could create grainy, overly moist cake without fluffy texture.
To carry your cake On-the-Go: I recommend storing your cake in this cake carrier with locking lid. Even when I’m not carrying the cake to an event, I like keeping it in this cake carrier because it’s like a giant tupperware for cake! 😉
Where to Buy Ingredients: Vegan Chocolate Chips | Coconut Oil | Coconut Cream | Gluten Free Oat Flour | Maple Syrup | Coconut Sugar
Storing Instructions: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Okay to keep at room temperature for up to 3 days, in a cool, dark environment.
Freezing Instructions: Store pre-sliced cake in an airtight, freezer-friendly container for up to 1 month. Allow to thaw at room temperature for 15-40 minutes before enjoying.
Recommended Tools: Frosting Spatula | Cake Stand | Cake Carrier | 9-inch Round Cake Pans | Black Stoneware Plate | KitchenAid Hand Mixer | KitchenAid Stand Mixer | Hand Mixer Whisk Attachment | Cooling Rack | Black Cake Server | Glass Mixing Bowls
- Prep Time: 45 mins
- Cook Time: 24 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
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I need this for a Saturday, how many days ahead can I make it for it to be good for then, I would love to make 4-5 days ahead, but how would it impact on the quality? And where is best for storage?
Hi Tracey! I’ve included storage notes below the recipe. 🙂 Perhaps the freezing instructions would be best for you. Enjoy!
My cake cracked into pieces after it cooled! Did I do something wrong? The only substitute I did was vegan butter for the coconut oil!
Hi Bethany! I’m so sorry to hear that. There are a couple reasons why this might happen, including oven temp, moisture levels in the cake, etc. Was the cake fully cooled before you lifted it out of the pan? (Was it completely cool to the touch?) Did it crack during baking or when you lifted it out of the pan? If it happened during baking, then there might be too many dry ingredients (sometimes flour or cocoa powder can become tightly packed in their containers, which is why they need to be sifted and carefully scooped). If it cracked when you lifted it out, it could an issue with the former, but also: was the pan well coated in some kind of butter or oil to help ease the cake out? Was it completely cooled? And did you use a plastic knife to loosen the edges, then cover with a plate or cooling rack to help flip it out? Good luck & hope this helps! Xo
I also had the same result with substituting vegan butter for the coconut oil (accommodating an allergy). The cake was cooled, came out of the pan fairly easily, but cracked in a few places. I “glued” it back together with the frosting – I did a peanut butter frosting (which was so good on this cake. After the cracking, I looked back at the recipe – would it hold together better with a vegan egg? The cake did taste very good, and was not dry.
Came out great! Thanks for the awesome recipe! I subbed the coconut oil for applesauce and made sure not to bake longer than 24 minutes so it did not dry out.
Wonderful! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know, Linda. 🙂 So happy the applesauce worked out. Hugs!
Linda, how much applesauce?
Thanks for sharing! The cake came out AMAZING! I’m definitely making this again ..
Woohooo!!! I’m so happy that you enjoyed it, Ismael. 🙂 Happy Baking!
Hiya! Thanks so much for this recipe, I had a great time baking this cake. Unfortunately though mine didn’t turn out like yours. It was extremely dry and dense, too cocoa-y and my icing was probably too rich too (or just not enough of it to combat the dryness) so when I had a slice I had to have a lot of coconut cream on it. It was yummy then!
I don’t know what went wrong – I used brown sugar instead of coconut sugar, and standard gluten free flour rather than oat flour, so that could be the problem. My cake also only took 15 minutes, though I left it in a little longer to make sure it was ready. That could be why it was so dry, haha. I shall have to try again one day.
Hi Erin, I’m so sorry to hear that! Maybe with was the swaps? Also, I do know that every gluten free flour blend works differently in the exact same recipe (since they all have diff ingredients). Maybe one day you can try it with gf oat flour. Good luck!!
has anyone made this in a 9×13 pan? if so what is the cooking time?
Hi you Girls ! this cake looks amazing. I want to make it for my mom’s b-day and surprise her at 12 tonight, however I live on the other side of the world and I am not sure how to convert those cups into grams. I tried an online converter and it says 670 grams of oats. Does that sound about right?
could someone enlighten me, please 🙂
This was incredible!! I halved the recipe and it still came out perfect. We also pureed some frozen strawberries and drizzled the sauce over the top. So decedent! Thank you!!!
Woohoo! ☺️ Oh I’m loving the sound of that strawberry drizzle! So glad you enjoyed it Ami!
Made this cake and was NOT disappointed. Honestly, I’d have to say it’s one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve ever had. I topped it with this avocado chocolate frosting, and it perfect.
Even my husband and his grandparents who have no dietary restrictions and aren’t too strict about what they eat loved this and had no idea it was “healthy” until I told them! I’m for sure making this again.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe:)
Woohoo!!! I’m so happy to hear it, Mikaela!! Isn’t it the best when folks without dietary restrictions love it? 🙂 Thank you for taking time to let me know! Happy baking!
if i want to use only honey what should i change?just reduce milk by 1/4cup and use abit of soda more?because i try not to use sugar and use our own honey…thank youuu
I did not use the icing but made this cake into a Black Forest Cake for my Dad’s 90th Birthday.
I followed the directions and it was easy to make and turned out totally awesome. Everyone raves on how moist it was and tasty. I have pinned it and will definitely make this again!
Woohoo!!! I’m so happy to hear it, Jill! 🙂 Please wish your dad a Happy 90th Birthday for me. Thank you for letting me know how it turned out. Enjoy!
Looks delicious! Do you know if I could substitute applesauce for the coconut oil to make the recipe oil free?
Thanks Carly! I haven’t tried that yet, but it might work. Let me know how it turns out. 🙂
Looks amazing! Can I use Dutch process cocoa or does it have to be natural? Thanks!
Hi Sarah! Tris recipe needs natural cocoa powder (not Dutch process) because of the way it reacts with the baking soda. Hope this helps!
In case this helps someone, I had used Dutched cocoa powder and my cake was pretty flat (but tasted geat!), and now I know why! After some digging I found that if you only have Dutched cocoa powder, simply replace the baking soda with twice the amount of baking powder (https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2020/07/15/dutch-process-vs-natural-cocoa).
Does anyone know the calorie counts on any of the recipes listed here? Are the nutritional values listed anywhere? My husband and I very much enjoy the recipes on this site but where wondering about this?
Hi Heather! I’m (very) slowly, but surely making my way through adding nutrition facts across the site. Thank you so much for your patience. 🙂
can i substitute maple syrup with coconut sugar or date paste?
Hi Bell, I think using all coconut sugar should work just fine. Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
I made this twice, once as cupcakes then as a single layer cake. Both times it came out dry and crumbly – still delicious! Do you have any suggestions on what I might add in to moisten it? Applesauce?
Hi Amanda, try cutting down on the bake time a bit so they stay a bit more moist. Also, a few tablespoons of applesauce might work!
Chocolate is definitely one of my favorite cakes and this recipe is so easy. I loved your pumpkin bread one so much that I made it 3 times and there’s no doubt this one will be just as great. Since I’m planning on making this for my graduation party, do you have any tips or ideas for different colored frostings or decorations?
Hi Diana! Thank you so much, I’m so glad you enjoy the recipes. ☺️ Congrats on your graduation! I know you’re gonna have a ton of fun. I haven’t tried any other color options with this frosting, but you could definitely pick up some decorations to put on top. Let me know how the cake turns out!
Hi I am gonna make this cake for my friend but please tell me if I can replace the coconut oil with any other oil? Also, since I don’t get dairy free chocolate here, how can I make the frosting? Thanku
Hi Sumita! I haven’t tried it myself, but I think a few readers have tried a few different oils before with some success. Just remember that the type of oil will affect the flavor/texture. You definitely need chocolate to make the frosting, but if you and your friend can have dairy I’m pretty sure any kind of chocolate will work. Let me know how it turns out!
Hi! Can I cut down the sugar to 1/4 each? And then use monk fruit instead of coconut sugar and sugar-free maple syrup instead of regular maple syrup?
Hi Denise! I’d definitely recommend substituting that 1/4 cup with something else, maybe applesauce or something similar. I haven’t tried using sugar free maple syrup or monk fruit in this recipe, so I’m not sure how that will turn out. Generally speaking, the more changes you make to the recipe, the less likely you’ll get the intended result. .Good luck & let me know how it turns out! .
*buy*