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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Hello, I really want to try this recipe for my birthday. Is there anyway I can substitute the coconut oil with avocados or nut butter? And can I remove the cocoa powder and make it a vanilla cake?
Can this recipe be doubled for a 12 in cake pan?
I absolutely loved this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing it. I want to try to make this exact recipe, but of vanilla cake version. Do you have thoughts on what I should add instead if I subtracted the cocoa powder from the recipe?
Hello! I was wondering if it’s possible to switch out the gluten free oat flour for another gluten free option?
Hi Peyton! Well, a GF AP flour blend would be your best bet, but each brand works differently so I can’t guarantee the same results. Let me know how it turns out!
Ooh! Your website looks different than I remember! I wanted to make a chocolate cake and not only do I need to make it dairy free for someone who is deathly allergic but I also really need it to taste good and your recipe still is my go-to for these things! I’m just a pescetarian now and I’ve been this way since 2007 but I wanted a recipe without sour cream or heavy cream and all things dairy. I knew who to go to for that! Thank you again, Demeter! I’ve missed you and your recipes and I’m looking forward to this chocolate cake! 😋
Yep, we’ve updated the look this year, glad to see you noticed. 😉 You’re so sweet to bake a cake for your friend, and I’m glad that my recipe fit the bill for your needs. And thank you for always taking the time to leave such kind words! Here’s to more holiday baking and enjoying delicious sweets! ☺️
I can’t get over how good this turned out, and such a simple recipe too! It’s the first time I’ve had cake in almost a year and it did not disappoint!!
Woohoo! I am truly so happy that you enjoyed it, Amy. Here’s to being able to enjoy a little more sweetness in life. 🙂
I would like to make this cake ahead of time & freeze it. Will it affect the texture and flavour? *freezing it for a week give or take
Looks amazing, & I appreciate you giving us all useful do’s and don’t
Hi Isabella! I usually freeze it for about 3 days or so when I make it ahead, so going on a week is likely going to affect the flavor and texture. It might impact how it thaws as well, though I haven’t tried freezing it that long. If you do try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
I’m so happy to hear that the glass pan worked! And that strawberry jam sounds delish. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your kind comment!
I’m so happy to hear that the glass pan worked! And that strawberry jam sounds delish. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your kind comment!
I only made half the recipe and it worked well in an 8x8in square glass pan. I coated it in chocolate on the top that I added coconut oil to, to make it softer (harder than icing, softer than chocolate on its own). I then cut the cake in half before eating it and filled it with all natural, juice-sweetened strawberry jam inside. It was delicious. I also made the oat flour myself, as you included directions for elsewhere. Thank you! 🙂
I’m so happy to hear that the glass pan worked! And that strawberry jam sounds delish. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your kind comment!
Wow thank you, Lisa! I’m truly so happy to hear that you (and all your non-v/gf fam) enjoyed the cake. Your comment is totally making my day. Thank you for taking the time to stop by and share! 🙂
I don’t remember the last time I made ANY cake, never mind a healthy cake. I went gluten-free vegan 7 weeks ago and found this recipe and I’m so glad I did!!! Even my non-gluten-free, non-vegan family members loved, and asked for, this recipe! I’m thinking of trying this with a buttercream frosting next time, just for kicks. Thanks for sharing this recipe!!
Wow thank you, Lisa! I’m truly so happy to hear that you (and all your non-v/gf fam) enjoyed the cake. Your comment is totally making my day. Thank you for taking the time to stop by and share! 🙂
Aloha, Melissa! First of all, wish your son a belated happy birthday for me! 🥳 I’m so happy that everyone enjoyed the cake so much. There’s nothing like a good cake to add to a celebration. 🙂 Thank you so much for taking the time to comment!
Aloha! I just wanted to leave a comment to say thank you so much for this fantastic recipe! I just made for my son’s 14th birthday which also happens to be on the same day we have church potluck and so I made a double recipe and baked in a huge sheet pan and then frosted with the texanerin.com paleo, vegan frosting. It looked like a Texas sheet cake. I had numerous requests for the recipe and everyone loved this cake SOO much. Our church (in Kauai) has many people either on vegan diet, or just eating healthy, or with special allergy needs and so this cake was greatly appreciated by all. I will definitely be adding this to my arsenal of deserts.
Aloha, Melissa! First of all, wish your son a belated happy birthday for me! 🥳 I’m so happy that everyone enjoyed the cake so much. There’s nothing like a good cake to add to a celebration. 🙂 Thank you so much for taking the time to comment!