When your mama asks you to make her birthday cake, you hit pause on your damn diet and you make your mama a birthday cake. #MamaDidntRaiseNoFool
What kind of cake did she want? Chocolate! And boy, did I ever deliver. This cake, my chocolate cake, is so light, fluffy, insanely moist, and decadently rich. If you’re a fan at all of chocolate cake then you simply must try this recipe. (If you don’t, they will revoke your “chocolate cake fan” card -of this I’m sure.) For my mom, I finished it off with some caramel frosting but you could use pretty much any frosting you’d like to top this bad boy. With that said however, you could also seriously just eat this cake naked -as in hey there, frosting haters, it’s perfect for you too!
Besides being delicioso, this cake is also very easy to make. The first step is to whisk together the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl. The wet ingredients for this little lovely include a heap load of sugar (always count sugar as a wet ingredient), almond milk, some of the deepest darkest coffee you can find, vegetable oil, and unsweetened applesauce. Once all of that has been thoroughly combined, it’s time to add the dry ingredients in. The dry ingredients include flour, cocoa powder, some leavening agents, and a little salt. The batter should still be fairly liquidy upon whisking the dry ingredients in and that’s exactly what we want because liquid equals moisture.
The next step is to pour the cake batter into a prepared pan -I used a 13×9 pan which I greased with a little “butter” and then lined with parchment paper. (The greasing helps keep the parchment paper down while you’re pouring the batter in.) Now, you could also use this batter to make cupcakes, or 2 (9-inch) rounds, instead of a 13×9 cake. Should you elect to make either of these I’d suggest that you start your timer with 30 minutes, rather than 45 minutes which is how long the 13×9 will bake for, and go from there.
When the cake is done, a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake will come out nearly clean. And as with any cake, be sure to let it cool completely before applying frosting -if you’re frosting it, that is. Like I said, it’s moist enough that frosting is totally optional.
Vegan Moist & Rich Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- Vegan “butter” for greasing pan
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 cup dark coffee, brewed (Make sure this is measured as an actual cup rather than a coffee cup -I used my Keurig, made the largest cup size, then measured out 1 cup worth.)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- Burnt caramel frosting or the frosting of your choice (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 13×9 pan by greasing it and then lining it with parchment paper. (The grease helps the parchment stay put when you’re pouring the batter in later.) If you’re not wanting to make a 13×9 cake but rather cupcakes or 2 (9-inch) rounds, prepare those pans as needed instead.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar with the almond milk, coffee, vegetable oil, and unsweetened applesauce, and whisk until smooth. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and whisk again until smooth. (The batter will still be pretty liquidy but that’s exactly how we want it to be!)
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the 13×9 cake comes out nearly clean. If doing cupcakes or 2 (9-inch) rounds, start with 30 minutes on the timer and then check the cakes with a toothpick and see if more time is needed. When done, if frosting or decorating, let cake cool completely first.
