Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake

A close up shot of a chocolate layer cake slice on a white plate, the cake is frosted with chocolate buttercream.

5 from 3 ratings

Rich, delicious vegan gluten-free chocolate cake perfect for your next celebration! It’s quick and easy to make, plus, it’s soft, moist, tender, and covered with the best vegan chocolate buttercream. This decadent dessert is also dairy-free, egg-free, and perfect for any chocolate lover!

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Total Time40

Servings:

Author: Gwen Leron

Ingredients

2 cups (296g) gluten free flour **see important note about flour below**
1 cup oat flour
1 cup (84g) Dutch-process cocoa powder sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups(300g) cane sugar (or granulated sugar)
2 cups (480ml) hot water (boiled)
⅔ cups (160ml) oil
2 tablespoons (30ml) vanilla extract
2 tablespoons (30ml) apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)

For the Frosting:

1 recipe vegan chocolate buttercream frosting (double the recipe for a more generous layer of buttercream)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F (177° C).
Grease or line your 8" cake pans with parchment paper circles and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour, oat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, hot water, oil, vanilla extract, and vinegar until blended.
Slowly add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir until combined. Mix until there aren't any lumps but don't over mix and get rid of all the bubbles forming from the reaction between the vinegar and baking soda.
Divide the batter between the two cake pans.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes come out clean.
Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then carefully remove them, and place them onto a cooling rack.
Allow cakes to fully cool before decorating.
Prepare 1 batch of this vegan chocolate buttercream frosting then frost the top of the first cake, place the second cake on top, then frost the top of the cake and the sides. Add sprinkles, pipe frosting decorations, or add other garnishes as desired. Two batches of the buttercream can be made for a more generous layer of buttercream.

Notes

Please read all of the information above and below before making this recipe.
It’s important to know that different gluten-free flour blends use different ingredients and ratios, so results may vary if you substitute. I have never used any other brand of gf flour to make this recipe (other than Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour (Amazon link) in the blue package, NOT the red package), so please know that your results may not be the same as mine if you substitute with another gluten-free flour blend. The weight listed above is for this specific brand of flour.
This recipe will NOT work with coconut flour, almond flour, or any other single gluten-free flour, it must be made with the blend listed above and oat flour.
If you cannot use oat flour, you can replace it with more of the gluten-free flour blend, but if you do that, the cake will be slightly on the dense side. It will still be a good cake, but to achieve the lighter texture you expect from a cake, oat flour is needed.
This recipe uses two 8-inch round cake pans but you can use 9-inch pans as well. Your cakes will be thinner and shorter and will require less baking time, though. Check on them around the 20-minute mark.
Make sure your baking powder and baking soda are fresh before using, these are very important ingredients that contribute to the cakes rising properly.
Any type of neutral-flavoured oil can be used in this recipe, such as sunflower or safflower.
Organic cane sugar or granulated sugar works best for this recipe and works with the rest of the ingredients to give the cakes their moistness and texture. Don't reduce the amount of sugar called for, substitute with a different type of sugar, or use a liquid sweetener.
Boil the hot water don't use hot tap water.
Store leftovers covered at room temperature away from heat sources and direct sunlight for up to 2 days. After that, place the cake in the refrigerator, in a cake storage container, for another 2-3 days. When refrigerating, you can also slice the cake and place the slices in an airtight container or individually wrap them before storing. The cake will begin to dry out once placed in the fridge, so don't let it sit in there for too long.
You can freeze fully cooled unfrosted cakes by individually wrapping them tightly in plastic wrap and then storing them in freezer bags or an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to two months. Defrost at room temperature.
Nutrition info is based on 1 of 12 slices of cake that has been frosted with 1 batch of vegan chocolate buttercream frosting. Nutrition info is only to be used as a rough guide. Click here to learn how nutrition info is calculated on this website.

Nutrition