Vegan Dark Chocolate Triple Layer Cake Recipe
Vegan Dark Chocolate Triple Layer Cake recipe is moist and delicious. It has a secret ingredient that makes it the best vegan or vegetarian chocolate cake you will ever taste.
A few years ago I was going through my recipe binder looking for a homemade cake recipe and came across this vegan chocolate cake recipe a friend had shared with me.
It had been a while since I made this vegan chocolate cake recipe but I still remembered how good it tasted.
This vegan chocolate cake recipe came to me from my friend Tami.
I am pretty sure I sampled the cake at her house and then she shared the recipe with me.
I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian and neither is Tami anymore but when I find a cake recipe that I love I hang on to it.
You never know when a craving is going to hit you for a rich dark and moist chocolate cake and this Vegan Dark Chocolate Triple Layer Cake Recipe fits the bill.
Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe Frosting
I wanted to try out a new homemade cake frosting recipe I had been thinking about making. I made a creme fraiche frosting recipe for my Vegan Dark Chocolate Triple Layer Cake.
I knew this vegan chocolate cake would be the perfect cake to try it out a creme Fraiche frosting on.
Obviously, the creme Fraiche frosting is not vegan. I don't mind that but you will have to use a vegan frosting recipe to frost this Vegan Dark Chocolate Triple Layer Cake recipe. Or eat it without frosting.
I've made this vegan chocolate cake recipe many times without frosting and it is still delicious.
I asked Tami where she got the vegan cake recipe originally and she told me the name of a Vegetarian cookbook but I can't find the notebook I wrote the name down in.
And coincidentally the day I asked Tami for the source of the recipe her son Ben was making the vegan chocolate cake. How about that!
Even if you are not a vegetarian or vegan I urge you to try this homemade chocolate cake recipe.
Don't get hung up on the name. I promise you won't be disappointed. The chocolate cake is rich, moist and delicious.
Vinegar in cakes what does it do?
The reason why you add vinegar to a chocolate cake recipe is that the vinegar reacts with the baking soda in the cake recipe and causes a chemical reaction that produces carbon dioxide and causes the homemade chocolate cake batter to rise as it bakes.
That is why all cake recipes that include vinegar in the recipe do not call for baking soda along with the baking powder. The vinegar does the work that a combination of baking powder, baking soda, and a liquid does to make all baked good rise.
One cake recipe that uses vinegar in the recipe ingredients that comes to mind is a homemade red velvet cake recipe.
A note: Normally this cake is made with regular cocoa powder.
I accidentally used the Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa powder. I happen to love dark chocolate so it didn't make a difference to me. So use whatever type of cocoa powder you have on hand.
How To Make Vegan Dark Chocolate Triple Layer Cake recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder or your choice of cocoa powder
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 2 ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used my homemade vanilla extract)
- ⅛ cup white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon solid vegetable shortening to grease the cake pans
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease three 8-inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening then dust with some of the cocoa powder. Set the prepared cake pans aside.
- Sift the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk the dry ingredients until the cocoa powder is evenly mixed into the other ingredients.
- In a small bowl combine the vegetable oil, water, vanilla extract, and lastly the vinegar and mix well.
- Pour the small bowl of wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and using a large spoon mix until the dry ingredients are completely moistened.
- Divide the vegan cake batter evenly between the three 8-inch cake pans and place into the preheated oven to bake immediately.
- Bake for about 35-45 minutes in a preheated oven or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Helpful Tips to make Vegan Triple Layer Dark Chocolate Cake
- You can use a 9 x 13 pan if you don't want to do a triple layer cake.
- You could also use 2 - 9-inch cake pans but you may end up with a bit of batter left over.
- I haven't used the recipe for cupcakes so I am not sure how many you would get.
Vegan Dark Chocolate Triple Layer Cake
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder (or your choice of cocoa powder)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 2 ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used my homemade vanilla extract)
- ⅛ cup white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon solid vegetable shortening (to grease the cake pans)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease three 8-inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening then dust with some of the cocoa powder. Set the prepared cake pans aside.
- Sift the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk the dry ingredients until the cocoa powder is evenly mixed into the other ingredients.
- In a small bowl combine the vegetable oil, water, vanilla extract, and lastly the vinegar and mix well.
- Pour the small bowl of wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and using a large spoon mix until the dry ingredients are completely moistened.
- Divide the vegan cake batter evenly between the three 8-inch cake pans and place into the preheated oven to bake immediately.
- Bake for about 35-45 minutes in a preheated oven or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Nutrition
Frost with a frosting of your choice or my Crème Fresh Cream Cheese Frosting.
Thanks for stopping by!
daisy skinner
why is vinegar added to the vegan chocolate cake recipes?
Arlene Mobley
Daisy
Thanks so much for asking the question. I've updated the post with information on why vinegar is added to cake recipes.
lindafaye
This icing is not vegan. Vegan means no animal products.
Arlene Mobley
Lindafaye
You are correct the icing is not vegan as is mentioned at the bottom of the post. The cake is so rich and moist it does not need frosting. Or you could use your favorite vegan frosting recipe. Thanks for stopping by!
Corinne
My 10 year old son found this recipe online and decided to make it for me for my birthday. 🙂 The cake itself was DELICIOUS, great flavor... however it didn't rise at all and was super dense. I thought he must've skipped an ingredient or something, so then I checked your site... but he did everything correctly. Was either baking powder or baking soda eliminated from this recipe accidentally when posting it online? I think with some sort of rising agent it would have been absolutely perfect. The creme fraiche frosting was great, too! In any event, even with being flat and dense, the cake was still yummy. 🙂
Flour On My Face
Corinne
I am so sorry and embarrassed. Yes I inadvertently left out the baking soda when I posted this recipe. I have updated. Please try it again. It is absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for leaving a comment and letting me know I left out that important ingredient! And I love that creme fraiche frosting. It is so good on all sorts of cakes.
Lisa
That cake does look deliciously dark. It must be super chocolaty. I have a sweet treat linky party going on at my blog till Monday night and I'd love it if you'd come by and link your cake up. https://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/07/sweets-for-saturday-25.html
Angela@RecipesFromMyMom
I love that Special Dark Cocoa. We use it all the time for brownies, cakes and frosting. Your cake is triple-layer lucious.
Wanna Be A Country Cleaver
Oooo How decadent!! Looks beautiful, and yummy to boot 🙂 ~Megan