Fall in love with this easy to mix up in one bowl vegan chocolate sheet cake recipe. Soft, fudgy cake topped with a creamy chocolate buttercream frosting, you won’t believe it’s dairy and egg free!
Free from: Dairy, casein, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, coconut, fish, shellfish, crustaceans, mollusks, celery, sesame, mustard, lupin, sulfites, nightshades, tomatoes, and more
Optional Free from: Wheat/Gluten, Corn
Hold onto your hats because this cake is downright delicious. This vegan chocolate cake recipe is rich, fudgy, super moist, has the perfect texture, and mixes up in just one bowl. Can we call this the perfect cake? I think we can.
This chocolate cake is dairy free, egg free, nut free, soy free, and can be made gluten free with one easy swap of the flour. Almost anyone can enjoy a slice of this cake regardless of their dietary restrictions, making it perfect for any special occasion.
That’s what makes this cake a go-to in my family because everyone can enjoy it! And let me tell you that this cake is devoured each and every time.
Top it off with some vegan double chocolate buttercream, vegan vanilla buttercream frosting, or go wild with some maraschino cherry or marshmallow frosting!
Don’t need an 8x10 sheet cake? Check out my smaller recipes like this vegan gluten free chocolate cake or a vegan gluten free chocolate raspberry cake!
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Why You’ll Love this Chocolate Sheet Cake
- Super chocolatey, super rich, super moist
- Mixes up in just one bowl
- Simple ingredients
- Allergy friendly recipe that is dairy free, egg free, nut free, and gluten free with an easy swap!
Ingredients
Here is a quick rundown of what you’ll need to make this vegan chocolate sheet cake. See the allergy substitution section below for how to adapt this cake for your unique allergy needs!
- Flour: A good all-purpose flour works great in this recipe, no fancy cake flour needed! For gluten free options, see below.
- Cocoa powder: You can use either natural cocoa powder or Dutch processed cocoa powder in this recipe. I generally use natural cocoa powder because it is slightly acidic and helps the cake rise, not to mention it still has some of the antioxidants in the natural cocoa.
- Flaxseeds: These are what help to bind the cake together without an egg. Plus, it adds some fat for flavor.
- Dairy free Milk + ACV: This makes essentially a vegan buttermilk which helps the cake to rise in the oven. The best milks to use to get a good curdle are either soy milk or almond milk. Coconut milk (from the carton not a can) will also work but won’t get as good of a curdle. If you need to use a different dairy free milk like rice milk or oat milk, omit the apple cider vinegar and add an additional ½ teaspoon of baking powder.
- Vanilla: Chocolate and vanilla go best together!
- Oil + Applesauce: Together these are what make the cake super fudgy and moist. A neutral vegetable oil like canola or refined coconut oil work perfect!
- Salt + Leaveners: For taste and to help it rise!
Allergy Substitutions
To make this cake gluten free, use a good gluten free 1:1 flour blend. My go-to is always King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free flour. It is consistently a good mix. If you need one that is nightshade free, my other favorite is my homemade gluten-free flour blend that uses rice flour and oat flour with no potato flours at all.
I don't recommend that you use a single ingredient gluten free flour like almond flour or coconut flour in this cake.
If you need to avoid corn, make sure that the baking powder, powdered sugar in the frosting, and the vanilla extract are all corn free. For my favorite corn free products, see my shop page!
Variations
To make this a mocha cake, replace half of the dairy free milk with half a cup of a strong brewed coffee. This makes the cake taste even richer and more chocolatey!
Recommended Equipment
To make sure that the cake doesn't stick in the pan, I recommend that you use both a light cooking spray and parchment paper to prepare the baking pan.
A stand mixer or hand electric mixer is recommended for making the frosting.
Instructions
For the full instructions, complete with recipe measurements, please see the recipe card below!
Making a sheet cake is really easy and can be done in 4 major steps.
First, make the flax eggs. Mix together boiling water and the flaxseeds. Give it a good stir and set this aside while you are working on the next steps. You want this to gel together so that it helps the cake to stick together. Using hot water really helps to activate the flaxseeds.
Second, whisk the wet ingredients together. Into a large bowl, add the soy milk (or dairy free milk of your choice) and the apple cider vinegar. Let this rest for about a minute before adding the sugar, oil, applesauce, vanilla extract, and the prepared flaxseed gel. Give this a good whisk to fully incorporate all the ingredients.
Tip! I find that room temperature dairy free milks incorporate into cake batter better than chilled dairy free milks.
Third, into the same bowl, sift in your dry ingredients. Add the flour (gluten free flour if using!), cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Switch to a spatula and gently fold the ingredients together. You want the batter to come together without any major lumps but don’t stir it quickly.
Finally, pour the batter into a lightly greased and lined 8x10-inch (20x25cm) baking pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center pulls out clean. The exact baking time will depend on the type of pan that you use, but generally this cake shouldn't take much longer than 45 minutes.
Let it rest in the hot pan while it cools. You can place the entire cake in the pan on a cooling rack to help it cool more quickly.
Best Vegan Frosting
Finally, it’s time for frosting! I made up a batch of my vegan chocolate frosting for these photos, but there are so many other options you can go with like vanilla frosting, marshmallow frosting, or strawberry frosting!
Just make sure that no matter what type of frosting that you use, the cake is totally cool before you frost the cake. A hot cake will melt the frosting as you are working with it!
Add sprinkles and enjoy!
FAQs
For sure! This will make a lot of cupcakes, about 24. This recipe has been the inspiration recipe for many of the chocolate vegan cupcakes on this blog, including my galaxy cupcakes, mint chocolate cupcakes, and s’mores cupcakes.
I really like to use the sprinkles from Sweetopolita! They have a dedicated vegan sprinkle, as well as dye free sprinkles (which are what are seen in these images). You can also make your own homemade sprinkles for total control over ingredients.
A sheet cake is just a cake that is baked in a larger pan than a round pan. A Texas sheet cake is one that is cake baked in a cookie sheet pan instead of a round cake pan.
What makes sheet cakes so great is that they are easier to make than a stacked cake and they feed a lot more people! That makes it perfect for special occasions like birthday parties, celebrations, holidays, or BBQs.
This sheet cake should feed about 12 to 16 people, depending on how you slice it.
How to Store
Keep the leftover cake in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you have used gluten free flour, I find that this cake tends to dry out on day 3, which is just the nature of gluten free cakes.
To keep it super fresh no matter which flour you use, you can freeze any leftover cake in an airtight, freezer safe container for up to a month.
I know that you are just going to fall in love with this vegan chocolate sheet cake recipe! Be sure to give it a star rating in the comments below and let me know how your baking went! And if you have any questions about how to best adapt this cake for your dietary needs, drop a comment below and I’m happy to help.
Happy chocolate cake making!!
More Cake Recipes to Love
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Recipe
Equipment
- mixing bowls
- mixing spoons
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- whisk
- Spatula
- baking pan
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 ¼ cup dairy free milk
- 1 ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- ½ cup applesauce
- 1 ¾ cup flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons flaxseed
- ½ cup hot water
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Lightly spray and line with parchment paper an 8x10-inch (20x25cm) pan.
- Make the flaxseed egg and vegan buttermilk. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flaxseeds with the hot water. In the measuring cup, whisk together the dairy free milk and apple cider vinegar. Let both of these sit, separately, for 5 minutes.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In that same mixing bowl, add the vegan buttermilk to the flaxseeds. Then add the remaining wet ingredients of oil, sugar, vanilla, and applesauce.
- Sift the dry ingredients. Into the same mixing bowl, sift the dry ingredients of flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Switch to a spatula and mix until the batter is thick and fully combined. Pour into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake until done. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center pulls out clean. Let cool in the pan until cool before frosting. Top with the dairy free frosting of your choice, and don’t forget the sprinkles! Slice and enjoy!
Notes
- Variations
- To make this a mocha cake, replace half of the dairy free milk with half a cup of a strong brewed coffee. This makes the cake taste even richer and more chocolatey!
- How to Store
- Keep the leftover cake in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you have used gluten free flour, I find that this cake tends to dry out on day 3, which is just the nature of gluten free cakes.
- To keep it super fresh no matter which flour you use, you can freeze any leftover cake in an airtight, freezer safe container for up to a month.
- Allergy Substitutions
- To make this cake gluten free, use a good gluten free 1:1 flour blend. My go-to is always King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free flour. It is consistently a good mix. If you need one that is nightshade free, my other favorite is my homemade gluten-free flour blend that uses rice flour and oat flour with no potato flours at all.
- I don't recommend that you use a single ingredient gluten free flour like almond flour or coconut flour in this cake.
- If you need to avoid corn, make sure that the baking powder, powdered sugar in the frosting, and the vanilla extract are all corn free.
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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