The Best Chocolate Cake Ever
I have found it! I kid you not. And not only does it require no food processor, no mixer, and no mixing bowl, it is also vegan. Pick yourself off the floor and keep on reading!
I have made this recipe twice in less than a week, and served it at Crafts and Crumbs to one vegan and the rest carnivores. Amidst plates of crumbs, I was not the only one to say “this is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had.” I adapted it slightly from my vegetarian cookbook’s recipe for Wacky Cake, the name referring to the fact that you stir all the ingredients in the baking dish you are using. (You can use a mixer if you want). Their recipe uses milk and butter, which I have changed to soy milk and margarine, but there are no eggs in either! (Of course, you can use milk and butter if you have no vegan restrictions!) I have decorated mine with Halloween sprinkles, courtesy of Target, but this was purely for photographing purposes (and they may not be vegan!) Here goes:
Cake Ingredients
1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar
Chocolate Glaze
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp soy milk
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In an 8X8 square pan/dish, mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt with a fork, making sure it is really blended together. Add the water, vanilla, oil, and vinegar, and again, mix together so that it’s really blended together. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides if necessary.
Place in oven and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. Cool on a rack completely (2 hours).
For the glaze, in a small saucepan, bring sugar, margarine, milk, and cocoa to a boil. Stir frequently; then reduce heat to a simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. It’ll look gloppy, but it’s just the bubbles! Remove from heat and stir for another 5 minutes.
Add vanilla, stir, and immediately pour onto cake. Glaze dries really quickly, so spread it immediately and add any sprinkles now. You’re supposed to let this cool for an 1 hour, but I couldn’t wait!
This is one of those desserts that actually tastes better and more moist the following day.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
I made this cake last night, because I love making vegan/dairyfree dishes. It was pretty good! I didn’t glaze it, because I didn’t have margarine. But, I’ll definitely make it again. And it was so easy! Thanks for the recipe. 🙂
October 24th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Made three of these last weekend with two friends. We made the vegan recipe. All turned out well!
The first one we didn’t put on frosting, but used canned bing cherries and whipped topping. Yummy!
And the second and third we made in the sake of science, because you suggested that the cake was better the second day. Those two we frosted. Our frosting never got hard – it was closer to chocolate syrup, and very tasty.
Thanks for the recipe!
October 26th, 2007 at 8:00 am
Ooooh, that sounds good with cherries!
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
I made this last week for my boyfriend…and, with the help of his family and me, it was gone in no time. I’m barely ever satisfied with cake I make, but this was AMAZING!!! I’m making it again tonight for a bunch of my girlfriends. I didn’t use this glaze though, I made a fudge icing, which went really well with it.
October 15th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
[…] must be the most excited non-vegan when it comes to all vegan cooking and baking. (Oh, remember my best-chocolate-cake-ever that happened to be vegan? That’s up to 109 comments on Instructables and still continues to […]
October 9th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
I tried this cake recipe yesterday but somehow couldn’t achieve the same result as you, my cake clearly wasn’t looking that good (but tasted fine). What kind of chocolate do you use? Maybe it’s because of the flour I used, i’m gluten intelorant so I used chickpea flour instead of normal wheat flour.
January 17th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
would you mind articulating a handful of individuals things you like?
June 19th, 2011 at 10:41 am
I am making this cake for the second time today.. The first time for my best friend who is a vegan and let me tell you all the rage this cake was.. I am jealous I did not come up with the recipe myself bygolly. So great thanks again!
July 28th, 2011 at 10:00 pm
I found this site/recipe as a result of searching for chocolate cake recipes that didn’t require a mixer. I had all of the ingredients at home already, and the cake came out great! I’m making it again today actually – my husband loved it 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
November 21st, 2011 at 8:11 pm
I baked ths cake at abt 2am culdnt sleep wthout tryin it.had little faith bt the cake ws jst GREAT! I proceeded 2 bake anotha one bt ths tym put 3eggs n melted butter! the cake ws still gret as well. luv tht recipe n will continue using it.simple n delicious!
February 18th, 2014 at 7:42 am
oh, here it is, too!
delicious!!!!! (couldn’t leave a comment on instructables)
I’ve reduced the sugar slightly, used half/half whole wheat and white wheat flour and for a particularly luxurious version: substituted the vegetable oil with cocoa butter and coconut oil (half & half).
This is so so so so good!!! I have always been an avid baker bc I love to eat sweets so much and since going vegan (2 years ago), I must say, that most recipes just don’t hold up to the omnivore comparison. This one however, is even better than my classical “Sacher” (famous Austrian chocolate cake) recipe. Wow. Very impressed. My family (omnivore) are ready to kill for it (last night’s battle over the last pieces has shown this).
Thanks a million times! Cheers from Rome/Italy :)))
July 6th, 2015 at 8:30 pm
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July 24th, 2015 at 3:59 am
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