You’d never guess this moist Eggless Chocolate Cake is dairy free and vegan friendly. Made without eggs, butter or milk, its rich flavour and tender texture rivals any regular chocolate cake.
Introducing the ultimate chocolate cake with NO eggs, NO butter and NO milk.
An Eggless Chocolate Cake that’s dairy free and vegan AND DELICIOUS? Right here my friend 👇🏻 This is a seriously fudgy, moist and tender chocolate cake that everyone will love.
Covered in a drippy chocolate icing, it’s the perfect dessert.
Who knew it was possible to make a delicious chocolate cake without eggs? Not me.
If you would have asked me a few weeks ago, if I could make a cake without any eggs or butter that still tasted amazing, I would have probably said no. But now, my answer would be a resounding YES.
This is the cake of all cakes.
Seriously, this cake is everything. Sometimes referred to as a Wacky Cake or Depression Cake, this super simple style of cake was first born back in the day, when ingredients like butter and eggs were scarce.
But today, a cake like this is super handy because of food intolerances and dietary choices. Because even if you are lactose intolerant, allergic to eggs or following a vegan diet, you can still enjoy a rich piece of chocolate cake
Because what is life without cake anyway?
What you will love about this cake is how easy it is to throw together. You don’t even need an electric mixer – just a bowl and spoon.
In fact, this very cake could be baking in your oven in just 20 minutes. And I bet you have all the ingredients sitting in your pantry right now. #justsayin
What you will end up with is a super soft cake, in fact, it almost melts-in-your-mouth. The cocoa flavour is strong but sweet.
For the perfect dairy free frosting, I also added a delicious drippy icing made with cocoa powder and maple syrup. It’s the perfect pairing. The icing literally melts into the cake and makes it mouthwateringly moist.
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Let’s Bake
Eggless Chocolate Cake (Vegan)
A soft and moist chocolate cake made without eggs or butter.
Ingredients
Eggless chocolate cake
- 175 grams (1 and 1/4 cups) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 40 grams (1/2 cup) cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 200 grams (1 cup) caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 240 ml (1 cup) water
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cocoa frosting
- 125 grams (1 cup) icing sugar or powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan with oil spray and line with baking or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour, cocoa powder. baking soda and sugar and stir briefly. In a separate mixing bowl, add water, oil and vanilla.
- Add water mixture to dry ingredients and stir to combine. Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for 28-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Carefully remove from cake tin and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the frosting, sift together sugar and cocoa. Add maple syrup and water and stir until smooth. Pour over cooled cake and serve immediately.
pollin says
Lovelyyyyy!!
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Radiogenie says
Can I use rapeseed oil instead of vegetable oil as it has less saturated fat?
Jessica Holmes says
Yes!
Radiogenie says
Tried it and it was awesome (I say WAS as there is no cake left!) it did take double the oven time to cook though and seems to fall apart quite easily, but so delish so I don’t care 🙂
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it! It is quite a fragile cake due to the absence of eggs but that also means it has a lovely, soft texture!
Donna says
LOVED this recipe! It was so easy and i have all of the ingredients on hand so i dont have to run to the grocery store in the future if i want a nice chocolate cake. 😊 have you tried making this into a cupcake? I’m a newbie baker and, im not sure if it’ll work if i baked this in cupcake tins. Thanks!
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you love them Donna! You can definitely bake them individually in a cupcake pan but they will just be mini brownies – not cakes if that makes sense!
Kathy says
Tried this today & loved it. I used a deeper pan of rectagular aluminium foil to bake & that gave me two pans of cake. Took me 170degree fan-forced at 40-45mins due to the deeper pan. I also skipped the icing & dig right in after baking…really liked the taste. My husband ate it with nutella spread instead as he finds it bland on its own (he got a really sweet tooth). Anyway, I sub 1/4 of plain flour with tapioca flour just cause im finding a reason to use it up slowly. I also used a mixer which leads to a fluffier texture & more cracked surface. It rises pretty nicely too….more than I expected..not sure if thats due to using a mixer? Anyway, thanks loads. Sorry for the long comment. LOL!!!
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Kathy! And love the idea of pairing it with nutella. It may have risen more if you mixed lots of air into it with an electric mixer!
carolina says
Hi! whick cocoa powder do you use for this recipe?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi, I just use regular unsweetened cocoa powder.
Hayley says
This cake is amazing!!!!! My little 4 year old boy is dairy intolerant and im veggie and dairy free always looking for cake recipes. This is THE BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE I have ever tried or made. Even better than standard butter, egg, milk ingredient cakes. I added crushed pecans. Am going to try adding cherries next time. You could adapt this recipe for so many things. Took a lot longer to bake in my oven but I only had a deep tin and was worth the wait. Thank you!
Jessica Holmes says
Aw I’m so glad you enjoyed it Hayley! Thank you so much for your kind review!
Aj says
Not quite sure where it went wrong followed the recipe to the T, and it was just overly wet and it wasn’t even ready after 45 mins.. i will try it again reducing the amount of oil and water by a bit. But not impressed at all. My son was devastated.
Jessica Holmes says
Sorry to hear that AJ. Sounds like something wasn’t quite right. I recommend measuring the dry ingredients by weight to make sure that’s accurate. And don’t worry too much about oven time as every oven is different. You’ll know it’s done when it springs back lightly to the touch or a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Maryanne Bishop-Brown says
Absolutely scrumptious! I didn’t even wait to smother the cake with the topping! Now I’ve got to
make the cake again!
Jessica Holmes says
Love that Maryanne!
Smith says
Didn’t cook in 30 minutes
Still in the oven
Not impressed with this !!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Smith, every oven is different so it’s best to use timings as a guide only.
Sapna Shukla says
Hi Jessica, I intend to bake this cake tomorrow but I don’t have caster sugar. Can I replace it with brown sugar or plain white sugar?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi, excited you are going to make this cake. You can use regular granulated sugar instead of caster sugar – hope that helps!
Coffee says
Hey! Can we use honey instead of maple syrup? Or is there any replacement for maple syrup!
Jessica Holmes says
Yes definitely!
Paige says
tasted purely of oil which was not pleasant! would not recommend if you like your chocolate cakes to taste chocolaty!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Paige, sorry to hear that. It shouldn’t taste like oil if you used a neutral tasting oil like vegetable oil, especially with all the cocoa powder.
Aanch says
Hi there! Really looking forward to making this cake for my sisters birthday! Do you think a whipped choc ganache frosting will suit the cake alright?
Thanks in advance!
Jessica Holmes says
Absolutely! Sounds delish!
Rayhana says
wow, I have never baked a cake so delicious, I was a little confused when adding oil and water as I have always baked with eggs and butter, but had no eggs and it was fathers day! cake is a must on any occasion in our house!
Thank you for such a great recipe, this will be my favourite cake moving forward. I just love chocolate and this gave me butterflies.
Jessica Holmes says
So happy to hear that Rayhana! Thank you for the kind feedback!
Tricia says
Hi Olga, I did because I wanted more height for the pan size I was using and it worked.
Jessica Holmes says
And I just published a two layer cake (very similar) here.
Katherine says
Wow.. was looking for an easy cake to bake with my kids without using up our eggs during lockdown! OMG this is quite possibly the most gorgeous chocolate cake I’ve ever made. I’m literally in tears I can’t have a big slice (trying to be good at the moment) but my children have gobbled it up & can’t wait to make again!!
Jessica Holmes says
This makes me so happy Katherine! Thank you for your kind review!
tricia says
Love this recipe. Perfect everytime. Thanks so much.
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! Thanks Tricia!