No butter, eggs or milk in this super dark chocolate cake! How is that possible? Science! This cake is super moist and delicious, it will probably be my new go-to birthday cake recipe. I topped it with not-so-vegan peanut butter buttercream for my husbands 37th birthday. YUM! If you want to keep the entire cake vegan, though, use whatever frosting you like 🙂 I provided the cake recipe and the buttercream recipe that I used in this post.

Also, this recipe only made an 8 x 8 inch pan, but you can easily double it for a 9 x 13 if you’re feeding more people. The buttercream however, will probably cover it. It makes a ton, I have some left over in my fridge which will probably (definitely) be eaten with a spoon when I’m hungry 😉 And last but not least, this cake is SO EASY to make! no mixer required, just a bowl and spoon and you are done!

So here we go! Let’s go make a vegan cake!

What you will need:

8 x 8 inch baking dish, greased

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white vinegar
5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup water

For the buttercream:

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 teaspoons milk
2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder and sugar. Add in vanilla, vinegar, oil and and water and stir until combined. Pour into prepared dish and bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting. Note: if you doubled the recipe, you will need to bake longer so just keep an eye on it.

For the buttercream, beat together the butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add in vanilla, milk and powdered sugar and beat until completely smooth and you reach desired consistency. Spread over top of cooled cake.

Slice and enjoy!

Store covered at room temp.