This chocolate cake is completely dairy-free and perfect for Valentine’s Day for anyone who is eliminating dairy, but still desperately craving chocolate and cake. Because cake.
I started to eliminate dairy and soy from my diet to see if that was the cause of my baby boy’s less than perfect dirty diapers…I know not a great subject when also discussing chocolate…but hey this is what new parents talk about. Anyway, after his two month check-up, his doctor suggested stopping the probiotic we started him on to help with reflux. Ironically, the timing lines up, so we are giving that a little time to see if it helps before going back to the milk protein intolerance theory. Joyfully, this means that I don’t have to avoid dairy this valentine’s day…hallelujah!
But I was totally prepared with this super moist and delicious chocolate cake. It’s got a rich, dark chocolate cake with a beautiful crumb texture and a super fudgy dark chocolate peanut butter frosting.
In lieu of butter, I’ve used coconut oil and in lieu of buttermilk, I’ve used almond milk and coffee. The frosting is a thick, rich combination of vegan dark chocolate peanut butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and almond milk. It’s amazing how easy it is to substitute vegan ingredients for traditional dairy, especially now with the growing availability of vegan products. You could certainly use vegan butter instead of coconut oil if you prefer.
Mostly Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 3 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/3 cup cocoa powder unsweetened
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 12 oz coconut oil
- 2 cups unsweetened almond milk with vanilla flavor is fine
- 1 cup coffee
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 5 eggs
- 1 1/4 cup vegan dark chocolate peanut butter such as Peanut Butter & Co.
- 1/2 cup cocoa butter melted
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder unsweetened
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk vanilla is fine
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and flour two 8" round cake pans (I use Baker's Joy and it works wonders, but if you are soy free you will need to avoid it).
- Place first ten ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high for 3 minutes or until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
- Pour into prepared pans.
- Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Place peanut butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and cocoa powder into the bowl of electric mixer and beat on high until smooth. Slowly add in powdered sugar one cup at a time. Mix in milk, vanilla, and salt. Add additional powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. Keep in mind that as the melted cocoa butter sets back up, the frosting will begin to thicken/harden.
- Level each cake once cooled if needed. Frost with chocolate peanut butter frosting.
Enjoy! <3 K&R
Leave a Reply