Melt-in your mouth, super easy to make, this Vegan Chocolate cake is one you will be repeating for years to come. A delicious nutty crust and a soft chocolate mousse layer, dairy-free and gluten-free.
A quick and easy to make chocolate cake is something we would all like to have a recipe for, right?
So what if I told you that we have a recipe for one that you can prepare in 20 minutes? And it's also healthy and delicious?
This recipe is actually one I adapted from a vegan challenge facebook group last summer and it sounded so appealing that I simply had to try it. And it has quickly come to the top of my list of quick and healthy sweets.
The only downside is that it needs to be in the fridge overnight, so you need to make sure you prepare it the day before you need it!
And it's perfect even for the toughest of dietary requirements as it's vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free!
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Ingredients
To make this Vegan Chocolate Cake, you will need the following ingredients:
Hazelnuts. Make sure to grind them before use (using a food processor gets the job done quickly). You can also do any other nuts of choice, like almonds or walnuts.
Coconut oil. Doesn't have to be melted to add to this crust.
Cocoa powder. The original, raw, bitter kind. Not the sweetened sugary stuff you put in a hot chocolate.
Agave syrup. Or any other sweetener of choice like maple, rice or date syrup.
Coconut milk. Make sure to use that full-fat thick version that will give the creamiest filling.
Dark Chocolate. The idea here is to use a dark chocolate that has at least 70% of cocoa but some people find it too bitter. You can substitute with a "normal" baking chocolate if you prefer but make sure you check the ingredients if you want the cake to stay vegan! If you are not used to a dark chocolate taste use a chocolate with maximum 50% cocoa.
Nutritional Benefits
Hazelnuts. Provides a great amount of energy and healthy fats as well as vitamin E.
Coconut oil. The first choice of oil in cooking because it has a better nutritional fatty acid composition for the body than sunflower oil or butter.
Cocoa powder and dark chocolate. Contain great phytonutrients that have a strong antioxidants and therefore can support heart health.
Coconut milk. Additional fat and energy.
Agave syrup. Doesn't cause a rapid spike in blood sugar like table sugar.
How To Make
Preheat the oven. Make sure to preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F beforehand so that when your crust is ready you can just pop it in the oven.
Make the crust. Grind the nuts and mix them with the ingredients for the crust. Place the crust batter into a cake tin, press down so it forms a compact base and put in the oven to bake for 10 minutes. We made this using a cake tin with a 26 cm diameter (10 inch).
Make the cream. Meanwhile, put the coconut milk into a pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. While the coconut milk is heating up, cut the dark chocolate into pieces and place in a bowl resistant to heat. Add the boiled coconut milk to the dark chocolate and mix until it forms a chocolate cream.
Finish the cake. Pour the cream over the crust and refrigerate overnight.
Possible Variations
Mix your nuts. The original recipe I tried uses almonds in the crust. I prefer the taste of hazelnuts way more so that's why I used them for this cake. A great option is to also mix the nuts so to use a combination like walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts!
Don't need vegan? If you don't really need a vegan or dairy-free cake, you can substitute the coconut milk for a thick cream. This will give a great ganache cream. Just make sure to use the same amount of cream and chocolate because cream doesn't thicken as much as coconut milk when refrigerated.
Too sour? If you still find the cream being too sour even if you've used a regular cooking chocolate (which usually has about 55% cocoa), you can either add some sweetener to the cream or simply use milk chocolate. Balance is key in nutrition after all!
More healthy-ish sweets?
Looking for more healthy and sweet recipes? Check these out:
Recipe
Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Crust
- 6 oz ground hazelnuts or any other nuts
- 2½ oz coconut oil
- 1½ oz raw cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp agave syrup
Cream
- 13½ oz coconut milk
- 7 oz dark chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F.
- Grind the nuts and mix them with the ingredients for the crust.
- Place the crust batter into a cake tin (we used one with a diameter of 26cm/10 inches) and put in the oven to bake for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, put the coconut milk into a pot over medium heat and bring to a boil.
- While the coconut milk is heating up, cut the dark chocolate into pieces and place in a bowl resistant to heat.
- Add the boiled coconut milk to the dark chocolate pieces and mix until a chocolate cream is formed.
- Pour over the crust.
- Refrigerate overnight.
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