I’ve been wanting to create vegan versions of my cake recipes for awhile now, but vegan baking is one of those fascinating things that takes a ton of research. It felt a bit intimidating to scour the internet for the dairy-free substitutes, so I just kept putting it off. But with ingredients like eggs, milk, and butter in short supply due to the pandemic, I think now is the perfect time to offer you a cake recipe that uses ingredients you can (hopefully) find! Whether you’re vegan, dairy-free, or you simply need a cake recipe with limited ingredients, this Vegan Chocolate Oreo Cake is so easy to whip up and tastes amazing! Perfect for celebrating a #QuarantineBirthday or just making a cake for the fun of it.
First, let’s talk about this ultra-moist vegan chocolate cake. It turned out so decadent and chocolatey with that melt-in-your-mouth crumb you need in a chocolate cake. I was so surprised at how much of it I ate during my testing sessions (could be pregnancy, but also, it’s just a great chocolate cake)! It’s truly the perfect rival to my favorite one-bowl chocolate cake recipe, only you don’t need eggs or buttermilk for this one. Instead of adding moisture with buttermilk, vegetable oil takes care of all that. And instead of creating structure with eggs, structure and rise are created by the chemical reaction that happens when the vinegar, baking soda, and cocoa powder in this recipe react (science, y’all).
Because of this amazing chemical reaction, it’s super important that you don’t use Dutch Process cocoa powder because the process for making it involves washing cocoa beans in an alkaline solution of potassium carbonate. All of that neutralizes the acidity and cancels out the reaction between the cocoa powder and the baking soda, which in this case can result in a deflated cake. To prevent this, be sure to use a natural, unsweetened cocoa powder for this recipe. I use Hershey’s, but any brand will do.
*UPDATE* When I set out to create the perfect vegan buttercream to compliment this cake, I thought Oreos would be perfect! I have tons of vegan friends who enjoy Oreos because they do not contain animal-derived ingredients. However, according to Oreo’s website, they cannot call these cookies truly vegan because the equipment they come in contact with may have cross-contact with milk. If that is concerning to you, you can sub any of your favorite vegan cookie crumbs into this buttercream recipe.
To pair with this cake, I altered my Oreo Buttercream recipe to work with vegan ingredients like Earth Balance butter and coconut milk and it worked like a charm. I have yet to try other butter alternatives, but I love that Earth Balance comes in sticks and behaves a lot like real butter. I’m pretty convinced you could substitute it into any of my buttercream recipes and create a vegan version. So if you’d rather have a straight up (dairy-free) chocolate buttercream for this cake, you can totally use my favorite chocolate buttercream recipe, sub in an equal amount of Earth Balance and dairy-free milk, and you’d be good to go.
To decorate, I added some crushed Oreos to the sides of the cake, then topped it with some swirls using Wilton Tip 4B. I thought it would be fun to add a little pop of color to the swirls, so I sprinkled them with the Fancy Sprinkles Birthday Balloons mix before placing whole Oreos in between. Side note: this sprinkle mix is not 100% vegan, but Fancy Sprinkles has an entire collection of vegan sprinkles you can shop here. I love how it all turned out, especially the little flecks of cookies throughout the buttercream!
I’m so fascinated by the science of vegan baking that I’ll be venturing on a quest for the perfect vegan vanilla cake next, so stay tuned! In the meantime, I cannot wait for you to try this Vegan Chocolate Oreo Cake and hope you love it as much as I do.
Vegan Chocolate Cake with Oreo Buttercream
Ingredients
Vegan Chocolate Cake
- 3 Cups (400g) all-purpose flour
- 2 Cups (410g) granulated white sugar
- 1/2 Cup (45g) natural, unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch Process)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 Cup (180ml) vegetable oil
- 2 tsp white vinegar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 Cups (480ml) water, room temperature
Oreo Buttercream
- 2 Cups (452g) Earth Balance vegan butter, room temperature (4 sticks)
- 6 Cups (720g) powdered sugar
- 4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp coconut milk, room temperature or any non-dairy milk
- 18 Oreo cookies, filling removed
Instructions
Make the Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare three 6-inch or two 9-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and fitting the bottoms with a wax paper or parchment cake circle.
- Place all of the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and stir on low for 30 seconds to fully combine them. Add the vegetable oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water and mix on low until combined.
- Pour into prepared cake pans no more than 2/3 full and bake for 35-40 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely.
Make the Oreo Buttercream
- After removing the filling from the Oreo cookies, use a food processor to blend them into a fine crumb. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the vegan butter on med-high until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes), scraping down bowl and paddle a few times in between. Add powdered sugar a few cups at a time, scraping down bowl and paddle between intervals.
- Add the vanilla and coconut milk, then mix on medium for one minute. Scrape down bowl and paddle and add the Oreo cookie crumbs. Mix until incorporated.
Assembly
- Once the cakes are Vegan Chocolate Cakes are cooled and leveled, fill and frost with Oreo Buttercream. To create the same look as pictured, press some Oreo cookie crumbs to the bottom third of the cake after frosting. Pipe swirls of buttercream around the top edge of the cake using Wilton Tip 4B, then sprinkle the swirls with colorful sprinkles. Finish by garnishing with whole Oreos.
Notes
- The Vegan Chocolate Cake can be made ahead and stored at room temperature, covered tightly in plastic wrap, for up to two days. Alternatively, you can cover with plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to two months before thawing to room temperature.
- The Oreo Buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip with your stand mixer to bring it back to frosting consistency.
Did you make this recipe? I want to know how it went! Let me know in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. I love to see what you’re caking!
Hi, I’m from the UK, what’s the equivalent here to ‘white vinegar’? Is it distilled malt vinegar?
Hi Stephanie! I’m not sure what the equivalent would be in the UK, but from what I’m reading on Google it sounds like malt vinegars are made using a different process and might not be the best substitute. Since the chemical reaction between the vinegar and baking soda is so essential to the rise of this cake, a better substitute would be an equal amount of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. Hope that helps!
One you take the filling out of the cookies do you not use the filling ?
Hi Rhonda! I don’t use the filling, I only use the cookie part of the Oreo. This is only because the filling would gum up the food processor when reducing the cookies to a crumb.
Hello, I was just wondering if you could/would incorporate the filling of the Oreos into this recipe? Thanks
Hi Emma! The reason I left the filling out of the frosting is because it would have gummed up the food processor when trying to reduce the cookie part to a fine crumb. That said, you can certainly try to incorporate the filling in some way, perhaps by adding it into the buttercream recipe separately. My only thought is that it might not fully become uniform with the mixture, but you never know until you experiment!
Love love love this recipe! Can you make this into a vanilla cake?
So happy you love this recipe, Lissa! I’ve been meaning to work on a vegan vanilla cake recipe for quite some time now, hopefully will have one soon!
Hi, I am just wondering roughly how tall the cake will end up being ? in inches or cm? I will be transporting the cake for my friend, and want to make sure that it fits in a box so it isn’t damaged & will not crush the top of the cake! Thanks & looking forward to baking this recipe! 🙂
Hi Eliz! This triple layer 6 inch cake ended up being about 5 inches tall when decorated, but if you’re concerned about the height you can always level and torte the cake layers to be on the shorter side. Here’s a tutorial on how to do that: https://sugarandsparrow.com/level-and-torte-cake-layers/
Hi there! Is it possible to sub 1:1 all purpose gluten free flour for this recipe? Thanks!
Hi Shelby! Yes it is. I actually just did that to create a vegan + GF cake and it worked great!
HOLY SMOKES! This recipe is a winner – THANK YOU! I made it for my daughter’s 4th birthday using a 9 x 13 pan and it was a huge hit. Kids, adults, vegans, and non-vegans all loved it. No one believed it was vegan. Since I did not make multiple layers, I had a ton of frosting left over so I ended up making the cake a 2nd time in one week it was that good! Thank you again for sharing this fantastic recipe!
Yay, Kelly!! I am so happy to hear that this recipe was a hit and loved by all! Thanks for taking the time to let me know, it truly makes my day 🙂
Hi, can this be used for 3 deep 8 inch pans?
Hi there, not sure what you mean by “deep” pans. How tall are the sides? Since this recipe is written for a three layer 6 inch cake (used in pans that are 2 inches tall) I would recommend doubling it to accommodate your larger pans and then finding some instructions on how to alter a cake recipe to be baked in a deeper pan.
I made this on the weekend and my picture looks like yours! So happy with the result. Thank you.
The buttercream was perfect and the instructions were foolproof.
So happy to hear that, Louise!! I’m glad the recipe was a hit and thanks so much for taking the time to let me know!
Hi. I am having trouble tracking down natural cocoa powder. I have done some research and found that if i use a dutch processed cocoa powder instead, then i should sub out the baking soda with twice as much baking powder. I was just wondering if the vinegar would also affect the result of the cake. And if so, what would you suggest.
Hi Meagan! I’m not entirely sure how that will affect the chemistry of this cake, as I haven’t ever tried to sub dutch process in this recipe for regular. Let me know if you try it though – now I’m curious!
I am making this cake today for my son with a milk allergy. He can have eggs however, how do you recommend changing this to use eggs instead of the baking soda and vinegar combination? Can I just leave out the vinegar and add 2 eggs? Do I leave the baking soda in?
Hi Maegan! I’ve never tried that before, so I can’t say for sure how it will turn out, BUT I do have this chocolate cake recipe that works with dairy free milk: https://sugarandsparrow.com/chocolate-cake-recipe/ I would recommend using that recipe instead and substituting in a dairy-free buttermilk in place of the buttermilk. Here’s how to make DIY dairy-free buttermilk: https://community.kidswithfoodallergies.org/blog/how-to-make-milk-free-buttermilk
Hi can i use cacao powder instead
Hi Dee! It should work, but I haven’t tried it myself so it would be an experiment. Let me know if you try it!
Hi, I made this cake today, 6/6/20. I made it for my mother-in-laws birthday. The cake came out soo good! It was so moist. I’ve never made buttercream until today. I felt like the buttercream was a bit too sweet.. if I were to add only 4 or 5 cups of powdered sugar would the frosting still come out ok? Or do you have to add the exact amount of powdered sugar that buttercream recipes call for?
Thank you for sharing this great recipe!
So happy you loved this cake recipe, Syndy!! To make the buttercream less sweet, you can try reducing the powdered sugar by 1/2 to a full cup and/or adding a pinch or two of salt to taste at the end. Just keep in mind that the less powdered sugar you add, the thinner the consistency of the buttercream.
Hi…I love all your beautiful cakes and admire your artistry …just a FYI, the birthday balloon sprinkles contain bee wax, which is not strictly vegan. I’m not vegan, but bake a lot for a niece who is and she would not eat any animal product. That being said, there are many sprinkle options that are vegan.
Hi Janet, thanks for the tip! I’ll be sure to mention that in this post.
This is awesome! If I want to make this a vanilla cake, how do I substitute? Just leave out the cocoa powder?
Hi Cathy! I’m not sure if leaving out the cocoa powder would result in a good vanilla cake, especially since the cocoa powder is part of the chemical reaction (along with the vinegar and baking soda) that causes this cake to rise. I am working on a vegan vanilla cake recipe next though, so stay tuned!
Hi Cathy. I was wondering the same thing. This cake is so good! Did you try excluding the cocoa?
Hi Kelly! I actually have a vegan vanilla cake now! Here’s the link: https://sugarandsparrow.com/vegan-vanilla-cake-recipe/
Two questions! Should we not use cake flour for this recipe? Should we still add extra powdered sugar for the piping on top of the cake?
Hi Camilla! I wouldn’t recommend cake flour for this recipe, because the crumb would be too fine. The cocoa powder already works with the all purpose flour to produce a perfectly soft/fine crumb, which is why I always use all purpose flour in chocolate cake recipes. And I didn’t add any extra powdered sugar for the piping on top of the cake, but if you feel the frosting is too thin for piping, you can add just a little bit more powdered sugar to thicken it up.
It is still okay if I use a 8 inch’ pan?
Hi Eden! That is totally fine! This recipe should make enough for two 8-inch layers.
Hello, can I use 2 10” pans for this recipe? Will that feed about 25 people? What size cake would feed 25? Can I use oat milk as well?
Hi Marilyn, 2 10-inch pans serve between 28-38 people depending on how you cut the cake. You could easily get away with 2 9-inch layers or perhaps even 2 8-inch layers. Here’s a guide on how many servings each cake size serves and how to scale recipes to make enough batter: https://sugarandsparrow.com/cake-serving-guide/. Also, I’ve never tried oat milk with this recipe since it just calls for water but you can certainly try replacing the water with oat milk. It would be an experiment though. You can definitely use oat milk in the buttercream portion!