This decadent vegan chocolate coffee cake will be a must make no matter the time of year! It’s easy, soft, moist and the fudgy center filling will ensure this is your new go to vegan cake recipe to serve others!
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It’s no secret that cake is the way to many hearts. Not only is our vegan chocolate cake consistently a hit, even with non-vegans, but our vegan coffee cake is as well.
So then we had this epic idea to combine both of these favorites together and hence you now have this recipe for a grandiose vegan chocolate coffee cake.
Get all our favorite vegan cake recipes!
What is Coffee Cake?
Coffee cake around the world usually means that there is literally coffee inside the cake; however, for us in the United States, the taste and texture really refer more to something that is meant to be served with coffee (or tea).
Jump to:
Why you’ll love chocolate coffee cake
- New Spin on a Classic – having more options is always a good thing and you’ll love that you have a new version of coffee cake (or just cake) that you’ll love
- Soft & Moist – We all want cake that is soft with each bit but is also moist and you’ll get that each and every time you make this
- Crumble Topping – the hold crumble topping has on cake is out of this world. It just elevates any cake to a new level
- Allergy-Friendly – since this is a vegan chocolate coffee cake, it’s already dairy and egg free, but it can also be made totally 100% allergen-friendly, which means no nuts, gluten, or soy as well
Vegan Chocolate Coffee Cake Ingredients:
Gather your ingredients!
- Flour – you’ll want to use all-purpose flour for this recipe to ensure ultimate taste and texture
- Vegan butter – when baking, we prefer to use vegan butter sticks versus tubs
- Espresso Powder – while this is optional, we highly recommend because espresso actually brings out the flavor of chocolate more. Bonus is that it aligns more of that coffee flavor that other countries us
- Vegan Sugar – you’ll want to use an organic or bone-char free sugar to ensure it’s vegan. Learn what is vegan sugar
- Vegan Chocolate Chips – dairy free chocolate chips contain no dairy or other animal ingredients
- Applesauce – we use unsweetened applesauce to replace the eggs in this cake
- Vinegar – When vinegar is combined with non-dairy milk, it helps create a vegan buttermilk. We prefer using apple cider vinegar
See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Substitutions and variations:
- Flour – a gluten free all-purpose flour 1:1 blend can also be used
- Espresso Powder – Regular or decaf coffee could be used
- Applesauce – substitutions for applesauce would be the same amount of coconut cream, pureed banana (will change taste), pumpkin or sweet potato puree, or non-dairy yogurt.
- Vinegar – white vinegar or lemon juice could also be used
Step by Step Instructions:
Step 1 and 2: Add your filling ingredients together in a small bowl and then whisk them together.
Step 3 and 4: Add your dry ingredients for your crumble into a bowl and whisk together.
Step 5 and 6: Add your vanilla and cubed vegan butter. Then, work in the butter until a crumble forms. It should like similar to a sand like texture.
Step 7: Add your dry ingredients for the cake batter into a large bowl and whisk together. Then add the vegan butter cubes and form a sand like texture.
Step 8 and 9: Add in applesauce and vanilla and and combine. This will be a very thick mixture.
Step 10: Add non-dairy chocolate milk and vinegar into bowl and mix until uniform batter achieved, careful not to overmix.
Step 11: Add half the cake batter to a greased and parchment lined 9″ cake pan.
Step 12: Sprinkle evenly the filling across and top with the chocolate chips.
Step 13: Add remaining half of the cake batter and carefully spread to all side. It’s okay if some of the filling come up, but try not to do much.
Step 14: Top with the crumble topping and then bake.
Recipe FAQs:
We have not tried, but this is what we would recommend. Swapping the butter in the cake for more applesauce (another ½ cup). This will make the cake more dense though. For the crumble topping we’d recommend all maple syrup or 3 tablespoon maple syrup and 3 tablespoon nut butter.
Yes. Use gluten free flour (will make more dense), a soy free non-dairy butter, and a safe for you non-dairy chocolate milk (like oat chocolate). If you make those swaps this can be completely top 8 allergen free.
Yes! This cake can be made 3-5 days in advance. For best results, if serving others we’d recommend only making a day or two in advance.
We recommend leaving this cake out at room temperature, but covered in an air tight container like a cake stand with a dome cover.
Other vegan cake ideas you’ll love:
🥳 Get the Full Recipe
Vegan Chocolate Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the Filling
- ⅓ cup vegan cane sugar
- 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
- ¼ cup vegan mini chocolate chips
For the Crumble Topping
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup vegan cane sugar
- 3 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoon powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 7 tablespoon vegan butter, room temp and cut in ½" cubes
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup vegan mini chocolate chips
For the Cake
- 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¾ cup vegan cane sugar
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon espresso powder, optional
- 8 tablespoon vegan butter, room temp and cut in ½" cubes
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup non-dairy chocolate milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease lightly a 9" round cake pan and line with a round piece of parchment paper
For the filling
- Add the sugar and cocoa powder to a small bowl and whisk together. Set aside along with the chocolate chips.
For the crumble topping
- In a bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and salt. Add cubed butter and vanilla. Use a fork to gently cover all the butter and then, work butter into mixture until a sand like texture forms. Stir in ¼ cup chocolate chips. Set aside.
For the cake
- In a large bowl, add the flour through the espresso powder (if adding). Whisk to combine. Add in the cubed vegan butter and using a mixer, mix for 2 minutes until a sand like texture forms.
- Add applesauce and vanilla and beat until a thick mixture forms. Add in chocolate milk and vinegar and mix until a smooth consistency. Careful not to overmix.
Assembling
- Pour half the batter into the prepared cake pan and spread out to the edges. Sprinkle the filling evenly over the batter, then the reserved ¼ cup chocolate chips.
- Pour remaining batter and carefully spread to the edges. Okay if a little filling gets mixed in. Tip: We find that dollaping the remaining mix helps here instead of pouring all the the center.
- Sprinkle crumble topping all over the batter.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes. A toothpick should come out mostly clean. Remove and allow to sit for 20 minutes before cutting to allow the cake to set.
- Store at room temperature. Can be frozen.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
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This recipe is adapted from King Arthur.
This was absolutely delicious!
Yay! Happy to hear that
OMG! I made this for our monthly Quaker Meeting and Potluck and I was worried that people wouldn’t like it because mine unfortunetly did not look as pretty as y’alls but it was such a hit – everyone loved it and I am adding it to my rotation of cakes for the year <3
That’s awesome! So happy to hear that this recipe was a hit!