Velma’s Vegan Devil’s Food Cake ❤️ A devilishly delish, chocolate lover’s dream dessert. This decadently rich, moist, luscious cake is everything you want in a classic devil’s food cake, but without dairy or eggs!

It seems like every family has that one very special cake recipe that is handed down from generation to generation. A recipe so legendary over time, it becomes part of our heritage . . . our DNA. In my family, it is this one. Great Aunt Velma’s vegan devil’s food cake.

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When my brother and I were kids, we loved it when our great Aunt Velma would come to visit us. She and our mom would spend hours together in the kitchen sharing stories and cooking together. The house would be filled with their laughter and the amazing aromas of the recipes they prepared.
Nothing was more magical than the incredible scent of Aunt Velma’s devil’s food cake wafting from the oven. We couldn’t wait to be called into the kitchen when it was time to ice the cake, because we knew there would be chocolate buttercream frosting covered beaters waiting for us. It was pure bliss.

For decades, every year, on my brother’s birthday, our mom made this scrumptious cake. And every year, my brother always requested that she made the frosting at least one inch thick!

What is Devil’s Food Cake?
Devil’s food cake is known for its dark, intense, and rich chocolate flavor. Traditionally made with cocoa powder, the result is a deep, robust taste. This recipe for Velma’s Vegan Devil’s Food Cake includes soured vegan milk, which provides a very subtle tart undertone and enhances the wonderfully moist and fluffy texture.

The crowning glory of this cake is the creamy, fudge-like chocolate buttercream frosting. We decorated our cake with fresh ripe strawberries and raspberries. If you’re a chocolate purist, you can keep your cake basic without adding sweet accessories, like decorative icing or berries. Just spread on that frosting as thick as you want and indulge in pure chocolate fudge heaven.
Being vegan doesn’t mean you have to give up all of your traditional family recipes. We discovered that by replacing animal products with plant-based ingredients, not only could we vegan-ize our favorite recipes, we made them so much better! A perfect example is our world’s best vegan lemon meringue pie recipe. It’s fabulous!
How to make Vegan Devil’s Food Cake?
We’ve had so much fun and tremendous success elevating many of our family’s treasured recipes with all vegan ingredients. That’s exactly what we did with this cake recipe, which we now lovingly call
Velma’s Vegan Devil’s Food Cake❤️
If you love this delish dessert, you might like to try these sweet vegan treats!
- Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Mom’s Vegan Carrot Cake
- Best Vegan Strawberry Shortcake
- Vegan Chocolate Dream Pie
- Vegan Old Fashioned Applesauce Cake
- World’s Best Vegan Lemon Meringue Pie

very vegan 🌱 very good
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Velma’s Vegan Devil’s Food Cake
Equipment
- Electric hand or stand mixer, or a whisk to hand-mix
- Large mixing bowl
- Two medium mixing bowls
- One rubber or silicone spatula
- Sifter or mesh strainer
- Two 9" round cake pans, one 9"x 13' baking pan, or a cupcake pan
- One flat spreader for frosting
Ingredients
Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 3-1/2 C powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 C vegan butter softened – not melted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 oz baking chocolate unsweetened – melted per package instructions
- 1/4 C non-dairy milk your choice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Prepare cake pans by coating lightly with butter or oil and dust with flour, or line cupcake pan with paper cupcake liners.
- In a measuring cup or bowl, stir together milk & vinegar. Let sit for a few minutes to sour.
- In a medium bowl sift together flour and salt.
- In a large bowl, using electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar.
- Blend in egg replacer with creamed butter and sugar.
- Add vanilla to sour milk.
- Begin adding flour and salt to creamed mixture, alternating with sour milk (a little at a time) ending with the dry ingredients.
- In a small bowl, stir together baking soda, cocoa and warm water. Add to batter and mix well.
- Pour batter into pan(s)
- Bake at 350° for 30 – 35 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out dry. For cupcakes, reduce baking time to 18-20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on wire rack
- Once cool, ice cake or cupcakes with vegan chocolate buttercream frosting.
Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar and salt
- Add vanilla and butter, mix at medium-high speed
- Add melted chocolate, continue mixing
- Gradually add milk, a small amount at a time, until desired consistency
Notes
Nutrition
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, please consider rating it using stars in the comments below. It helps other readers and allows more people to find it online. I love hearing from you! Let’s keep in touch!
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This looks scrumptious!
Thank you Janet! It’s pure chocolate bliss!❤️
Love chocolate….
Susie, you would LOVE this cake. It’s a chocolate lover’s dream! ❤️
Please could I have the recipe in grams? I am in the UK.
I have done the obvious and googled it but it’s confusing as different ingredients convert to different weights.
Thanks
Hi Christine. Thanks so much for asking! I ran the conversion to metric and have emailed it to you. I’d love to hear if you make the cake! It’s incredibly scrumptious!
Christine, you can now find the metric conversion on the online recipe. Just click the green METRIC link, located below the PRINT RECIPE button.