This Vegan Chocolate Layer Cake with Ganache is made on stove top and not baked in an oven! It comes together within minutes, is moist and decadent. soy-free, palm oil free. Vegan Soyfree Recipe. Jump to Recipe
You know Summer is eventually… eventually going to be here sometime and it will be too hot to start up the oven to bake up a chocolate cake. That’s when you can make this Chocolate Layer Cake for 1 or 2 in a pan! Or you can make it now. 🙂
This cake can served with the layers of ganache or frosting as a delicious dessert or serve the layers as breakfast pancakes. Super fun, quick and easy. A silky smooth ganache makes this is decadent treat. Use a nut butter chocolate frosting for variation.
This recipe makes two small 3 layer Chocolate cakes! Share or not :). The cakes or pancakes are lightly sweet and the ganache helps adds a more chocolate and sweet to the over cake for a great balance. This cake is soy and palm oil free with cocoa butter based chocolate.
So moist and perfect!
More Chocolate things from the blog.
- Vegan Almond Butter Blondies with Chocolate Chips
- Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Cake and Cake Mix In a Jar
- Chocolate Chip Cookie, Date Caramel Brownie Bars
- Gluten free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Pumpkin Brownies
Steps:
Make the cake batter. Heat a thick bottom skillet over medium heat. Place a cookie cutter on the skillet. Spray oil on the cutter and bottom. Pour a layer of batter in the cookie cutter. Cover and cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
You want to add a thin layer of batter, else the pancake will rise over the cookie cutter. The cookie cutter trick inspired from Brandi’s tall pancakes.
Once the edges start to look dry, using tongs, loosen the cookie cutter and remove.
Flip the pancake and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
Once the pancakes are ready, make your ganache or frosting. Layer the pancakes with enough ganache or frosting per layer. Pictured Ganache.
Even out over the entire layer cake if you like. Chill for 15 minutes or longer and serve.
Recipe Card
Vegan Chocolate Layer Cake. No Bake!
Ingredients
Dry
- 1/2 cup (87 g) spelt or whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup (62.5 g) unbleached all purpose flour
- use my gf pancake mix to make these gluten-free , instead of the spelt and all purpose flours above
- 1/3 cup (28.67 g) cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) baking soda
Wet:
- 3/4 cup (183 ml) non dairy milk
- 2 tablespoons almond butter or other nut butter
- 2 tablespoons oil or use applesauce
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
- 1 tbsp flax seed meal
- 1/3 cup (66.67 g) sugar add 1 tbsp more for sweeter
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) lemon juice
Ganache
- 3 tablespoons coconut milk or almond milk
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 3/4 cup (135 g) vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients and keep aside.
- In another bowl, combine the non dairy milk, nut butter, oil, salt, flax meal, sugar and vanilla until well combined. Add in the lemon juice. Add the dry ingredient and mix into a smooth batter.
- Heat a heavy bottom pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, place a large cookie cutter over the pan. Spray oil on the pan and the cookie cutter. Pour batter into the cookie cutter to make a thin layer. Cover the pan with a lid, Cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the cookie cutter using tongs or gloves. Flip the pancake and cook the other side for 2 to 3 minutes.Repeat for all the batter.
- You can also make regular pancakes by pouring the batter on the pan and cooking for 3 to 4 minutes each side. Cool and then use the cookie cutter to cut them into similar size round shapes. The ones cooked in the cutter come out taller and fluffier.
- Prepare your ganache or frosting. Spread over the pancakes and layer them as may as you would like. Serve!
- Tips: You want to cook these pancakes at a slightly lower heat so as to not burn the bottom. The cookie cutters also help hold the moisture in the pancakes. Without the cutters the pancakes might be dry-ish when over cooked. This batter can also be baked into a cake. Bake in 8 inch pan for 30 to 35 minutes.
- Ganache:
- Heat the non dairy milk and maple syrup until just about smoking. Take off heat. Add the chocolate and let it sit for a minute. then whisk until all melted and smooth. Chill for 10 minutes then use.
- Variation: Almond butter chocolate frosting: Melt 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips over a double boiler. Let it cool for a minute. Whisk in 1/2 cup almond butter and 1/4 cup powdered sugar until smooth. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1 to 2 tablespoons non dairy milk for desired consistency and mix in. use.
Notes
Nutrition
Erik B
I “attempted” this the night before Valentines Day in hopes of presenting to my wife the next day. It was a disaster! On the first try, it wasn’t cooked enough and broke apart when trying to flip it. On the second try, I let it cook longer and the bottom ended up with a blackened, burned bottom. Threw it all in the compost and went to bed.
I so wanted this to work. So next morning I made another batch, put the 4 cookie cutters in a 9”x13” pan and half filled them with batter, baked 20 min at 350f, and they came out perfect!!!
Another winner, Richa!
Richa
Oh no! I am glad you figured out another way and it worked out!! Yay
For the pancakes you have to cook them at a lower heat and make them not too thick or tall. It takes a couple of tries to figure out the times. But the baking seems like a better more successful way!
Sandhya Vivek
Your recipes are yet to fail me! I didn’t have nut butter or flaxseed and used coconut oil and curd in their places. I also made it as an one layered stovetop skillet cake! The cake was so moist and decadent and was ready to eat within 30 minutes. Thank you for these amazing recipes..
Vegan Richa Support
wow!! thank you for popping by. That’s wonderful!!
Mb
Thanks for posting the single recipe. I ended up baking in an oven and this makes two large single serving sizes. This cake was fabulous!
Richa
Awesome
Sarah
Hi. I don’t have a cookie cutter so I’d like to make the cake version in the pan. How can I stop the cake sticking to the pan? Or do you have an idea of a substitute for a cookie cutter?
Richa
anything that is a round ring and can be used at high heat should work. or use a small pan. A good non stick pan should not have a sticking issue
Emily
We made this for dessert with double the ganache. My daughter helped me cook the cakes. All gone!
Mansi Jain
Can almond butter/nut butter be replaced with unsalted butter?
Richa
nope, use more chocolate instead. See notes of the recipe
Anu
Made this for breakfast and I added some zucchini, carrots and blueberries to the batter. I made sure they were pureed before I added them. The result was incredible and my kids gobbled them up in 3 minutes flat!
Richa
yay!
Shobha
This looks interesting.. I’m tempted to try the recipe but I’m afraid the cake might turn out to be very dry without help from the ganache. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Richa
Hi Shobha,
If you cook the pancakes in a cookie cutter and do not over cook, then they are very soft and moist. Without the cookie cutter, they tend to lose moisture quickly and can be like regular pancakes that will need a frosting or maple.
Ananya
Hey Richa, I was wondering what I could use as a substitute for maple syrup since we don’t get any where I live.
Richa
any other syrup like agave or jaggery syrup
pralinesloth
are you kidding me? this is BRILLIANT!! looking forward to trying this very soon:-)
Jacquie
For the ganache, I do not have coconut milk. But I have coconut cream. Would that work? Or does any other nut milk work the same? Thanks!
Richa
yes coconut cream will work. The ganache might be thicker and might not need chilling or need just a few minutes. use it as soon as it is your preferred consistency.
Jaleria Rivera
How many calories are in these?
Richa
i dont know. you can plug the recipe into an online calorie counter to find the nutritional analysis.
Vidya
Hi richa! I wanted to use your GF pancake mix and i wasnt sure if that replaced all the dry ingredients. After making the GF pancake mix and mixing it with the wet ingredients i realised there was no cocoa in that so i added the cocoa. The resulting batter was very cookie dough like rather thAn pancake like. How should i be substituting the Gf mix?
Richa
cocoa powder is also dry ingredient, so the total dry probably became more. In general different types of flours absorb different amounts of liquid. So if after any substitution, if the batter is too dry, add a bit more liquid ingredients such as non dairy milk to get the right consistency. If the batter is too thin, add a bit more flour ingredients. the gf batter also keeps thickening as it sits, while the regular batter doesnt change much. so if it thickens too much, you can add some more non dairy milk again.
kalpana dave
If we did not have a cookie cutter nor a heavy bottom pan and wanted to bake these, then at what temperature and how long.
Richa
bake it at 365 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick from the center comes out clean.
Richa
the time is for one or two 8 inch pans. for smaller pans, the baking time will be 25 minutes or so
Erla
This looks delicious! How large is the cookie cutter approximately? Just so I have any idea…
Richa
i used 3.5 inch.
Rebecca
I saw this cute idea of yours when you posted it, and I had been keeping it in the back of my mind. I was at the kitchen store yesterday, and when I saw round cookie cutters of the right size, I knew we had to try it. My almost-four year old was totally on board, so today we mixed up our usual pancake batter (Isa’s Puffy Pillow Pancakes) with slightly less baking powder, a bit more sugar, and cocoa powder. The cake layers turned out perfectly! My daughter spread raspberry jam and coconut milk whipped cream with coconut flakes between each layer, and we all sat down and had cake and tea together. Thanks for the fantastic idea. We had so much fun!
Richa
Awesome! so glad it was a fun evening!
The Vegan 8
Richa, if I didn’t cook those pancakes myself I would never have believed it wasn’t an actual cake straight out of the oven….no lie..it was to die for! I made it this morning for my daughter and I and it was definitely PLENTY for the 2 of us, which was a huge bonus. I made 5 huge pancakes out of mine and it was so rich, fluffy and amazing. What a wonderful idea you came up with! Your recipes are always winners girl!
Poppy
Richa! This is insanely brilliant! I can’t wait to try it!!!
Lu
I think this is going to be my birthday cake!! It looks awesome!!
Is there any way to subtitute the nut butter? Maybe more oil?
Thanks!!
Richa
sure, use more oil.
IR
This looks so tasty!! The cookie cutter is a great idea!
Caitlin
i love that this cake is actually pancakes! you are so clever. i can’t wait to see the shirts you want to design 😉
Anna
omg seriously!!!! This looks absolutely insane
https://aspoonfulofnature.wordpress.com/
Nina
I really like this recipe! I don’t have cookie cutters, so I will have to buy some because I have to make this. Good idea to use them cutters for making burgers too. I made your red lentil bbq burger and I was really clumsy making them into nice even patties. Tonight I am baking your amaranth burger 😉
mia
This is SO COOL Richa! What a great idea. I’m going to make this soon 🙂
Jojo
Wowza, this is kinda blowing my mind a little! I’m planning on spending summer living in a van so the idea that there’s a cute cake I can make on the stovetop is amazing. I can’t wait to give it a whirl.
Katie
This is fantastic! As someone who hates turning the oven on as things either catch on fire or the smoke detector goes off every time I do, I’m always looking for creative ways to bake on the stovetop. This trick is amazing! I’m impressed Richa! 🙂
Nicole {VeganShowOff.com}
Wow this looks so easy and so yummy! I would definitely not be sharing : ) This is a good reason to finally buy some cookie cutters too (I know, how sad I don’t own any cookie cutters yet, especially since I make my fair share of cookies lol)!
Richa
yep for a long time i dint have any cookie cutters either. now i use them for burgers and things too. perfect burger patties everytime!
Jessie Snyder | Faring Well
This is just positively genious.
Cassie
THIS. LOOKS. AMAZING.
Martin
What a fantastic idea! Love the cookie cutter trick, but I have a problem; I can’t have chocolate.
If I have chocolate my heart goes into a-fibrilation flip flops (irregular heart beat). It’s not life threatening but it’s annoying. So I was wondering if you had any ideas on applying this same little cake idea to say a yellow cake with another kind of frosting. Any ideas or comments will be greatly appreciated.
Love what you do!
Martin
Richa
you should be able to make any cake recipe which makes a smooth batter, with this recipe. try my spelt sponge cake. https://www.veganricha.com/2014/10/vegan-tiramisu-trifles-coco-whip.html
for frosting you can make a simple nut butter frosting with peanut butter, some margarine, a bit of non dairy milk and sugar.
Denise
I saw a vegan medjool date salted caramel recipe somewhere on the inter-webs that would be heavenly with a yellow cake 🙂
Richa
I have some on the blog too https://www.veganricha.com/?s=salted+date+caramel
Raquel
I think it may have been from Mary’s Test Kitchen. She has a youtube channel and a blog and I remember that recipe. 🙂
Vic
Try Carob powder ! The taste us like chocolate but doesn’t have a side effect 😉
June Burns
What a neat idea! I’ll definitely have to try this. It looks like a deliciously chocolaty cake, very tasty 🙂
The Vegan 8
Hey, that’s my cookie cutter pancake trick, lol! People always ask me how I get such tall, fluffy pancakes and the secret is a cookie cutter! So these are like heavenly chocolate pancakes, yum yum yum Richa! I want to lick my computer screen. 🙂 🙂
Richa
i was trying to remember where i had seen it first. i think i saw at your blog. and then saw it other places. 🙂 i’ll add your link. i know right. such tall pancakes, that are almost a cake!
The Vegan 8
Oh no girl, you don’t have to add my link at all! I was just saying that like “hey, we both do the pancake trick” lol! I hadn’t seen anybody else do it before, just seen like the kid cookie cutter shapes before, so I thought I’d try the large round ones to get that perfect shape and it really does make the best, fluffiest pancakes ever. I am totally going to make this…chocolate cake for breakfast??! Yes, please. They look heavenly! Love the chocolate frosting too. I think I’ll do them this weekend. 🙂
Somer
Making these now! I actually have heart shaped “cookie cutter” type silicon pancake heart molds I was given a few years ago by a friend. So while this is a cool idea, I’m pretty sure it’s not a new idea! People have probably been using this trick for as long as there have been cookie cutters ❤️However, this is the first time I’ve seen them used to make an actual cake, which is genius!
Annie
I think we can probably thank the Swedes or some other Scandinavian citizen(s) for pancake molds :-).
The Vegan 8
Haha Annie! Well they are certainly smarter than me! By the way ladies, my comment wasn’t me claiming to come up with the idea at all, I just personally hadn’t seen it before and to ME, it was new in my mind, who knew there were actual pancake molds out there??!! Haha! I was simply saying to Richa how cool is it that she does the same thing! And I agree, doing pancakes as a no-bake cake is brilliant, this is Richa’s awesome mind!
Emma
Hi. Was curious as to what size cookie cutter you use. thanks!
Richa
I use a 3.5 inch cookie cutter. you can use 3.5 , 4 or 4.5 inch