Eggless Chocolate Cake Recipe

Eggless Chocolate Cake Recipe

How to make the best eggless chocolate cake recipe with ermine frosting. Tastes so good, you won't even notice it's eggless!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 40

Servings cups

Calories 1694kcal

Author Elizabeth Marek

Ingredients

Eggless Chocolate Cake

12 ounces all purpose flour
16 ounces granulated sugar
4.5 ounces natural cocoa powder like Hershey's
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
5 ounces unsweetened applesauce
9 ounces buttermilk or regular milk plus 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar
9 ounces hot coffee
5 ounces vegetable oil
1 Tablespoons vanilla extract

Ermine Buttercream

14 ounces granulated sugar
3 ounces all-purpose flour
16 ounces milk
16 ounces unsalted butter softened but not melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Eggless Chocolate Cake

Preheat your oven to 350ºF and prepare two 8"x2" cake pans with cake goop or another preferred type of pan release and parchment paper.
Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on low for a few seconds until combined. You can also do this with a hand mixer and a large bowl if you prefer.
Add in the applesauce, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape the bowl.
Turn the mixer down to low and add in the hot coffee and mix until just it's just combined.
Pour the batter into your prepared cake pans.
Bake the cakes in your preheated oven for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes and then flip them out to cool on a wire rack. I wrap my cakes in plastic wrap and freeze them for at least 30 minutes to lock in moisture.

Making ermine frosting

Whisk together your flour and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook for about 2 minutes to toast the flour. Be careful not to burn it!
Slowly add in your milk, whisk to combine, and bring your heat to medium-high.
Bring the mixture to a simmer, whisk continuously until it is thick and pudding-like. Once it's simmering, cook for one minute more to make sure the flour taste is cooked out.
(Optional) If your mixture has any lumps, place a colander on top of a heat-proof bowl and push your mixture through and into the bowl. Transfer the mixture into a heat-proof bowl or a shallow cake pan if you want it to cool down faster.
Cover the mixture with plastic wrap so that it is touching the surface without any air bubbles in between, this will prevent a skin from forming on the top of the mixture. Let cool in the refrigerator for a few hours until it's completely cooled down. Or you can spread it onto a sheet pan and freeze it for 30 minutes to cool faster. If it's even a little warm it will melt your butter later.
Add your softened butter to the bowl of your stand mixer and whisk on high until very light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Place the cooled flour mixture into a piping bag and slowly pipe it into your butter as you whip at medium speed. Incorporating the base slowly ensures a smooth buttercream.
Add in your vanilla and salt, then mix until everything is light and creamy. If you have a lot of bubbles you can mix your frosting on low with the paddle attachment to make it smoother. Ermine frosting sets up after a few hours, so you'll want to use it immediately. It does not freeze or store well.

Assembling the cake

Trim the domes off your cooled cake so it's nice and level.
Add a nice thick layer of your ermine frosting on top and make it even with your offset spatula.
Add your second layer of cake on top.
Frost the entire cake in a thin layer of ermine frosting and then refrigerate it for 15 minutes to set the crumb coat.
Apply your final coat of buttercream and smooth out the edges.
Use a 1M piping tip in a piping bag to add a rope border around the top of the cake and finish with some fun sprinkles.

Video

Notes

No buttermilk? You can make your own buttermilk
Weigh your ingredients to avoid cake failure. Using a kitchen scale for baking is super easy and gives you the best results every single time.
Make sure all your cold ingredients are room temperature or slightly warm (butter, milk, eggs, to create a cohesive batter. Curdled batter causes cakes to collapse.
Make your own pan release (cake goop!) The best pan release ever!
Need more help with making your first cake? Check out my how to decorate your first cake blog post.
A stand mixer works best for this cake recipe, but you can also use a hand mixer. Just go by look and consistency instead of time while mixing, you will have to mix for longer. I use a Bosch Universal Plus mixer!

Nutrition