Vegan German Chocolate Cake
My husband Jeffrey loved German Chocolate Cake for his birthdays when he was young and I love recreating healthy plant-based versions of classic cakes. So today we have this scrumptious two layer, whole food, plant-based Vegan German Chocolate Cake that will knock your socks off! The dark chocolate cake layers are topped with a creamy, coconut and pecan frosting that is pure heaven and the entire cake is refined sugar-free, oil-free, eggless, and gluten-free.
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 cups organic rolled oats ground into flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp ground flax
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1 ½ cups deglet dates or medjool dates
- 2 cups very hot water
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup soy milk unsweetened, or plant based milk of your choice
Frosting
- 1 ½ cup deglet dates or medjool dates
- 1 ½ cup soy milk unsweetened, or plant based milk of your choice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup organic rolled oats
- 1 ½ cup shredded coconut unsweetened
- 1 cup pecans chopped finely and lightly toasted in oven
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Whisk together the oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground flax and cocoa powder.
- Blend together the dates, hot water, vinegar, vanilla and soy milk in a blender.
- Stir the blended mixture into the flour mixture and mix well.
- Pour equally into two 9 inch silicone cake pans or two parchment lined pans.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Let cool thoroughly.
Frosting
- Blend together the dates, soy milk, vanilla and oats in a blender until smooth.
- Pour into a bowl and stir in the coconut and pecans.
- Place one of the cakes on a plate or cake stand.
- Use half of the frosting to frost the top surface of that cake.
- Place the other cake on the top of the frosting layer.
- Frost the top of that cake leaving the sides bare.
- Optional: Decorate the top of the cake with more toasted pecans
Nutrition
Calories: 436kcalCarbohydrates: 63gProtein: 10gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gSodium: 327mgPotassium: 709mgFiber: 13gSugar: 31gVitamin A: 195IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 193mgIron: 4mg
I use to love German Chocolate Cake. Thank you, Jill. I will be using carob instead of chocolate with a little bit of Dandy Blend to make it a bit more “chocolate-like”, and lemon juice instead of vinegar, it looks so good! Maybe I’ll make this for my birthday cake (early January) OH YES! Blessings.
De, can you share how much Dandy Blend you add to the recipe?
For the German cake can I use cacao powder instead of cocoa?
Yes
My husband also loves German Chocolate Cake. I had everything to make this and I enjoy it. Not too sweet and such a nice cake. I don’t usually like cakes since they can be much too sweet. This is so nice and balanced. The toasted pecans are a great touch. Thanks for all you do for us.
My batter was so thick right from the start. More like brownies than cake batter. I used the right measurements of ingredients. Any suggestions?
Hmmmm, not sure why that is but you can always add a little more liquid.
Mine was super thick too. I just smeared it in the pan and it baked well.
Wow, this was incredible!! Our family loves all your cakes but this might be our new favorite! THANK YOU!!!
How long would you bake this for if using 9.5″ x 13″ cakepan?
It will still be the same 20-25 minutes
Thank-you!
Wait, is it one Tbsp (as in the video) or 3 Tbsps baking powder (as in the written instructions)? That’s a big difference.
It is 3 teaspoons.
Hi Jill, I have cacao powder with 11% fat content that has made other cakes I’ve used it in slightly bitter. I’m planning to make the German Chocolate Cake for my husband’s birthday and can’t afford to get anything wring 😀 So with my cacao powder, do you think I should use the quantity indicated in your recipe or less? Thanks!
I wish I had an answer for you but honestly, I have no idea. You can always add a bit less cocoa powder just to be safe. I like really intense chocolate flavor so I always go a bit heavy with the cocoa powder.
Cakes are cooling, and waiting to be frosted right now. Just wondering, can I freeze the leftovers?
The cake yes but the frosting doesn’t do very well
Can we replace oats with something else??
In the frosting, the oats kind of act as a thickener, so maybe sub with a little flax meal, but probably not 1:1. I’d try 1 TBS.
In the cake, personally I’d look for a different chocolate cake recipe altogether instead of trying to sub it.
Just my two cents, for what it’s worth!
This cake is so good!!! It really hit the spot.
I did a half batch (so single layer cake). I ended up with the entire thin mint cake for myself after Christmas and while delicious, it was a LOT of cake. Tho this isn’t as dense as the thin mint one (I assume because there’s no almond flour).
My batter was very thick. Almost more like a tacky dough. But I just spread it in the pan and it baked just fine. Come to think of it, it’s likely because my dates were so dry. I probably could have added a little more water to off set that. But it worked out. I find that oat based cake recipes are quite forgiving.
Hello. This recipe looks delicious. I plan on making it next weekend for my husbands birthday. I already have some date paste. How much do you recommend of the paste in both the cake and frosting?
Thank you.
From a little searching online it looks like 1 cup pitted whole dates equals 1/2 cup date paste so I would use that measure.
I followed your recipe exactly using the same ingredients and quantities, the whole cake was delicious however the cake portion was not sweet at all, tasted like bread. What did I do wrong?
Thanks to the icing it was delicious
Sometimes it depends on the date. Some dates are sweeter than others. You could add a bit more to the mix but overall the cake part isn’t that sweet because the frosting is super sweet.
Will this work as mini cupcakes or regular cupcakes?
I love this cake.
Absolutely
Oh my goodness, this cake is fabulous. I followed the recipe to a T and it turned out perfect. I took it to work and my co-workers absolutely loved. I shared the recipe with 3 people. I told them about your website and videos.
I’m making more of your recipes. Definitely going to buy your cookbooks.
Thank you Carrie =) I’m so glad you all liked it.
Will the recipe work with wholemeal spelt or wheat flours?
I have never made this recipe with any other flours so I’m not sure if it will work or not, sorry
If I want to use Date Syrup instead of the Dates, am I correct that 1.5 cups dates = 1.5 cups or 12 oz. of date syrup? AND I would reduce the liquid by 20%?
I’m planning on doing this for both the cake & the frosting, as blending dates is just too hard on my blender, so any input is welcome! Thank you.
Hello Mary, that sounds about right but I have never done it so I hope it works out for you.
Thank you Jill.
Edit to my question, I meant to type: “reduce the liquid by 25%”, not 20%. Found that info. online. I’ll give it a try & see how it works.
Hi, I was wondering how much regular flour to substitute the oats in the cake?
I haven’t ever tried making this with regular four so I’m not really sure, sorry.