Eggless Chocolate Cake

This easy recipe for an eggless chocolate cake is mixed by hand without a mixer, in one bowl, just like cake mix. This recipe is perfect for a chocolate layer cake or for cupcakes. It's my go-to chocolate birthday cake.

Did you know that commercial cake mixes sold in grocery stores were actually developed to be made without eggs? But home bakers found it odd to make cake without using eggs, so cake mix brands quickly added eggs to the instructions to make home bakers feel more comfortable using cake mix.

This is my go-to base recipe for chocolate birthday cakes. I used it to make this berry chocolate cake, which is a frosted chocolate layer cake topped with fresh berries and this chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting, which is decorated with chocolate sprinkles.

Jump to:

• What You Need to Make Chocolate Cake Without Eggs
• Substitutions and Variations
• How to Make It
• Eggless Chocolate Cake Baking FAQs
• Frostings For Chocolate Layer Cake
• Other Eggless Baking Recipes to Try
• 📖 Recipe

What You Need to Make Chocolate Cake Without Eggs

To make a chocolate cake without eggs, you actually don't need anything special, and you likely already have the ingredients in your pantry! Here's what you need:

• milk—whole or 2 % cow's milk, non-dairy beverage (like soy milk), or even water will work in this recipe
• vinegar, either plain white vinegar or cider vinegar, to react with baking soda to help the cake rise as it bakes
• all-purpose flour to give the cake structure
• baking soda to help the cake rise. Do not use baking powder here. Read about baking powder versus baking soda if you don't understand how they differ.
• cocoa powder, preferably a high-quality Dutch-processed cocoa powder like Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder, which is my favourite
• salt, preferably Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount
• sugar, specifically brown sugar, either light or dark, or even granulated sugar will work
• neutral-tasting oil like canola oil, vegetable oil, or a very light-tasting olive oil. Don't use extra virgin olive oil which has too much flavour for this cake
• vanilla extract to enhance the flavour

Substitutions and Variations

• Milk—This eggless chocolate cake recipe is made with milk, so it's vegetarian, not vegan, but you could replace the cow's milk with your favourite non-dairy beverage, like soy milk, almond milk, or oat milk, if you want a vegan chocolate cake.
• Vinegar—I usually use regular white vinegar but you could also use apple cider vinegar. You need the acidity of the vinegar for the baking soda to react. Do not omit the vinegar or else replace the milk+vinegar with buttermilk (see next bullet point).
• Buttermilk—You can replace the combination of milk and vinegar with 1 cup (250 mL) of buttermilk. This will allow you to skip the vinegar but still bring that acidity necessary for the leavening agent to react.
• Sugar—The brown sugar can be replaced with regular granulated sugar or granulated cane sugar. Either will work great! Do not use turbinado or a coarse sugar, which won't dissolve properly and will have a negative impact on taste and texture.
• Oil—I always bake with canola oil, but you could replace it with a light olive oil or grapeseed oil.
• Cocoa powder—I bake with a Dutch-processed cocoa powder. This recipe will likely work with natural (non-Dutch-processed) cocoa powder.

How to Make It

This chocolate cake couldn't be easier to make because it uses the two-bowl mixing method (also called the muffin mixing method). It's the same method as cake mix, actually, where the wet ingredients are added to the bowl with the dry ingredients, and stirred together to combine them.

Step 1—Whisk the wet ingredients together in a large measuring cup, including the sugar (image 1). Sift the dry ingredients in a large bowl (image 2).

Step 2—Pour the wet ingredients over the dry (image 3) and mix the two together to form a smooth chocolate cake batter (image 4). I like to use a Danish dough whisk for this task.

Step 3—Divide the cake batter between three buttered and floured 6-inch cake pans (or dusted with cocoa powder) (image 5). Make sure the cake batter is level in the pans by briefly spinning them on the counter. Band them a couple of times on the counter to release any big bubbles (image 6).

Step 4—Bake the cakes on the middle rack of the oven (image 7), checking them with a cake tester to ensure they are baked through. Set them on a cooling rack to firm up before unmoulding with the help of an offset spatula.

Eggless Chocolate Cake Baking FAQs

Frostings For Chocolate Layer Cake

Once you've mastered this recipe for chocolate cake without eggs, you can pair it with:

• chocolate fudge frosting, made with either milk or dark chocolate to make the quintessential chocolate birthday cake
• thick cream cheese frosting with powdered sugar or white chocolate cream cheese frosting without powdered sugar to make a delicious cream cheese chocolate cake (my favourite!)
• a sophisticated Italian meringue buttercream that is less sweet and which you can flavour in so many ways!

Other Eggless Baking Recipes to Try

If you tried this recipe for the eggless chocolate cake (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

📖 Recipe