This chocolate brownie cake is an easy recipe made with 5 simple ingredients. Packed with chocolate flavor, it can be served warm, with ice cream, or at room temperature.
For more chocolate recipes, see our chocolate banana bread, chocolate custard, and egg-free brownies.
Check out our best plant-based dessert recipes!
What to expect
I wanted to make a brownie cake that was 100% plant-based (vegan), but at the same time easy to make, with the simplest ingredients and that won’t cost you a fortune.
For this recipe, you won’t need fancy ingredients like extracts, aromas, espresso powders, or several types of chocolate.
Also, I wanted this cake to taste delicious. Just like a great non-vegan brownie cake. No compromise on taste and texture here. My close-to-80-year-old picky Italian father loved this one!
So believe me, if you like chocolate and brownies you’ll love this vegan brownie cake. It has a full, rich dark chocolate flavor, it’s light, and it literally melts in your mouth.
You can serve it warm with ice cream or whipped cream. Or you can also serve it at room temperature with some tea or coffee.
Ps. For this recipe, I took inspiration from an Italian chocolate cake called “torta tenerina”, one of my favorite chocolate cakes in the whole world.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Dark chocolate: I like to use 70% + dark chocolate in bar form. Try to get a brand you like as this is going to give the chocolate flavour to the cake.
- Vegan butter or vegan margarine: either works. If you are not vegan you can of course use regular butter, but I encourage you to try the vegan one if you can.
- Sugar: I like to use plain white sugar.
- Aquafaba: this is the water from a can of chickpea and I use it to replace the eggs.
Trust me, you won’t be able to taste it in the cake. I add it because it adds a moist, melty texture to the cake, and it helps bind the other ingredients together.
Note that you can use aquafaba from a can of salted or unsalted chickepeas. I like to use aquafaba from a can of salted chickpeas. - All-purpose flour: you can replace it with semi-whole wheat flour if you like.
Equipment
- Electric hand mixer (electric whisk).
- Cake pan, preferably with removable bottom, also known as springform pan (9 inches – 23 cm)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350F or 180C. Then line the springform pan (cake pan) with parchment paper.
To make the parchment paper stick, you can first brush the inside of the cake pan with butter or oil.
STEP 1: melt the dark chocolate with the vegan butter.
To melt chocolate and butter, I use the double-boiler method. That is, in a pot add a couple of inches (5cm) of water. Add another pot or a heat-resistant bowl on top.
The top pot (or bowl) should not touch the water in the bottom pot.
Add the dark chocolate, chopped into pieces, to the top pot (or top bowl). Then add the butter. Also chopped in pieces.
Turn the heat on and bring the water in the bottom pot to a simmer.
As the water heats up and steam is released, the steam stays trapped between the two pots and will melt the chocolate and the butter.
Stir with a spoon while the chocolate melts.
You can also melt chocolate and butter in the microwave. To do that, chop them up and add them to a bowl.
Then heat them up in the microwave in intervals of about 30 seconds each on low power. Stir them at every interval, and continue until they are melted.
Once the chocolate and the butter are fully melted set them aside and move on to the next step.
STEP 2: beat up aquafaba and sugar
Strain the water in a can of chickpeas into a bowl. Make sure there are no chickpea pieces.
The chickpea water, called aquafaba, is a perfect egg replacement in many desserts. It acts as an efficient binder in vegan meringues and vegan ladyfingers too. You will not taste the chickpea flavor, I promise.
Add the sugar to the same bowl. Then with a hand mixer, beat up sugar and aquafaba for about 5 minutes.
You should get a slightly foamy, thickish liquid.
STEP 3: add melted chocolate to aquafaba
Pour the melted chocolate into the bowl with the aquafaba and mix with the hand mixer for just a minute, till fully incorporated.
STEP 4: add the flour
Add the flour to the mixture. I like to sift the flour to remove lumps. Mix with the hand mixer for about 1 minute until the flour is fully incorporated into the liquid.
Do not overmix, or your cake will get hard and gummy.
STEP 5: bake
Transfer the cake batter into the springform pan. Make sure you lined it with parchment paper beforehand.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350F or 180C. Then take out of the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing taking out the bottom from the springform pan.
You can serve this cake warm (but not hot) with some ice cream or whipped cream. You can also serve it at room temperature.
How to scale this recipe?
This recipe is easy to scale. We calculated the scaling number for you. Pick the springform pan that you want to use for your cake, then multiply all the ingredients in our recipe box by the scaling number in this table.
| Springform pan size | Scaling Number |
|---|---|
| 4 inch (10 cm) | 0.22 |
| 5 inch (13 cm) | 0.31 |
| 6 inch (15 cm) | 0.44 |
| 7 inch (18 cm) | 0.60 |
| 8 inch (20 cm) | 0.79 |
| 9 inch (23 cm) | 1 |
| 10 inch (25 cm) | 1.23 |
Storage
Store this easy chocolate brownie cake at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can keep it under a cake dome.
This cake is also suitable for freezing. Put it in a freezer bag, then freeze for up to two months. To thaw, either use a microwave or thaw in the refrigerator until soft again before eating it.
For many more easy dessert ideas, check out our desserts category page.
Easy chocolate brownie cake
Equipment
- Hand mixer
- Cake pan, preferably with removable bottom, also known as springform pan (9 inches – 23 cm)
Ingredients
- 7 ounces dark chocolate 70% minimum
- 3.5 ounces vegan butter or margarine
- 1 cup sugar
- 8 tablespoons aquafaba the water from a can of chickpeas
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F or 180C. Line your springform pan (or cake pan) with parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a bowl, melt the chocolate and the butter together. You can use a double-boiler or a microwave.
- In a separate bowl, add the water from a can of chickpeas (aquafaba) and the sugar. Mix with a hand mixer for 5 minutes till you get a foamy, thickish liquid.
- Add the melted chocolate to the bowl with the aquafaba sugar mixture. Mix with your hand mixer for 1 minute to incorporate the chocolate.
- Add the flour to the mix, sifting it first for best results. Mix with your hand mixer for another minute till the flour is fully incorporated. Important: do not over-mix!
- Transfer the batter into the springform pan and bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350F or 180C.
- Let cool down for 10 minutes before opening your springform pan. Then serve either warm or at room temperature. Ice cream and whipped cream (plant-based if possible) are great with this vegan chocolate brownie cake.
Notes
Nutrition
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Ciao Nico!
per la torta brownie o per il brownie come posso sostiyuire l’acquafaba? oppure la trovo nel supermercato?
grazie!
Ciao Elena,
L’aquafaba non è altro che l’acqua/il liquido che trovi in una scatola/lattina di ceci.
Filtrala bene con un colino per rimuovere i pezzettini di ceci e utilizzale come faccio vedere nella ricetta 🙂
Funziona un po’ come un’albume d’uovo.
wow am surprised …and very hppy ..so responsive and flexible to cater for the querries.thanks so much
Hi Nico,
The brownie cake looks amazing! I can’t believe I found an egg-free recipe for my daughter!
Can this cake be prepared using a mixer? If so, are there any adaptations needed?
Thanks!
Beatrice
Hi Beatrice,
Thanks for your comment. Do you mean stand mixer? If so, yes, you can use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment; it might take a few minutes longer to beat the aquafaba than with a hand mixer.
Thanks,
Nico
Yes, a stand mixer. Also, can I use gluten free (1 to 1) flour instead?
Hi Beatrice. Yes, you can use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment; it might take a few minutes longer to beat the aquafaba than with a hand mixer. We have never tried making the brownie cake with gluten-free flour, but a few of our readers have and loved the result. I hope that helps, let me know if you have any more questions. Kindest, Louise
Is it possible to substitute cacao for the chocolate? By blooming it and adding more butter? Or don’t bother and use the proper recipe? It would be nice to make with pantry ingredients.
Thank you
Hi Susan, thanks for the feedback! We tried with cacao and found that it didn’t give the kind of brownie-chocolate flavor we were looking for. But that being said, we will remake this cake soon and test again with cacao powder. Have a wonderful weekend! Cheers, Nico
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but it does look promising. Can I use carob chips instead of the chocolate?
Hi Olivene,
I’m so happy you like the recipe!
Yes, I believe you can use carob chips instead (1:1 ratio). Be mindful that the flavor profile of the cake is different as carob is less bitter than chocolate and has a naturally sweet flavor (carob chips are without added sugar).
Let us know how it turns out!
Kindest, Louise
Ciao both!
I wondered if you could let me know what you think would happen if I used panela instead of white sugar when adding it to the aquafaba? I’ve had a hilarious fail before as the two don’t seem to get along and bind with each other! I don’t use refined sugars and so I’m hoping as a fully peak-y aquafaba isn’t needed it could maybe work? Thank you both! 🙂
Hi There 🙂
I am not sure if panela would work in this recipe. It’s possible since, as you mentioned, the aquafaba doesn’t need to fully peak. I’m sorry we can’t be of more help 🙂
Nico
Questa torta è pazzesca!! Complimenti!! Sono vegana da anni ma da quando ho scoperto il tuo blog faccio solo le tue ricette, sei imbattibile! Hanno ingredienti semplici, sono spiegate benissimo, sono infallibili e soprattutto buonissime! Siete bravissimi! (Vado a tagliarmi un’altra fetta di torta 😄)
Grazie mille Alice,, sono felicissimo che ti sia piaciuta! Ci fa troppo piacere che ti riescono bene le nostre ricette 🙂 Allora buon appetito!!!