This Vegan Chocolate Cake is moist, rich in flavour and incredibly delicious… you won’t believe it’s made out of a vegetable: the eggplant! No flavours or textures compromised at all. All you need is 10 pantry staple ingredients to make this chocolate decadence.
It’s here, it’s here! I’m so excited to finally share today’s recipe for the most delicious chocolate cake recipe- like ever. And this is crazy to me because it eggplant in it! Yup, you read that right. The main ingredient for this cake is eggplant.
Only 10 ingredients used here, and you probably already have them in your pantry!
- eggplants
- chocolate chips
- maple syrup
- vinegar
- cacao powder
- cake flour (or gluten free all purpose flour)
- almond flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- chia seeds
And you can add some vanilla, instant coffee and salt for a hint more of flavour!
Not only are these Chocolate Cakes actually healthy, but they’re so easy and simple to make! Steam eggplant. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Blend wet ingredients + chocolate together. Mix everything together. Divide into large muffin tins/cake tins. Bake. And I think quite honestly, the hardest part to this cake is waiting for them to finish and cool! But no worries, in the mean time you can whip up some healthy chocolate frosting to pass the time- which also happen to be made out of a vegetable too 😉
So. Dang. Delicious.
The back end to the story of these Chocolate Cakes made with Eggplant: I was originally planning to make a chocolate cake using more a more common oil substitution that I think most of us know by now: apple sauce. I went digging for it in my pantry but I couldn’t find it anywhere and then I looked outside, basically a snow storm so going to the grocery store for one ingredient didn’t appeal to me too much. I looked around in my fridge and remember seeing zucchini the morning before, how about zucchini chocolate cake? Well, apparently my mom used it for dinner. Then I saw two beautiful purple eggplants in the back of the fridge, and then it hit me. Why not eggplant? If you can use sweet potatoes in brownies, zucchini in muffins, squashes and apples for baked goods… there’s hope. And I am so glad I went with this route because holy moly, it was one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve had (and I am not comparing this to vegan or healthy chocolate cakes, I mean like… ever). The eggplant gives it so much moisture, it makes it insanely rich. My mom is super picky when it comes to her desserts, and she absolutely LOVED this chocolate cake. If you love chocolate, you’re in for a treat.
Why these Vegan Chocolate Cake made with Eggplant are so insanely perfect… they’re:
- rich
- ultra moist
- super chocolate-y
- so simple and easy to make
- MADE WITH EGGPLANT
- and SO decadent!
Tips and Tricks to making Vegan Chocolate Cake with Eggplant
- I have used both Globe eggplant and Japanese eggplant and have found the Japanese variety to be much more superior in terms of flavour and taste. The globe may leave bits of seeds (especially if not a high speed blender) and a much more bitter flavour. I highly recommend using the Japanese variety if you have access to it!
- I used a large 6 piece muffin tin for these cakes. I have not yet tried it with a smaller muffin tin or large cake tin so time in the oven may vary. For the larger cake tin, I would go with the 30 minutes and then check to see doneness with a tooth pick and add time as needed until it does come out clean. For smaller muffin tins, I would start with 25 minutes and check for doneness and add time as needed.
- These cakes are best served warm, but can also be made ahead! They’ll last 4 days in the fridge or can also be frozen.
- If you prefer a more CAKE-Y chocolate cake: substitute the maple syrup for coconut sugar and add an additional tbsp of cake flour (20g)!
If you recreate these Vegan Chocolate Cakes made with Eggplant please share it and let me know what you think by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
PrintVegan Chocolate Cake made with Eggplant
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants, steamed (300g raw)
- 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp vinegar (ACV or balsamic)
- 2/3 cup cacao powder (58g)
- 2/3 cup cake flour OR all purpose gluten free flour blend (80g)
- 1/4 cup almond flour (30g)
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 chia egg (1 tbsp ground chia seeds 2 tbsp water)
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Chop the eggplant and steam until tender (around 5 minutes)
- In a large bowl, sift and mix in the cacao powder, cake flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
- In a blender, add in the cooked eggplant, chocolate chips, maple syrup, vanilla and vinegar and blend until smooth
- Pour mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix
- Half way through, add in the chia egg and fold to mix
- Divide the batter into 6 large greased muffin tins*
- Place into oven for 30 minutes rotating half way or until toothpick comes out clean
- Serve with chocolate frosting (or your favourite frosting recipe)!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
Save it for later! ↓
What size of eggplant? We have so many types on our garden and non of them are the famous Italian type. We prefer the ones you don’t have to seed.
Awesome recipe. We replaced the maple syrup with date syrup and did not use any salt to make this a no SOS recipe and it was terrific. Everytime I opened the container the smell of the chocolatey muffins made me crave them.
Hi Lisa!
I would like to cook this recipe for some friends, but one is allergic to nuts. Do you think it is possible to replace the almond flour for another nut-free option?
Thanks!
This was absolutely divine, so rich and chocolatey and delicious! I made this for my family and they loved it and were shocked when I told them it was made of eggplant. I’ve been vegan for nearly 5 years and this is the first vegan cake I’ve ever baked but it definitely made my birthday extra special. Thanks so much for the recipe Lisa!!
Holy moly this is – hands down – the fluffiest yet rich and decadent chocolate muffin! I will definitely be making this again and again 😍🤎 thanks for sharing!!
So happy to hear you enjoyed!
Very surprised by the fact we can use eggplant for cake ! I cooked these cute muffins for snack and it is pretty good. Also my family found it very satisfying and rich in flavour. For chocolate lover it is perfect 🙂