Chocolate Wedding Cake: Vegan Chocolate Cake with Dairy Free Ganache
There is no baking challenge more intimidating than the wedding cake- with it’s towering tiers and delicate lines, this feat of engineering is not to be taken on lightly. For those daring enough to take on this challenge, this chocolate wedding cake is completely vegan- no eggs or dairy needed- and a sweet way for a couple to start their married life. The chocolate sponge sandwiches a rich, creamy, dark chocolate ganache, and the whole cake is covered in a simple vanilla buttercream (to keep that white wedding cake look). This chocolate wedding cake also doesn’t have any fancy, expensive, or hard to find ingredients in it, to keep your job as the wedding cake baker a little simpler. Plus, I’ll go over some of the “how to” of making a wedding cake, the tools you might need and where to find them, as well as how to use this recipe for a normal, non-wedding cake.
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Dedication: This chocolate wedding cake was developed for my strong, funny, generous, and super chill best friend Alex and her now-husband Dave. They are such a kind and loving couple, who are patient and understand of each other, and have endless love and support for their friends. I wish for you many, many years of happiness to come, and their love deepens as they grow and evolve together as they build their life.
Can I make a wedding cake? How Hard is a Homemade Wedding Cake?
Yes, you can make a wedding cake! But it won’t be easy. The ability for you to make a successful cake is going to depend most on one thing- practice. Practice, practice, practice. Get ready to eat so much chocolate cake, you’ll never want to touch the stuff again. Find some friends you can pawn cake off on. Maybe leave it in the breakroom at the office. They more you’ve practiced making wedding cakes, the more confident you’ll be on the day you actually have to put one together. If you’re not willing to put in the time to practice making wedding cakes, I wouldn’t recommend making one- there’s just too much that can go wrong. Also be prepared for it to take time- I spread my wedding cake making over 3 days (the last day was pretty quick though), and was very glad to have that time. If you try and do it all in a day, or two, you will probably end up regretting it. If you give yourself ample time, practice, and be prepared to take on issues as they come, you can totally make a homemade vegan wedding cake!
Should I Make my Own Wedding Cake?
No, if you are the bride or groom, you should not make your own wedding cake. With all the other responsibilities you have on your wedding day, taking on one more will not end well- especially baking a cake, where disaster, fallen tiers, melting buttercream, missed cake boards, crumbing layers, and forgotten toppers can threaten you at any moment. You don’t need that kind of stress- spend the extra energy you have connecting with your friends and family, enjoying your new spouse to be, and trying to remove stress from your big day. Let someone else worry about the cake.
Is this a Healthy Chocolate Wedding Cake?
No, no it is not. Like most wedding cakes, it is filled with sugar and fat, and it’s delicious for that. I am a strong believer that it’s good to have unhealthy food sometimes, and wedding cake is definitely one of those times. You can be happy knowing that while this isn’t healthy for you, you didn’t harm any chickens or cows in the creation of this wedding cake. Think of it as a happy, compassionate cake, giving you all the more reason to celebrate.
I just want a Vegan Chocolate Cake (not a wedding cake)
If you wanted to make a one-tiered cake for a non-wedding occasion, you’re in luck! With all the bells and whistles gone, you’re left with a simple, delicious, vegan chocolate cake. The recipe below is for a 9-inch cake- ignore any mentions of tiering, dowels, 12-inch or 6-inch layers, and instead just make the 9-inch cake. Still make the two sponges, and layer the ganache between them. You can ignore step six of the directions completely. Try topping your non-wedding vegan chocolate cake with raspberries, chocolate truffles, or even using more chocolate ganache as the frosting. Make sure to show us your chocolate cake creations by tagging us on social media!
Just want chocolate? Try one of these other Chocolate Recipes
- No-Bake Chocolate Espresso Fudge Cake
- Nut-Free Sunflower Seed Butter Vegan Chocolate Cups
- Salted Dark Chocolate Vegan Blackberry Brownies
- Vegan White Chocolate Granola with Wild Blueberries
- Chocolate Coated Cranberry Wood Ear Mushrooms
Making Vegan Buttercream and Warm Weather
A huge part of wedding cake making is in the buttercream- you can use it to keep a cracked cake together, to glue the cakes down to the boards, as the dam that keeps the ganache inside, to soften the ganache, to frost the entire cake, and to keep it looking smooth and even. You can actually buy pre-made buttercream (although check the ingredients carefully, as egg whites are often a hidden ingredient) but since the ingredients to make buttercream are so cheap, it’s not really worth it in my opinion. The age old debate in buttercream is weather to use butter (or a vegan butter, in this case) or vegetable shortening. I chose an all vegetable shortening buttercream, and here’s why. Firstly, vegetable shortening is more heat-resistant than butter- it will still melt on the 90 degree day I ended up serving this, but butter will melt much more quickly. Secondly, vegetable shortening is cheap and widely available. Thirdly, there is a huge amount of variation in the vegan butter options, and the moisture content in them varies wildly- this is a simpler way to make sure that we can all replicate this frosting. Finally, vegetable shortening allows you to make a pure white buttercream, which is beautiful for wedding cakes (note that if this is a big priority for you, look for clear vanilla extract as well).
One of the downsides of a vegetable shortening buttercream is that people will often perceive it as being more sweet than a buttercream made with butter, despite the same amount of sugar. If you’re less concerned with the reasons for using shortening stated above, you can experiment with substituting around half of the shortening for a vegan butter alternative, and see if you prefer that flavor more.
Dairy Free Ganache- Tips and Tricks
When I decided to fill this cake with a chocolate ganache center, I started to get a little nervous when I looked at recipes- they basically all used heavy cream or sweet and condensed milk. The typical vegan substation there is coconut milk or coconut cream, and I tend to want to avoid those in baking for the same reason I avoid vegan butter- the fat to water ratio in coconut milk varies a lot between brands! Plus, although many people like coconut, it’s a flavor many others don’t enjoy, so I’d rather keep it out of my chocolate cake. The answer actually came in another coconut product- refined coconut oil (which is devoid of coconut flavor). By adding some of that fat to a vegan milk, you can mimic the properties of heavy cream. Here’s how you make ganache-
- Grate or finely chop your chocolate. Choose a good quality, delicious tasting chocolate for the best ganache. Make sure there aren’t any big chucks, or they won’t melt well, and stick it all in a heat proof bowl.
- Add your vegan milk, coconut oil, and a pinch of salt to a small saucepan. Heat it up, stirring frequently, until the milk starts to steam and is about to boil- but don’t let it boil!
- Pour that milk (now “heavy cream”) over your chocolate. Now do nothing, for 5 minutes. It’s hard, I know. Maybe you can wash out that saucepan.
- After waiting five minutes, use a silicone spatula to mix the chocolate ganache up. The chocolate should have melted, and as you mix it will start to incorporate the “cream” to create a smooth, glossy, silky sauce.
- Let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour (if you’re in a really warm place or in a rush, do this in the fridge). Every 10 minutes or so, give it a good mix. Once it becomes more solid, add the buttercream to the ganache, folding well until it’s fully incorporated.
- Give it a taste and spread on your cake. Try not to give it too many tastes, and make sure those who are “over tasters” (like my boyfriend and many small children) are far away.
How to Make a Wedding Cake
This is really the crux of the post- how to make a wedding cake. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- if you, as an amateur baker, have any hope of pulling off a homemade wedding cake, you need to practice. You’ll never really understand what you don’t understand if you haven’t tried it before- and you don’t want to have to start learning how to frost a cake the day of the event. I aimed this post at the wedding cake amateur, but I do assume you have some experience baking. No need to be professional, but ideally you would have some experience before you attempt a wedding cake, and understand basics like making a batter, testing a cake for doneness, and have a little experience spreading frosting. All these things can be learned, of course, but the more practice you can get at baking the better.
Chocolate Wedding Cake Timing
Plan ahead of time. Make sure to practice making a full wedding cake at least once before the real day, enough in advance that you can learn any skills you needed or buy supplies you were missing. For the actual event, try to spread out the cake process a little. Obviously you don’t want to bake the sponges too far ahead of time as they will dry out and get old, but 2-4 days in advance should be fine. I made my cake over the course of three days- day one, I baked and leveled my cakes. Day two I frosted and filled the cakes. And day three, the day of the wedding, I stacked and decorated my cakes on-site. I found it really helpful to make a detailed checklist of what I needed to accomplish each day, so that I didn’t miss a step and got the order of what needed to be done correctly. I’ve added my list here for you all- think of it as a template, and make sure you modify it so it makes sense for you. Those practice cakes I keep encouraging are a perfect time to make sure that your checklist has everything it needs to keep you on track.
For my step-to-step checklist, click here.
How to Make Tiers and Use Dowels
I want to take a little time here to talk about tiered cakes, because that’s the element of wedding cakes that most amateur bakers will be least familiar with- I know I had no idea how to work dowels until I started this project. First things first- tiers are not the same as layers- this is a three tier cake (the number of differently sized cakes), but each one of those cakes is made with two layers (the number of sponges in each tier). Since cakes are soft and heavy, you can’t expect them to hold each other up without some help. Because of that, each cake has a cake board underneath- a small, cardboard disc that supports that individual cake and gives it a rigid base. These cake boards shouldn’t be placed fully on the larger cake either- that’s why we use dowels. I used to think that dowels were used to keep the layers of a cake together, but actually they are used sort of like stilts to support the cake above it. Dowels- small wooden sticks- need to be cut to just the tiniest bit shorter than the cake they are being stuck in and then sharpened to a point. For our 12-inch cake we cut 6 dowels, for the 9-inch cake we cut 4 dowels, and then we had one, super-long dowel we used to travel through all three tiers of the cake.
When you insert the dowels into the cake, do so pointy-side down, pushing until it hits the bottom cardboard. Arrange the dowels evenly in a circle, just where the circumference of the smaller cake above it will sit. When you gently stack the cakes on top of each other, the tier above should then be supported by the dowels rather than pushing into the center of the soft cake. The smaller dowels can be added as soon as the cake is frosted, but the final dowel can only be placed when you have the final cake stacked. Measure a dowel so it’s as tall as most of the cake, ending about 3/4 of the way into the top tier. And now the fun part- in the very center of the cake, push the dowel straight down so it penetrates the cake and the cardboard underneath. Use another dowel to push it all the way down, until it hits the cake drum at the bottom.
When serving the cake, pop the top tier off first. Then remove the center dowel, and take the middle tier off the bottom one. Use clean, cake-only pliers to remove the smaller dowels from the layers, and add a little more buttercream to cover the bald spots that may occur when the cake is disassembled.
Tools You Need to Bake a Wedding Cake
- Cake pans (2 of each size)
- Parchment paper, to line pans
- Cooking spray
- Flour (for flouring pans)
- Kitchen scale
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Whisk
- Cooling rack for cakes
- Cake leveler or serrated knife
- Plastic wrap
- Stand mixer, for frosting
- Sharp knife and cutting board, or grater for ganache
- Small saucepan and bowls to make ganache
- Silicone spatulas
- Cake turntable
- Piping bags and tips
- Cake lifter
- Icing spatulas
- Bench scraper, to smooth sides of the cake
- Dowels
- Tools to cut and sharpen dowels
- Cake boards
- Cake drum (to hold finished cake)
- Cake boxes (to transport cakes)
- Fresh flowers or other cake decorations
- Cake topper, if using (no need to be traditional- try something unique and personal by looking on Etsy)
- Clean, unused pliers to remove dowels
- Knife and cake serving tools
- Plates, to serve cake
This might not be a comprehensive list, and some of these tools you may not use. You can find many of these tools at ordinary grocery stores, but others you will have to find at specialized stores. If you can find a cake supply store, you’re in luck! If not, try purchasing items online. I used this website to get many of the items I need. Also look at craft stores like Joann Fabric or Michaels, as well as party stores (like Party City).
Vegan Chocolate Wedding Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups of cake flour (452g)
- 1 ¾ cup cane sugar (346g)
- ¾ cup cocoa powder (64g)
- 1 tbsp. baking soda (14g)
- 1 tsp. salt (5g)
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil (147g)
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract (8g)
- 2 cups water (473g)
- 4 ounces dark chocolate
- ¼ cup plant-based milk
- 2 tbsp. coconut oil
- Pinch of salt
- ½ cup vegan buttercream (see recipe below)
- ½ cup vegetable shortening (95g)
- 3 cups powdered sugar (375g)
- 4 tbsp. plant-based milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Prepare two 9-inch baking pans with grease, parchment paper, and flour (see full post for details on preparing pans). Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Measure all the dry cake ingredients (use weight rather than cups for more exact measurements) into a large bowl and whisk together. Add the wet ingredients in a separate large bowl and whisk. Combine all the ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Divide the batter equally between the two pans (that’s about 755g per pan, for those weighing), and place in the preheated oven. Cook for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (the smaller 6-inch cakes should take about 40 minutes at the same temperature, and the 12-inch cakes will need about 60 minutes).
- Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool fully before removing from the pan. Place cakes in the refrigerator until cool to the touch, before using a serrated knife or cake lever to level the tops of the cakes. Wrap in plastic wrap and return to the fridge. If possible, do this the day before frosting the cakes so you have time to recover if a cake doesn’t bake well.
- Prepare a batch of buttercream by adding all the ingredients to a mixer and mixing until smooth, scraping down the sides once or twice. Put a little aside and mix in extra powdered sugar to create an extra-thick buttercream, and place that in a piping bag to use as a dam (if you are doing a three-level cake, make an entire batch of extra-thick butter cream by simply adding 3 tbsp. of soymilk instead of 4, and use this for the dam on all three levels). Make sure you have enough buttercream leftover for the ganache, and make another batch if necessary.
- Next make the ganache. Shave or finely chop the chocolate and place in a heat-safe bowl. Next add the milk, coconut oil, and salt in a small saucepan, and heat, stirring, until it is well mixed and almost boiling. Pour over the chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes. Then stir well, until it is smooth. Fold in the buttercream. Let sit for a while, stirring every 10 or so minutes, until it is thick and spreadable instead of pourable. If you are in a rush, you can let it cool in the fridge.
- Use a little buttercream to “glue” down one of the cakes to a cake board. Start by using the extra-thick buttercream and making a dam but piping a thick border with no gaps around the top circumference of the cake. Place the ganache inside the dam and spread so it is evenly covering the top of the cakes surface. Place the second cake centered on top of the ganache. Use regular, not extra-thick buttercream to create a crumb-coat on the top and sides of the cake (continue making more buttercream as needed throughout the frosting process). Refrigerate until set, and then add another layer of buttercream to the top and sides of the cake.
- If making a tiered cake, cut dowels slightly shorter than the height of your cake. Use 6 dowels in the 12-inch tier, and 4 in the 9-inch tier. Place them evenly in a circle, right where the tier above will sit. Once you stack the cake, add a center dowel that goes through the two bottom tiers and most of the top tier. Pipe a buttercream border around the cakes, and decorate the cake with fresh flowers, or as desired. To serve, unstack the tiers and remove the dowels- you make want some extra buttercream on hand to cover up any bald patches that the unstacking process creates. Caution- this cake is somewhat heat sensitive. It is not the best option for an outdoor wedding in very warm weather (I know from experience).
Notes
Makes 2 9-inch cakes for one 9-inch tier. For 6-inch cakes, cut recipe in half. For 12-inch cakes, double recipe. Amount of buttercream needed may vary.
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