This chocolate cake doesn’t need eggs, butter or oil! It is fluffy and moist and tastes like regular cake even though it is healthier and lower in fat. It’s also an easy one-bowl recipe and only needs five ingredients.
I’ve shared some easy chocolate cake recipes this year that didn’t need eggs or butter. But this one goes a step further because it also doesn’t need any oil. The cake is a little healthier and lower in fat, but you can hardly tell. It’s still very moist and fluffy and tastes like a regular cake.
Ingredients
- Flour
- Cocoa Powder
- Baking Powder
- Sugar
- Whole Milk
Cocoa Powder
You can use either natural or dutch process cocoa powder for this cake. I recommend dutch process because it has a richer color and chocolate flavor.
Whole Milk
You can substitute whole milk with other milk alternatives as long as they have the same amount of fat as whole milk. Otherwise you will need to add some oil to the recipe.
Why this cake works
Even though this cake does not use butter, oil or eggs, it is still able to work because it uses the fat from the whole milk and cocoa powder.
Cake Forms
I made this as a simple one layer cake, but you can also divide up the batter to make cupcakes or double the batter to make a layered cake.
More Easy Cake Recipes
- 4 Ingredient Apple Cake (No Oil, Butter or Baking Powder)
- Snickerdoodle Crazy Cake (No Eggs, Butter or Milk)
- Pumpkin Cake (No Eggs, Butter or Milk)
Chocolate Cake (No Eggs, Butter or Oil)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour or whole wheat flour (see notes)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder dutch process or natural
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 cup granulated white sugar or brown sugar or coconut sugar (see notes)
- 1 1/3 cups whole milk
Chocolate Frosting (optional)
- 6 tbsp coconut oil melted
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder or cacao powder
- 6 tbsp maple syrup
CHOCOLATE GANACHE (OPTIONAL)
- 4 oz heavy cream
- 4 oz semisweet chocolate chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8 inch x 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Whisk together until evenly combined.
- Add in milk. Whisk until batter is smooth.
- Pour batter into prepared baking pan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean and top of cake bounces back when you apply light pressure. Let cake cool completely before frosting and cutting.
- To make chocolate frosting: combine oil and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Mix until smooth and completely combined. Your mixture should look like melted chocolate. Add in maple syrup last. Stir it in until it is evenly blended and the frosting thickens.
- To make chocolate ganache: Add chopped chocolate to a medium bowl. Bring heavy cream to a simmer on the stove. Pour heated heavy cream over chopped chocolate and immediately start to mix until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Let chocolate ganache cool at room temperature until it becomes firm enough for frosting the cake.
Notes
- You can add 1 tsp of vanilla and 1/4 tsp of salt for more flavor, but I was trying to keep the ingredient list as simple as possible.
- You can substitute half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. You can substitute the full amount with whole wheat flour as well but your cake will be drier and the cake crumb will be more coarse. If you do want to substitute the full amount for whole wheat flour, increase your milk to 1 1/2 cups.
- You can substitute white granulated sugar with light brown sugar (packed) or coconut sugar (packed).
- The nutrition estimate is for the cake without frosting.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
I followed the instructions perfectly. Put this
cake came out with a spongy consistency!
I’m thinking the batter perhaps needed to
Mixed on high speed vs whisked and combined
until smooth.
I also halved the recipe for the frosting with the
Simple 3 ingredients (ie 3 Tbls of cocoa powder,
maple syrup and coconut oil). It thickened beautifully
And was more than enough to frost the 8” round
Cake. My husband still thought the cake was ‘okay’
and he won’t let anything chocolate go to waste!
Thank you
We would make sure you are mixing it until everything is well combined!
Unfortunately I overcooked this cake and it didn’t turn out. I had a timer for 30min but the mix was quite low for the 8×8 inch tin so it probably only needed 20min or a double batch. Not sure what happened
Every oven is different – our bakes in 30 minutes, but depending on your oven the time may vary. That’s why we suggest checking the cake with a toothpick and test the cake to see if the top bounces bake when you lightly press it. When you say the batter was low, how far up the sides of the pan did it go when you poured it into the pan?
This recipe is amazing, I absolutely love it! I bake cupcakes with this recipe, with a teaspoon of jam (so far cherry jam and black currant jam have been a success!) in the middle or fresh raspberries… Perfect texture, great flavours. Although I had to convert everything to metric units, it was worth it! Thank you for keeping this recipe simple. After reading through your notes, I have been adding vanilla extract and salt in as well. Will definitely be trying out more recipes from your website! You have a new fan!
We’re so glad you’re enjoying the recipe! You can sign up for our Newsletter to get new recipes sent to your inbox so you don’t miss anything 🙂
I have tried this multiple times and it is always delicious. I eliminate sugar. I modify as below
– 1 cup whole wheat flour
– 1 cup milk
– 1 egg
– 1 cup mashed banana or dates
Turns out perfectly rich and moist every time. Never buying store made buttery/oily cake again
Thanks for sharing your adjustments!
Would this work with a 1 to 1 gluten-free flour? Has anyone tried? Would I need to add or substitute anything else?
We haven’t tried GF flour, but usually, cup for cup GF flour generally works well in other recipes that call for AP flour. Let us know if you try it!
Love love love, your recipes, I tried the apple loaf and its a winner. For this recipe, can I substitute the all purpose with self-raising and skip the baking powder?
We’re so glad you love the recipes! For this one, we haven’t tested it with self-rising flour and can’t say how it will work.
Thank you so much for this recipe I was looking for for a quick chocolate cake recipe that would be eggless and without fat
Can’t wait to try this recipe
We hope you like the recipe!
Thank you for the recipe! We will definitely be making this again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Hi Kirbie,
Thanks for sharing the recipe. Sounds good.. will definitely give it a go.. is it possible to give the measurements( in gms) of the ingredients? As I am new to baking I don’t want to muddle up..
Many thanks!
Sorry I don’t have the measurements in grams
This cake is DELICIOUS! Love the one bowl method and not many ingredients and ohhhhh so moist and tasty! DEFINITELY recommend! Thank you. ??
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Loved this recipe!!! 🙂 This was the first ever chocolate cake we made and it turned out really well. Had to bake for 5mins longer since we used a round baking tray.
I’m so glad it worked out well for you!
Just made this cake.
DELISH!
I made mine with cacao powder, spelt flour, brown sugar (I put half a cup) and homemade oat milk (which was blitzed for dates, hence reducing the sugar) so just upped the milk level and added oil (minimal is needed) as recommended. Turned out great!
Great healthier option. I mean it’s better than going to the supermarket and buying one from there! Going to make some banana yoghurt ice cream to have with it!
Thanks for sharing!
Keep safe
Thank you for sharing!
Hi there.. My family has multiple foid allergies.. Wondering if anyone has tried using a gluten free flour blend? Should we add oil as extra, or should it be mixed with the milk to make the same quantity? Thank you for any suggested input to try 🙂
Hi everyone can anyone suggest whether this cake is freezable or not
Thanks.
I haven’t tried, but I think it is
I loved very cute and yummy
The best cooking
I’m glad you enjoyed!
The cake It is healthier to me as I avoid eggs ,butter, and oil. .. Thanks for share the recipe.
I used coconut flower and alternative milK instead has been delicious! Everybody enjoyed so far.
Brown sugar it’s a very good idea , I’ll next time ! !
I really recommend the cake.
Thank you!
thank you for sharing!
I can’t see how refined carbohydrates are healthier than fat, sorry
I didn’t say refined carbs are healthier than fat. A classic cake is made with white flour, refined sugar, butter/oil and eggs. If you can sub any of these ingredients with something healthier, I call that a healthier version of the cake. If the cake is made with wheat flour instead of white it will be healthier. If it’s made with bananas or dates instead of white sugar it will be healthier. If it is made with milk instead of butter or oil, it is also healthier.
My kids love it! Thanks for the simple recipe.
I’m so happy to hear that!
This is one awesome option, ma’am,..especially for us vegans…and the texture is just…over the top ??
I’m so glad you like it!
What size pan should i get please…
listed in the very first step of the instructions
I like that you’re not putting unnecessary ingredients in.
Due to intolerances I made this with a couple of modifications – using coconut flour and brown sugar. Brown sugar is better than white IMO, but I only used it because there’s some left in the house – when that’s used I’ll be switching to coconut sugar. For the critics coconut flour is healthier and makes things much lighter and fluffier than other flours but you need to modify the quantities (1/4 cup coconut : 1 cup other).
I wasn’t going to add the ganache so I put some cocoa nibs in the cake. It tastes great 🙂
I’m glad you got it to work for you!
I tried prepared this cake with wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. It turned out delicious. Thank you for this recipe.
thank you for sharing!
Did you use the same quantity of wheat flour? I would like to give it a try.
This is very easy to bake
thank you for sharing!
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe because it’s so simple! Could you tell me how much oil I would need to add if I don’t have whole milk? The only milk my family drinks these days is plant-based.
It would really depend on what milk substitute you use and how much fat it contains. You would want to add enough oil to get you to the same fat content as the whole milk
I love chocolate cake and will defenitily try this. Thankyou
I hope you enjoy!
Hi. Can I use wheat flour for Chocolate Cake?
Thanks.
I have not tried it with wheat flour
Looks yummy..but definitely not healthy… It has all purpise flour and white sugar..if there were healthier alternatives for those..the label would fit.
I specifically did not say that this is a healthy chocolate cake. I titled it a healthier one, which it is because it eliminates butter eggs and oil making it lower in fat than your average chocolate cake.
Can you please give ingredients in English version for the choc cake
the ingredients are in English
Thanks for sharing. You did specify,. And a person wants to make healthy version they can easily substitute all the ingredients to oat or coconut flour and coconut or dates sugar.
The chocolate cake looks delicious, will definitely bake it this afternoon.
You are the best.
We love you
thank you for your kind words. I hope you enjoy the cake!
Wonderful receipe. Baked cake with a layer of coconut last 20 minutes. Didn’t have whole milk so I used 1 cup of cream and a smidge more than a 1/3 of non fat milk. Also 1 tsp of the suggested add on of vanilla. Wish I could add pictures that I snapped. Thank you for the post. Fast, easy, and delicious.
thank you for sharing your experience!
Love it without oil or butter. Will definitely try it out. Thank you for sharing!
hope you enjoy!