This cake has an exclamation mark in the title.
Yeah, it’s that good.
I went through a love affair with German chocolate cake. It began when I bought a tin of coconut/pecan frosting and forgot about it in the pantry for a while.
During a serious sugar craving, I rediscovered that baby and took a spoon to it. And I had to find out what cake used that frosting, because boy was it good.
Up until I made my own, I’d only ever had German chocolate cake in cupcake form. (I even ordered a dozen German chocolate cupcakes instead of a cake for my birthday once!)
This cake is seriously delicious. Although there’s no German chocolate to be seen in the cake (to keep it dairy-free), if you’re not vegan, feel free to sub out the vegan chocolate and replace it with the original German chocolate.
The cake is extremely rich and chocolate-y, which contrasts perfectly with the extremely sweet frosting.
Oh my god, this frosting.
Seriously, if you’re feeling lazy, just make the frosting. And eat it with a spoon, Medha style. Life is short.
I tried to put coconut into this frosting in as many ways as possible. The base is coconut milk, thickened with coconut flour and cornstarch, sweetened with coconut sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla, and made smooth and glossy with a touch of coconut oil.
This forms a dulce de leche-type sweetened coconut sauce that is to die for (and that I will 100% be using in other recipes later). Stir it into powdered sugar, add some coconut and chopped pecans, and you’ve got yourself a dairy-free, sugary sweet frosting!
Between the layers of deeply chocolate cake and the saccharine coconut/pecan goodness, this cake is hard to beat.
I’m probably going to go downstairs and cut myself another slice, like right now.
- 2 cups almond milk, room temp and divided
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1¼ cups applesauce
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1⅓ cups coconut sugar
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 8 oz vegan chocolate, melted (or sub German chocolate, if not vegan)
- ⅔ cup coconut oil, melted
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1- 14 oz can coconut milk
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease two 8-inch cake pans with coconut oil and dust with cocoa powder.
- Combine 1½ cups almond milk and the vinegar and let sit for a few minutes.
- Add in applesauce, vanilla, and remaining almond milk. Stir until well combined.
- Add flour, coconut sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and melted chocolate. Mix well until no lumps remain.
- Lastly, add coconut oil and stir until completely combined.
- Divide batter evenly between two prepared pans and bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until center is set and a toothpick can be cleanly removed. Cool on a wire rack.
- Meanwhile, over low-medium heat, combine coconut milk, coconut flour, cornstarch, and sugar. Stirring constantly, bring to a simmer or soft boil, and then remove from heat.
- Immediately stir in coconut oil, vanilla, and maple syrup until everything is melted and evenly combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift your powdered sugar and set aside.
- Add approximately ⅓-2/3 of your coconut confection syrup to the powdered sugar until the mixture reaches a frosting consistency. This may vary based on how smooth or thick you want your frosting.
- Add in coconut and pecans and stir well to combine. Let sit in fridge or freezer until assembly.
- Once fully cool, invert on cake round onto your platter. Spoon half of the frosting on top. Invert the second cake directly on top of the first, and top with remaining frosting. Garnish with additional pecans, if desired.
*cake adapted from here
I’m so impressed that this cake is vegan, Medha! I love it! German chocolate cake is one of my absolute favorites, so I can only imagine how good this must taste!
Thanks so much! I just realized I’m totally out of it and forgot to include the recipe, so that’ll be up later today 🙂
Medha,
This cake was amazing! Made it for my husband’s birthday and we all loved it!
Thanks for sharing, Lydia! So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Impressive cake. Pinned!!!
Thanks, Kathy! I’m not much of cake baker 🙂
Oh my – this “dulce de leche-type sweetened coconut sauce” frosting sounds heavenly! WOW! And your cake looks so decadently moist!
It is literally amazing. I’m using it in another recipe coming soon 🙂
Wow, this cake looks amazing! I love chocolate cake and german chocolate cake is even better. Love all the coconut that you used. Pinning
Thanks!
Wooooah yes please! This totally deserves the exclamation point. That frosting sounds amazing, and the whole cake is just too good to be true. Pinned!
Haha thanks! 🙂
Yummy!! German chocolate cake!! And its vegan.. girl you rock.!! 🙂
Thanks so much!
This cake looks amazingly delicious! Love that it’s vegan too.. thanks for the recipe Medha!
Of course and thank you! 🙂
I am so impressed with this cake, Medha! I love the frosting and all of the coconut, pinning this one!
Thanks for the pin, Danielle!
German chocolate cake deserves an exclamation point. It looks relish!!!
gahh, *delish
Thanks, Liz! 🙂
Medha, this looks absolutely delicious! We grew up on German chocolate cake and love your Coconut Confection Syrup 🙂
Thanks so much!
Wow girl, this cake is out of this world! I love love love german chocolate cake and the fact that you made this vegan is pure genius That coconut confection syrup sounds heavenly – I would try to find every excuse to slather this sauce on just about everything!
There’s another recipe down the line that uses it, so be on the lookout 🙂
Yep. That exclamation point is completely necessary where cakes as gorgeous as this are involved. Seriously I LOVE this cake, Medha! I’m kinda obsessed with anything-German chocolate. 🙂
Thanks so much!
Your German Chocolate cake sounds SO delicious. I have some coconut flour I need to use 🙂
p.s. You must try roasting chickpea – they’re so good roasted 🙂
LMK if you try it!!
I actually have to… I’m turning on the oven later today for a baking recipe, so I might stick some chickpeas in too 🙂
I have never tried making a german chocolate cake before. This looks amazing! Definitely worthy of the exclamation mark. Here, have some more:
!!!!!!
I want to try this!
Thanks so much!
Wow yum! I’m going ahead and saying since this is vegan, it’s healthy, and since it’s healthy, I can go to town on this bad boy! You like my logic?! Hahaha looks awesome!!!
That’s totally legit logic, Chris 🙂
German Chocolate cake is my absolute favorite! Seriously, I love it so much I could eat a whole one by myself! This looks fabulous!
I practically ate this whole cake 🙂 Thanks!
This looks so incredibly delicious, I want to eat it off the screen! (no joke haha). I’m definitely saving this recipe!
Thanks so much, Ayesha! LMK if you try it out 🙂
Drooling over here! I love german chocolate cake and for some reason never think to make it. You have reminded me to make it very soon!
Aw thanks, Rachel!
Way to go, Medha! Mouthwatering, chocolatey and absolutely beautiful! Worthy of many more exclamation points!!!!
Thanks so much 🙂
You said chocolate cake? I said yes please! Yum! These cake looks amazing, cant believe its vegan too.
I’m always saying chocolate cake 🙂 thanks!
Ooey gooey goodness! This cake looks so decadent and rich. I think I need a glass of milk just looking at it!
Haha thanks, Allison 🙂
Um, I want to eat this frosting with a spoon, or just my hands. Delicious and genius!
Thanks so much! I may have done all of the above 🙂
This looks magical 🙂
Thank you!
You’ve made one of my favorite cakes vegan…wow! I’m impressed, and I’m also craving a giant slice right now. It looks delicious!
One of my favorites too! 🙂
Having a major yum moment right now looking at these pictures. Need this cake in my life pronto!
Make it!!!!
We’ve got a can of coconut milk in the fridge right now. It’s just staring at me waiting to be used. I know exactly what to make now! This looks great! <3
Do it… And then let me know how it goes 🙂
That coconut confection syrup sounds amazing! You sure did find lots of ways to get coconut in this cake. Love it!
Thanks so much!
There really isn’t any frosting better than a German cake frosting! This is seriously the best ever! This cake looks so decadent and rich and delicious and I wish I had a huge piece for dessert right now!
Thank you 🙂
Hello Medha!
This German chocolate cake looks very inviting. Love when it is nice and moist! And the frosting, yummy, yummy!
Thanks so much!
Yep, this recipe would start a love affair with me too 🙂
We can double date 🙂
Yum, hard to believe that this is vegan!
Thanks, Tash 🙂
I’m making this on Saturday for my dad for his bday! I’m the high maintenance,compassionate vegan of the family, and he LOVED my non vegan GCC. I can’t wait to make this.
Does it matter if I use full fat camned coconut milk or should it be light??
Yay! Full fat would be even richer and creamier, so go right ahead! I just happened to have light in my pantry. Let me know how it goes 🙂
OMG!!! To die for. I haven’t eaten a full piece of cake with frosting yet, but a part of the cake stuck to the pan (I baked 40 mins and it was still a little soft on the inside, but I think it’s more moist than uncooked). So I tasted that, and of course I licked the spatula before I refrigerated the frosting! I cannot believe this cake is vegan!!! It is to die for. Thank you so much for this genius recipe!! My dad is going to die when he eats it!!!
Dusting the pans with lots of cocoa powder definitely helps keep from sticking 🙂 And yes the center could seem underdone, but it’ll set as the cake cools, don’t worry! I’m so glad you’re loving this recipe!
Hi Medha,
This cake sounds amazing and I want to make it tomorrow for a friends birthday! Question: How important is the coconut flour? It is quite pricey and not sure when I would use it again.
Thanks so much!
Hi! You can substitute coconut flour with cornstarch 1:1 🙂 LMK how you like it!
Made this cake yesterday and it was a hit with everyone! Not too rich, extremely moist, and just altogether perfect; lots of “I can’t believe it’s vegan!” Only modification I did: used 1/2 cup coconut oil instead of 2/3. Worked out fine. Found the cooking time took 35 minutes with my oven & altitude (~5000 ft).
I did use a different recipe for the icing, as I had no powdered sugar. I just blended together 2 cups shredded coconut flakes until it was like sawdust, added 2 cups pecans, a dash of vanilla extract & salt, and blended until I got a coconut-pecan buttercream-like frosting. Sugar free and delicious!
This is my favorite German Chocolate cake recipe, and I can’t wait to make it again. Yum 🙂
Great to hear! I’m so glad you were able to make the appropriate adjustments for your location 🙂 Your frosting sounds simple & healthy! Thanks for commenting 🙂
This recipe looks AMAZING! I want to make it for my friend whose birthday is quite soon but my only problem is the coconut. I am highly allergic to coconut. Like deathly allergic. I know… its weird. Do you know any substitutes? I will probably make a different cake since I don’t expect a reply soon but I will definitely make this cake soon!
Hi! Always expect a reply, haha 🙂 So the crux flavor of German chocolate cake is coconut, and it’s all over this cake, but you can find a complete list of all my vegan cakes here! If you really want to make this cake in particular, I would substitute cane sugar for coconut sugar, almond milk for coconut milk, canola oil for coconut oil, and more cornstarch for coconut flour- but I definitely cannot vouch for how it will turn out!
Hey there! I just found your blog and I am already in love. I’d love to make this cake for my best friend’s birthday (German chocolate cake is his all time favorite). His celebration will be a small gathering so I was thinking about halving the recipe. Do you think I could just cut all of the ingredients in half and adjust the baking time accordingly? I know sometimes recipes can be finicky about halving. I’ll be using a 7-inch springform pan since that’s what I have. Thanks for any insight!
Hi! Thanks for stopping by. I have no experience halving this recipe so please take what I say with a grain of salt, as I can’t guarantee the result will be the same as the original! If you’re only downsizing to a 7 inch pan and want to make two layers, I wouldn’t adjust the recipe at all, just be mindful that you may have a little extra batter that won’t get baked (don’t overfill your pan!). If you want to make a one layer cake, I would go ahead and half the entire recipe to make one round of cake with frosting on top. Or, you could just make the full recipe and use the extra batter/frosting for cupcakes 🙂
I made this last November for my boyfriend’s birthday. We loved it so much! He says it’s better than any non-vegan German chocolate cake that he has ever had! I am about to make it again for him. Thank you for posting this recipe!
Thanks so much for making it and loving it!
This is by far the best cake I have ever made! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! Made it for my daughters birthday and the guests were blown away….they just couldn’t believe it was vegan.
SO glad you loved it!
WOW! I used regular (not dark) baking cocoa powder and 2/3 cups boiling water but otherwise followed the recipe exactly to make 36 cupcakes. For cake batter from scratch, this was so easy! For me, they took a bit longer to bake (about 20 minutes at 350F) than some reviews said, although it might be my oven. Some sunk a little in the middle but that just meant I had to add extra frosting 😉 Everyone is gobbling these up and raving about how good they are!!! Great texture, very moist. I will surely be making this recipe again soon! 
Thanks so much for the feedback! Glad to hear you loved the recipe 🙂
This cake is truly amazing. All my nonvegan family loved it and couldn’t believe it was vegan. Will be keeping this recipe forever!
I’m so glad! Thanks for sharing your experience 🙂
Hi, I am planning on making this cake tomorrow for a birthday! I’m so excited! Do you have any tips for storing it in the fridge over night?
I’m so sorry, I just saw this! I hope the cake worked well for you- I stored the cake uncovered in the fridge, but you could always wrap it in saran wrap- just make sure to let it sit at room temp for half an hour or so before serving 🙂
I just made this and it is amazing. My fiancé, who’s not vegan doesn’t want to share it with friends later.
So glad to hear that, Lee! Thanks for sharing 🙂
You win all the things. This cake is amazing and no one would even know it was vegan! To which I mean I only had to buy a couple of ingredients I don’t keep on hand. My husband and I made this for a vegan colleague’s bday and I am looking forward to some Valhalla-style glory amongst his coworkers. Thank you!!
I’m so glad you loved it, Carrie! Thanks 🙂
Would this come out differently if I baked it as cupcakes? If I did bake them as cupcakes, how long would it take to bake?
I would say 15-25 minutes, checking every 5 minutes after 15 minutes. This would definitely work as cupcakes, just be careful not to overbake them 🙂
Hi! Can I ask what flour you use in the cake? I just see “2 cups of flour.” Thank you!
I always use all purpose or white whole wheat! 🙂
Would this work with gluten free flour?
I haven’t tried it myself, but I’ve had good results subbing the Trader Joe’s brand all-purpose GF flour with other recipes 🙂
I want to make this today for tomorrow.
Have you made the cake and frosting a day ahead and assembled the day you want to serve it?
I always assemble on the same day as I prepare the components, but you can make the whole cake a day ahead! I would stick it in the fridge overnight and then set it on the countertop 2-3 hours before serving 🙂
This has to be the best vegan chocolate cake base of all time. So incredibly moist and chocolatey. When I make the frosting I don’t add the powdered sugar and I still find success!! Super grateful for this recipe!
So glad you love it!
When it says to cook for 25 to 30 minutes… An hour later and it’s still not cooked through. Hope the cake is worth the weight.
Make sure you divided the batter into two different pans! If you put all the batter in one pan, it’ll take twice as long to bake!
This looks delicious and I love all the coconut ingredients in the recipe. Has anyone tried making this recipe as is into cupcakes? Does it make 24 cupcakes? Would baking time be 28-30 minutes? Any tips?
Oops! I see this was asked and answered already! Thanks!
No worries 🙂
Thanks! I haven’t made this recipe as cupcakes, but I always like shorter baking times for cupcakes, so I would start checking them at 15-17 minutes so they don’t overbake!
My son is allergic to all nuts. Do you have a suggestion for a replacement? I was thinking maybe crushed pretzels or chocolate chips?
I think crushed pretzels would be great in place of pecans- I’ve seen several recipes for pecan pie and such that sub pretzels for pecans 🙂
My husband loves German chocolate cake and I have recently had to start a dairy and egg free diet. I made this cake for his birthday so that I could eat it too, and my family loved it! They were a little scared about how a dairy and egg free cake would be, but this might be our new favorite chocolate cake. Thanks so much!
I’m so glad!
I made this for my husband’s birthday and it was PERFECTION!! The only change I made was using half the amount of oil but everything else was the same. It was moist, sweet (but not too sweet) and just delicious. Thank you soooo much! My husband’s favorite is German Chocolate Cake and even though he’s not vegan, I refused to make him a cake with dairy. Thanks for proving me right that vegan desserts are even better than typical desserts! =)
I’m so glad that it turned out so well for you! 🙂
The cake turned out great, but the frosting is so thin that most of slid off the cake.
If the frosting is too thin, you can always add more powdered sugar! As noted in the recipe, you don’t want to add all of the coconut confection syrup, or it will be too runny.
Fabulous cake! Made German Chocolate Cupcakes and they were moist, chocolaty and delicious! Best vegan chocolate cake I’ve made so far! Could not even taste or detect the applesauce!!! I used home made almond milk. For the frosting I only used 2 cups powdered sugar…4 cups would have been cloyingly sweet!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe !
Thanks! Also forgot to mention, cupcakes are still incredibly moist using only 1/2 cup coconut oil instead of 3/4 cup! AND these are especially delicious COLD out of the fridge!
Lastly, I used Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate (less than half of a large 17.5 oz bar) The chocolate is Belgian but it is fantastic in this recipe. I microwaved the squares in a glass measuring cup for 25 seconds at a time until melted.
When I tried to bake this cake, it came out still uncooled in the middle even when I baked them for a full 45 minutes. I didnt have exact half or third cup measurements though and i accidentally put in 2 tablespoons of ACV instead of 2 teaspoons. It was still tasty but I couldn’t really get the middle to cook thoroughly. Flipping the cakes was a nightmare because they just all fell apart. And dies it make a difference that I substituted coconut sugar with cane sugar and almond milk with coconut milk?
Hi Aliyah- sorry the recipe didn’t work out for you! It does sound like the measurement differences and ingredient substitutions may have caused the cake to not bake all the way through.
This cake is amazing. Boyfriend was in love, my non-vegan parents were amazed. The best cake hands down!
I’m so glad you loved it!!
What an excellent cake!! I served a 3-later version of this to 16 carnivores and I was told it was the best German chocolate cake ever!!! Thank you so much for this recipe. I can’t wait to explore your other creations!
Thank you so much for your comment — glad you enjoyed !
I tried this and my cake completely fell apart. I used exactly all the same ingredients, which was expensive btw, and followed all the steps. The second I tried to flip it onto a wire wrack it crumbled. Tried to make this for my dad’s birthday and was very disappointed especially after spending a lot of money on ingredients. The batter was crumbly and I added more almond milk than what was required, yet it still was crumbly.
I’m sorry that this didn’t work out for you! I have never had a problem with the recipe; maybe the extra almond milk is what caused it to fall apart, or maybe the almond milk didn’t sufficiently curdle/thicken!
Made this cake for my mom’s birthday over the weekend and it was a huge hit! Delicious! Will probably be my go to chocolate cake recipe from now on 🙂
So glad to hear that !
The flavor of this cake is amazing, and the icing even more so. I could eat it with a spoon. But I’ve made it four times now, following the recipe exactly but testing out different cooking times. Each time it has fallen apart and I can’t figure out why. My family now calls it the crumble cake haha.
I’m determined to get it right because like i said the flavor is out of this world!!!
I’m sorry that’s happening! Maybe up your ratio of liquid to solid or make sure you’re really letting the almond milk curdle before you begin the recipe. But so glad to hear you’re enjoying the recipe!
Currently making this recipe as we speak! mmm i adapted it for cupcakes and omgggggg it’s so tasty! I also used whole wheat flour with no problem. Love this is vegan. German chocolate cake is my ultimate sweet tooth guilty pleasure. Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad that you enjoyed !
Do you think this would do well as a bundt cake? (It wouldn’t be layered, of course.). How would you adjust the baking time to accommodate using this kind of pan?
TIA for any suggestions!
For a large bundt pan, you’ll need to bake for longer so the cake cooks through ! I would recommend checking after 25-30 minutes as in the recipe- stick a toothpick in and if it miraculously comes out clean, you’re good to go ! However, you’ll likely need to bake longer, so after that, try checking at 5-7 min increments. Let me know how it goes!