This gluten-free, vegan chocolate applesauce cake is a delicious, easy, allergy-friendly dessert… or breakfast. 
 
 

Gluten-free & vegan chocolate applesauce cake! #glutenfree #vegan #chocolate #applesauce #cake #birthday #dessert

 

The perfect pregnancy. . . meal.

I’m not going to lie. I first came up with this chocolate applesauce cake 5 years ago I was pregnant with my 3rd daughter. The morning all-day sickness was bad and I was about to be put on bed rest for the last trimester of my pregnancy. I was struggling to find foods that didn’t make me want to throw up.
 
This easy vegan cake was all I could handle for breakfast.
 
And lunch.
 
And sometimes dinner.
 
 
 

Happy birthday, baby.

Fast forward one crazy hard labor, and 5 loud and dramatic years, and my little bundle of joy announced that for her upcoming birthday she wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
 
I knew just what cake to make.
 
This delicious and easy gluten-free, vegan chocolate applesauce cake. After all, it’s practically what nourished her in the womb, isn’t it? So why would it not be the perfect birthday cake? 
 
And to be honest, it went over a whole lot better than last year’s chocolate chip cookie cake. Not that the chocolate chip cookie cake wasn’t insanely delicious, I just made the unknowing mistake of frosting it with whipping cream. Apparently she doesn’t like whipping cream. 
 

bite of chocolate applesauce cake from raiasrecipes.com

Chocolate Applesauce Cake.

This chocolate applesauce cake is quite easy to whip up, and is completely allergy-friendly, too! Even though I frosted it with a rich chocolate buttercream frosting for these pictures, I usually just make it with a simple chocolate frosting. It can be baked in two 9-inch cake pans for a layer cake, or in a 13×9 inch dish for a sheet cake. Either way, it’s delicious!
 
It’s not too sweet, either, so there’s no guilt in eating it whenever the heck you want. I mean, how could there be guilt when you’re basically just eating applesauce? 😉
 
I use a mix of brown rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch, with some guar gum to hold it all together. If you want to, you can just sub those ingredients for a gluten-free, all purpose baking mix. If your mix doesn’t contain guar gum or xanthin gum, just add in a little.
 

This gluten-free, vegan chocolate applesauce cake is a delicious, easy, allergy-friendly dessert... or breakfast.  #glutenfree #vegan #chocolate #applesauce #cake #birthday #dessert

In the recipe card I’ve linked to some of the products from my affiliate partners that I like to use. Purchasing through these links won’t cost you anything extra. Thanks!

Chocolate Applesauce Cake

Free from gluten, eggs, and dairy.

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 and grease two 9-inch cake pans or a 9×13-inch baking dish and dust with some cocoa powder.

In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients except the chocolate chips.

Pour applesauce and vanilla on top and stir just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared pan(s) and bake for about 35 minutes.

Set to cool while preparing frosting.

Raias Recipes - https://raiasrecipes.com
 

top of frosted chocolate applesauce cake from raiasrecipes.com

Easy Chocolate Frosting

Free of gluten, eggs, and dairy.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup evaporated cane juice
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup dairy-free milk (I like to use my homemade coconut milk)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

In small saucepan, whisk together sugar and cocoa.

Add milk, stir until smooth and heat to boiling.

Boil for about a minute, stirring constantly so it doesn’t burn.

Remove from heat, add vanilla and beat until thickened.

Pour and spread over cooled cake.

Raias Recipes - https://raiasrecipes.com
 
cover shot of gluten-free, vegan chocolate applesauce cake from raiasrecipes.com