Healthy Vegan Chocolate Cake with Cherries and Cashew Frosting

If you love chocolate and you love cherries you will LOVE this Healthy Vegan Chocolate Cake with cherries and cashew frosting. Sweet, super moist and full of chocolate flavor! It’s simple to make and one of the best chocolate cakes you will ever have!! I promise. Plus, it’s made vegan friendly, whole grain and refined sugar free! 

It’s my birthday weekend so I decided to make myself a cake! This vegan chocolate cake combines my favorite flavors. Dark chocolate, cherries, cashew frosting and lots of fresh fruits. I mean, isn’t chocolate and cherries the best combination ever??

WHOLE WHEAT HEALTHY VEGAN CHOCOLATE CAKE INGREDIENTS

dark chocolate chunks

almond milk

apple cider vinegar

white whole wheat flour

cacao

ripe banana

coconut sugar

coconut oil

pure vanilla extract

sea salt

tsp baking soda

HOW TO MAKE BEST HEALTHY VEGAN CHOCOLATE CAKE 

First, start by making vegan buttermilk. Simply whisk almond milk with apple cider vinegar and let it rest for a few minutes until it curdles.

Whisk banana, coconut sugar, coconut oil and vanilla using electrical mixer and then add in the buttermilk, whole wheat flour, cacao powder, baking soda and salt. Then fold in dark chocolate chunks.

While the cake bakes in the oven, prepare the cherry jam. Place cherries (frozen or fresh) in a pan along with maple syrup and water and cook for about 15 minutes!

For the frosting, I used a recipe from this paleo blueberry naked cake with cashew frosting I made for my birthday last year!

CHERRY JAM AND CASHEW FROSTING

Cherry jam is super simple to make. All you need to do is throw cherries (you can use frersh or frozen) with sweetener and water on a pan and simmer for about 10-15 minutes! Make sure the mixture cools completely before assembling the cake.

As a topping for this vegan chocolate cake I made my favorite lightly sweetened cashew frosting. What you need to do, is soak 1 cup of cashews in hot water for one hour (or cold water for about 8 hours) and blend with full-fat coconut milk, maple syrup, pure vanilla and pinch of salt. 

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Cherries and Cashew Frosting

Print

Serves: 8 Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 40 Minutes 40 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.0/5

( 3 voted )

Ingredients

1 cup almond milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 cups white whole wheat flour

3/4 cup cacao

1/2 cup mashed banana

1 1/4 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled to a room temperature

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

CASHEW FROSTING

CHERRY JAM

2 cups of pitted cherries (fresh or frozen)

2 tbsp maple syrup

1-2 tbsp filtered water

fresh fruits for garnish such as berries, cherries etc

Instructions

1. First, make vegan buttermilk by whisking almond milk and vinegar. Let it sit for about 5 minutes until it curdles.
2. In a large bowl, combine banana, sugar, oil and vanilla. Mix well until combined. Add in buttermilk.
3. Stir in whole wheat flour, cacao, salt and baking soda. Be careful not to overmix.
4. Divide in between two 6 inch pans and bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
5. In a meanwhile, prepare the cherry jam. In a pan, combine all the ingredients and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Let the cherries cook for about 15  minutes.  Set the jam aside and let cool completely.
6. Make the cashew frosting. Rinse and drain soaked cashews. Place them in a high speed blender along with coconut milk, maple syrup, vanilla and salt. Blend until smooth. Place in the freezer to chill while the cake is cooling off.
   Assemble the cake. Place one cake onto your cake plate. Top with 1/3 of the cashew frosting and with cherry jam. Top with another cake layer and top off with cashew frosting. Frost the outside of the cake. Chill the cake for about 30 minutes and top off with fresh fruits. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator.