This Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Mousse Cake is the best secretly healthy yet seriously indulgent dessert: a moist, fluffy chocolate sponge, topped with a silky, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate mousse and a velvety chocolate ganache. It's super chocolatey, rich and creamy and sweet but not sickly! It's super easy to make and refined sugar free too.
For the base, I used my go-to chocolate sponge recipe - it's easy to make, requires just one bowl and familiar ingredients, and is versatile too.
The mousse layer was inspired by my Chocolate Sweet Potato Buttercream - it's easy to make, uses inexpensive ingredients and you honestly can't taste the sweet potatoes at all! Their naturally creamy texture makes them the perfect base for a luxurious chocolate mousse that doesn't leave you feeling unwell afterwards.
The dark chocolate ganache layer is the perfect way to finish off the cake as it adds an extra level of indulgence.
How to make the cake
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients for the sponge in a glass mixing bowl.
Tip: Use a measuring jug to measure out the milk.
- Transfer into a 18cm / 7 inch springform baking tin.
Tip: Line the bottom of the tin with greased baking paper to make it easier to remove the cake afterwards.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Leave to cool before applying the mousse.
How to make the mousse
- Place all the ingredients in a food processor.
- Whizz until completely smooth.
Tip: You will have to mix it around a few times.
- Spread the chocolate mousse over the sponge.
How to make the chocolate ganache
- Melt the chocolate in a bowl.
- Add the plant-based milk and mix well.
- Pour it over the mousse layer of the cake.
- Place in the fridge for at least a few hours until everything is set.
- Once the chocolate ganache has set, decorate if desired.
- Ensuring that everything has set properly, remove the cake from the springform tin and transfer onto a plate or cake stand before slicing.
How long does this keep for?
This Chocolate Mousse Cake keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can replace the vinegar with lemon juice.
- You can replace the ground almonds (almond meal) with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds (almond meal) with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds and use a nut-free plant-based milk.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you're not gluten-free.
- Use a refined sugar free chocolate, if necessary.
- If you don't want to use sweet potatoes, or want to use a different type of chocolate mousse recipe, you could alternatively use my Vegan Chocolate Mousse recipe or my Vegan Chocolate Pudding recipe.
More vegan chocolate cakes
- Chocolate Torte
- Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle Cake
- Brooklyn Blackout Chocolate Cake
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Truffle Cake
- Chocolate Orange Cake
- Chocolate Cupcakes
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make it
Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Mousse Cake
Ingredients
For the chocolate sponge:
- 30 g (⅛ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 125 ml (½ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 6 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 75 g (⅔ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
- 75 g (⅔ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 25 g (¼ cup) cocoa powder
For the chocolate mousse:
- 400 g (14 oz) sweet potatoes (2 medium-sized sweet potatoes)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
For the chocolate ganache:
- 60 g (2 oz) dark chocolate ** (ensure vegan/refined sugar free if necessary)
- 7 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
Instructions
For the chocolate sponge:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the vinegar, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and ground almonds.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder.
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it’s looking too dry.
- Place the mixture into a greased springform baking tin lined with baking paper (I used a 7inch/18cm springform baking tin).
- Bake in oven for around 15 minutes until risen slightly and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Once out of the oven, leave the sponge in the tin to cool completely before applying the mousse.
For the chocolate mousse:
- Cook the sweet potatoes by boiling, steaming or roasting them until very soft and tender.
- Discard any skins, and add to a food processor or blender (or hand-held blender) along with all other ingredients.
- Whizz until completely smooth.
- Taste and adjust ingredients as necessary – add more maple syrup for sweetness, more cocoa powder for chocolate flavour etc.
- Leave to cool before using for the cake.
- Once the sponge has cooled, keep it in the baking tin and spread the chocolate mousse over it.
For the chocolate ganache:
- Melt the chocolate either over a bain-marie or in the microwave, add the almond milk and mix well.
- Still keeping the cake in the baking tin, pour the chocolate ganache over the top of the mousse layer.
- Place in the fridge for at least a few hours until everything is set.
- Once the chocolate ganache has set, decorate if desired.
- Ensuring that everything has set properly, remove the cake from the springform tin and transfer onto a plate or cake stand before slicing.
- Tastes best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Video
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
Gina
This was delicious! I wasn’t sure how it would go with the sweet potato but with a few adjustments (as suggested) it came out really tasty. My chocolate didn’t seem to sit on top, it stayed runny and seeped into the cake. Not sure what I did wrong there but it was still delicious 😋 Thank you!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that! Ah I'm sorry to hear about the chocolate - what brand did you use?
Sandra
The first vegan chocolate mousse cake that works! Delicious. And the use of sweet potato so original!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!
Harmeet Mudhar
Thank you Rhian, this was delicious! The ganache didn't set but that was fine as I needed to add candles on top!
I added extra syrup and cocoa powder to the mousse. Best chocolate cake ever! Thanks so much x
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!
Jule
This recipe was the one that brought me to your website, and after making it once I was hooked. For the first time in my life I had a cake that I could eat without feeling sick afterwards. I started experimenting with your recipes to find out what works for me and what doesn't, and I've been making about two cakes a month ever since. Before that, I was way too intimidated by baking, especially without gluten, eggs and milk, but with your recipes it's so easy! I'm so glad I found you.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!! Please let me know if you have any recipe requests etc!
NANCY LEE
I made this recipe using coconut flour in place of the almond meal as I have an almond allergy. I had to throw the first batch out because I misread the substitution amount: you only need 1/4 cup of coconut flour to substitute for 2/3 cup almond meal and I’d used 2/3 of a cup of coconut flour. So I started over. In using only 1/4 cup of coconut flour, the batter was still very dry and clumped, so I began adding more coconut milk 1/3 cup at a time. I think I added nearly 1 1/3 cups of coconut milk before I thought the batter looked good. The image in the video helped to guide me. By now the batter looked anemic so I added another tablespoon of cocoa powder. Used a 9” springform pan to bake, and it took about 25 minutes total before the top of the cake sprung back under my finger, far longer due I suppose to the larger volume of batter. The rest of the recipe went well. For ganache, increased chocolate by 1 ounce and subbed canned coconut milk chilled overnight with liquids drained off in place of the almond milk. Despite what I thought would be a totally terrible result, the cake turned out very well. Wondering if I’m the only one who had a problem with the coconut flour for almond meal substitution or if I’m the only one?
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for sharing, I'm sorry to hear that. I think the issue may have been that you used too much coconut flour. You only need to use a fifth of the amount compared to almond meal. I'm glad it turned out ok eventually though!