Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Make the Cake
Preheat the oven.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and lightly grease your baking pan.
Combine the dry ingredients.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add the wet ingredients.
- Add the maple syrup, peanut butter, avocado oil, apple cider vinegar, vanilla, and water.
- Stir until everything is incorporated and you have a smooth chocolate batter. Don't continue beating it unnecessarily once it's combined.
Bake.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan and spread it evenly.
- Bake at 350°F for approximately 30–35 minutes, or until the center is set and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs rather than wet batter.
Cool completely.
- Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
- And yes, completely. Peanut butter frosting on a warm cake sounds like a fun experiment until your frosting starts migrating off the cake.
Make the Peanut Butter Maple Frosting
Mix the frosting.
- Combine the peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt until smooth.
Adjust the consistency.
- Add plant-based milk 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring between additions, until it's creamy and easily spreadable.
- You may not need all of it depending on your peanut butter.
Frost.
- Spread the Peanut Butter Maple Frosting generously over the cooled chocolate cake.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
The cake itself is naturally vegan.
One of the coolest things about traditional wacky cake is that it doesn't need eggs, milk, or butter in the first place. No egg replacer required. I've kept the frosting plant-based too, so the finished cake is vegan. Grandma's version was different.
Grandma Giggle used regular white sugar. My version uses pure maple syrup, plus avocado oil, gluten-free 1-to-1 flour, and espresso powder. Consider this Grandma's recipe after being passed down to someone constitutionally incapable of leaving a recipe alone. Make it gluten-free flour.
I've made this with Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour and the results were almost identical. I wouldn't substitute almond flour, coconut flour, or another single-ingredient gluten-free flour and expect the same result. Why the vinegar?
Don't leave it out because it sounds weird in cake. The acid reacts with the baking soda to produce carbon dioxide, helping the cake rise without eggs. And no, your finished chocolate cake shouldn't taste like apple cider vinegar. The espresso isn't here to make coffee cake.
It deepens the chocolate flavor. If you're especially sensitive to coffee flavor, you can reduce it, but I love what it does here. Use pure maple syrup.
We're talking about actual maple syrup—not pancake syrup. Your peanut butter will change your frosting.
Natural peanut butter can produce a softer or oilier frosting than conventional creamy peanut butter. Start with the peanut butter and maple syrup, then add your plant-based milk gradually until you reach the consistency you want. A note on sugar:
This version is sweetened with maple syrup rather than granulated or powdered sugar. I wouldn't call it “sugar-free”—maple syrup is still sugar. It's simply the sweetener I prefer in my version. Allergy note:
The recipe contains peanuts. And if you're making it for someone with allergies—as Grandma originally did—always check the labels of your individual ingredients for their specific allergens and potential cross-contact. “Vegan” and “gluten-free” don't automatically mean safe for every food allergy. Storage:
Keep the covered cake at room temperature for a day or refrigerate for longer storage. Because the frosting can firm up considerably in the refrigerator, I like letting a slice sit at room temperature for a bit before eating.
One of the coolest things about traditional wacky cake is that it doesn't need eggs, milk, or butter in the first place. No egg replacer required. I've kept the frosting plant-based too, so the finished cake is vegan. Grandma's version was different.
Grandma Giggle used regular white sugar. My version uses pure maple syrup, plus avocado oil, gluten-free 1-to-1 flour, and espresso powder. Consider this Grandma's recipe after being passed down to someone constitutionally incapable of leaving a recipe alone. Make it gluten-free flour.
I've made this with Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour and the results were almost identical. I wouldn't substitute almond flour, coconut flour, or another single-ingredient gluten-free flour and expect the same result. Why the vinegar?
Don't leave it out because it sounds weird in cake. The acid reacts with the baking soda to produce carbon dioxide, helping the cake rise without eggs. And no, your finished chocolate cake shouldn't taste like apple cider vinegar. The espresso isn't here to make coffee cake.
It deepens the chocolate flavor. If you're especially sensitive to coffee flavor, you can reduce it, but I love what it does here. Use pure maple syrup.
We're talking about actual maple syrup—not pancake syrup. Your peanut butter will change your frosting.
Natural peanut butter can produce a softer or oilier frosting than conventional creamy peanut butter. Start with the peanut butter and maple syrup, then add your plant-based milk gradually until you reach the consistency you want. A note on sugar:
This version is sweetened with maple syrup rather than granulated or powdered sugar. I wouldn't call it “sugar-free”—maple syrup is still sugar. It's simply the sweetener I prefer in my version. Allergy note:
The recipe contains peanuts. And if you're making it for someone with allergies—as Grandma originally did—always check the labels of your individual ingredients for their specific allergens and potential cross-contact. “Vegan” and “gluten-free” don't automatically mean safe for every food allergy. Storage:
Keep the covered cake at room temperature for a day or refrigerate for longer storage. Because the frosting can firm up considerably in the refrigerator, I like letting a slice sit at room temperature for a bit before eating.