Vegan desserts are just as good as traditional ones, if not better. Whether it’s Valentine’s Day, a birthday, an anniversary, a holiday, or a Monday night, this list contains the best vegan chocolate dessert recipes that you can find. These sweet treats are for everyone to enjoy. Grab a recipe and your mixing bowl, and let’s get to making!
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Nutrition For Mental Health
These tasty vegan chocolate desserts use cocoa or cacao powder or products made from them, like vegan chocolate chips or cacao nibs. All are made from cocoa beans. Cacao is rich in antioxidants, including flavanols. It also contains a smaller amount of iron.
A systemic review and meta-analysis found that dietary intake of cocoa-rich foods can improve your mood in the short term [1]. (More research on the long-term impact needs to be done, though.)
A randomized controlled trial found that eating 85% dark chocolate improves your mood. In addition, it acts as a prebiotic, increasing the diversity of your gut microbial [2].
The List: 41 Vegan Chocolate Desserts
We all need a little chocolate in our lives, right? Something chocolate is usually my go-to vegan dessert choice; these are some of my top picks. Most of these stunners are also gluten-free. That’s a win-win if you ask me. These tasty dairy-free chocolate desserts are made by some of my favorite vegan bloggers, so I hope you enjoy them!
Cupcakes + Cakes
If you are looking for the best vegan chocolate cake or cupcake recipes, here they are!
Puddings + Mousses
You can’t go wrong with a good vegan chocolate pudding or mousse recipe!
Donuts
When it comes to the best vegan chocolate dessert recipes, sometimes you just need donuts, and sometimes for breakfast, not just dessert!
Want to see more stunning black foods? Check out this post, 85 Foods That Are Black.
Brownies + Cookies
Talk about mouth-watering! These vegan chocolate cookies and brownies are simply delicious!
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Candy, Bars, + Sweets Treats
Take your vegan chocolate dessert recipes to the next level with sweet treats like homemade Snickers, peanut butter cups, or chocolate bark! If you’re looking for refined sugar-free options, date balls (bliss balls) are the way to go!
Ice Cream Recipes
These are the best vegan chocolate ice cream recipes. You’re welcome.
What Chocolate Desserts Are Vegan?
You can turn any type of chocolate dessert into delicious vegan chocolate recipes. A vegan diet doesn’t mean you have to give up sweet and rich flavors like these. Some of the ingredients change, of course, but this list has all the vegan chocolate dessert recipes you need.
You can serve them at parties, and no one will know they’re completely vegan. Chocolate lovers will adore vegan chocolate cheesecakes, vegan cookies with dairy-free chocolate chips, vegan double chocolate muffins, chocolate pudding recipes, and so much more.
What Are Some Common Vegan Dessert Ingredients?
When it comes to making vegan chocolate dessert recipes, many of the ingredients will remain the same as in classic dessert recipes. Flour, baking powder, baking soda, and vanilla extract are common ingredients used in baking that are completely vegan.
But of course, butter and milk are examples of ingredients that are not vegan. Read on to find out more about proper vegan replacements that you can make when baking to ensure you’ve got a healthy dessert that is free of animal-based ingredients.
Common Butter Replacements
If you’re new to a vegan diet or you’re trying to make a dessert for all your guests to enjoy, including your vegan visitors, butter is a common baking ingredient. You can swap it out for coconut oil or vegan butter. Earth Balance Original and Miyokos Butter are just a couple of vegan butter brands that work really well in baking.
Go-To Egg Replacers
When baking any dessert, the ingredients need to bind together. This is why eggs are traditionally used. But if you’re on a vegan diet, you can’t eat eggs. These replacements for eggs are my go-to options when baking traditional dessert recipes with a vegan spin.
- Applesauce: Applesauce adds moisture and binding when baking vegan desserts. For every egg called for in a recipe, use ¼ cup of applesauce. Here’s a great homemade Instant Applesauce Recipe.
- Flax Egg: Mixing flaxseed meal and water together creates the vegan egg known as a flax egg. This is a wonderful way to swap out eggs for healthy desserts.
- Chia Egg: You can also make a vegan egg substitute with chia seeds. The same way you mix water with flaxseed meal can be used with chia seeds.
- Mashed Banana: Another way to bind and add moisture to vegan desserts is to use one ripe banana for every egg called for in a recipe.
- Aquafaba: The water in which chickpeas and other legumes have been cooked is called aquafaba, and believe it or not, it is so similar in function to egg whites that it is one of the best replacements for vegan recipes.
- Pre-Made Vegan Egg Alternatives: If you don’t want to try to figure an egg replacement out on your own, you can simply buy one ready to go at your grocery store. Good options for store-bought egg replacements include Vegan Egg Replacer By Ener-G, Neat Egg, and Just Egg.
Alternative Milk Options
I recommend using whatever plant-based milk you have on hand. I tend to use almond milk or oat milk because those are the two dairy-free milk we usually have at home. However, other plant milk options like soy milk, hemp milk, and coconut milk can all work well. Any dairy-free milk you have in your fridge will be great for these vegan chocolate dessert recipes.
FAQ
You can eat any desserts on a vegan diet that don’t contain eggs, milk, butter, or honey. Fortunately, with vegan-friendly substitutes, there are many ways to make classic desserts in a vegan way.
Shortcrust pastry is one that is usually vegan. You can find recipes on my site to make pastries that are vegan, or you can also buy vegan pastry dough or pie crusts that make it super simple, a perfect option for new bakers.
Here’s some good news! Most dark chocolate is vegan. Cocoa, sugar, and lecithin are the primary ingredients, though sometimes it includes vanilla. But vanilla is also vegan, so no worries there. Read all labels to be sure, but remember, milk chocolate is not vegan.
Not all of Ghirardelli’s chocolates are vegan. There are dark chocolates that contain milk derivatives. This is why you should always check labels for the ingredients to be certain of what you’re getting. The 72% Cacao Twilight Delight Bar by Ghirardelli is an entirely vegan option and is labeled as such on the packaging.
Nope, Hershey’s special dark chocolates contain milk and milk fat, making them not suitable for a vegan diet.
Final Words
Hopefully, you’ll find all the vegan desserts you want to make to bring bliss to all the chocolate lovers you know. From vegan chocolate cheesecakes to vegan ice cream and everything in between, these desserts will satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth in a great way!
References
[1] Fusar-Poli, L., Gabbiadini, A., Ciancio, A., Vozza, L., Signorelli, M. S., & Aguglia, E. (2022). The effect of cocoa-rich products on depression, anxiety, and mood: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, 62(28), 7905–7916. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2021.1920570
[2] Shin, J. H., Kim, C. S., Cha, J., Kim, S., Lee, S., Chae, S., Chun, W. Y., & Shin, D. M. (2022). Consumption of 85% cocoa dark chocolate improves mood in association with gut microbial changes in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry, 99, 108854. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2021.108854
These all look soooo amazing! Which one should I make first?
I have to say, recipe number two, vegan chocolate cheesecake is one of my favorites!