These chocolate cake pancakes are lightly chocolatey, delicate and slightly crumbly for a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Studded with chia seeds, these pancakes are a decadent yet light way to start your day!
Creating a pancake that actually tastes like chocolate cake was quite the production. Falling only behind lemon poppy seed pancakes (which I still have not perfected), these have gone through the most incarnations.
The first batch was exactly what I feared: kind of bland and dry. The second, using chocolate protein powder, were thin and floppy (and not chocolatey). The third batch was awesome whenever you bit into a melty chocolate chip, but was ultimately an unremarkable pancake. There were a few unmemorable batches I’m forgetting, but this final batch made up for all those failed pancakes.
What you’ll need to make these pancakes
- Whole wheat flour: For a boost of fiber that you really won’t taste in the pancakes.
- Oat flour: This gluten-free flour adds tenderness and a lovely, almost crumbly cake-like bite.
- Powdered sugar: The added cornstarch in powdered sugar helps keep these pancakes thick and tender
- Granulated sugar: for an extra boost of sweetness and tenderness.
- Chia seeds (made into a “chia egg”): These help bind the pancakes in place of an egg for body and moisture.
- Chocolate chips: While technically optional, I think these are very important for delicious chocolate pancakes!
Vegan Chocolate Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1.25 cups almond milk white or apple cider works best
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 2 tablespoons oil any neutral oil like vegetable, canola, or a mild olive
- 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice white, apple cider or a champagne vinegar all work
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup oat flour
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Combine 1 cup of milk and vinegar and let sit for 5-10 minutes.
- Combine the milk, chia seeds, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Let sit for at least 5 minutes, or until the chia seeds start to thicken into a gel.
- Whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugars and chocolate chips, if using.
- Fold the wet ingredients gently into the dry ingredients until just combined. A few lumps are fine, but make sure any big floury lumps are mixed in–make sure not to overmix or your pancakes will be tough and chewy.
- Let batter rest as you preheat a frying pan or griddle over medium heat. Lightly oil the preheated pan with butter or oil and pour batter in ¼ cup at a time. Cook about 2 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.
Greg lopez
These pancakes were great, I did run out of baking powder so they took a bit longer to cook.
Jessica
These are amazing. Doesn’t need the oil nor the powdered sugar. Didn’t add either and they turned out amazing. I did add the 2 tbsp of choc chips though.
erika
Yay!!! Thanks for the great feedback 🙂
Alessandra
Coming back from work at 8pm and day(night)dreaming about chocolate cake but too lazy to go through the hassle of baking… thought Id check out your site for some ideas and bam! ran into this recipe… changed the vegetable oil for some coconut oil I had in my pantry and used the egg vs. the chia substitute… OMG, these were EXACTLY how you described them – so fluffy, chocolatey and cake… An amazing way to get the flavour and texture of cake but in an easy, no fuss way for (near) immediate satisfaction… LOVED IT. Congrats on such fail-proof and original ideas and recipes (and healthy!)
erika
Aww YAY!!! That’s exactly how I was hoping people would use this recipe–because I often feel the same way as you did 😉 Thanks so much for reporting back, Alessandra!! 🙂
Maggie @ Sunnyside Up Smile
And check it out, I am so seriously in love with this recipe that I wrote an entire blog post on it today 🙂
Maggie @ Sunnyside Up Smile
And I almost forgot, I spread almond butter on one and it was SO GOOD! 🙂
Maggie @ Sunnyside Up Smile
HOLY HEAVEN! ERIKA YOU ARE BRILLIANT! 😉
I made these for me, my brother and my friend for breakfast this morning and they were absolutely, hands down the best pancakes I’ve ever had. They were so worth the time it took to make them! It was a perfect start to my day. They were amazing- so fluffy, so thick, so fun and so chocolatey. And props for making them healthy! WOW. I could eat them all day every day. You are a pancake goddess I swear. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes! P.S. I love the mod, fresh, clean look of your blog! So cute! Have a happy Friday!
erika
Maggie!!!! You are so awesome!! Thanks so much for letting me know. I’m SO happy you liked them!!! And so happy to have connected through our blogs. Looking forward to reading more from you! 🙂
Vickie
yum, these look so delicious 🙂
pumpkinpie
Yum! I can’t believe how light these taste with whole wheat flour. I used raspberry vinegar, and we enjoyed these so much. Thanks for the recipe!
erika
You just made my day! I’m so glad you enjoyed them–raspberry vinegar sounds delicious, I’d love to try that!