Almond Flour Chocolate Cake
Rich, chocolatey, moist and spongey, this almond flour chocolate cake is bound to impress! You’ll never guess it’s paleo, grain free, or refined sugar free when you take your first bite.
If you know me, you’ll know I always, always choose vanilla cake over chocolate (especially vanilla funfetti). But ohmygosh I am in love with this almond flour chocolate cake!
It’s moist, fluffy, spongey and everything a chocolate cake should be but without any of the refined sugar, grains or oil you usually get. Just simple ingredients, fluffy layers and a rich paleo buttercream. It’s perfect. I am biased, I know, but it’s perfect!
Since you definitely don’t want to use almond flour in place of cake flour or all purpose flour in a recipe, you need to find a recipe that already uses almond flour as the base, like this one! The almond flour adds a lot of natural moisture to the cake, but I promise it tastes just like any other chocolate cake, despite being grain free, paleo and refined sugar free!
Before we get into the nitty gritty, please make sure you are using almond flour from blanched almonds and NOT almond meal from whole ground almonds. They are different and will yield different results!
Almond flour is light and reacts well with the eggs and baking soda, giving this cake a beautiful rise and fluffy texture. Almond meal will prevent the cake from rising and can yield a very dense texture. Try my almond flour vanilla cake, flourless brownies or flourless chocolate cake next!
How to make almond flour chocolate cake
Line 3 round 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper and set aside.
It’s easiest to lightly grease the sides and bottoms, then cut out round pieces of parchment and place them in each pan so they stick easily.
You can also use 2 9 inch round pans, but see notes for adjustments in baking time etc.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients. Be sure to shake the can of coconut milk before opening so that the creamy white part is well combined with the more watery part. You need 1 1/2 cups total, which is just shy of 1 can. Reserve the rest for the frosting!
In a second bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. Be sure to spoon and level all flours, do not scoop right from the bag! Combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk well until a batter forms.
Transfer to the prepared pans and fill each as evenly as possible. If you have a kitchen scale you can use it to get accurate measurements. Otherwise, just eyeball it!
Bake for 30-38 minutes. My oven was exactly 35 minutes, but all ovens are different. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If using 2 nine inch pans, bake time will be around 35-42 minutes, but check with a toothpick.
Once done, remove from the oven and let cool in the pans for about 15 minutes or until easy to handle. Once cool enough, flip over onto a cooling rack, they should slide right out, but if not, just lightly tap the bottom.
Let cool completely before frosting. A little bit of internal heat will cause the frosting to melt, so be sure they are completely cool. You can stick them in the fridge if you need to speed things up.
While cooling, make the buttercream by beating together the palm shortening or butter with the coconut milk until creamy. Beat in the sifted sugar, sifted cocoa and all remaining ingredients until your desired consistency is reached. If it’s too thin, add more sugar, if it’s too thick add some regular non-dairy milk.
Once the cake is cool, frost between each layer and then frost the outside. Enjoy and try my almond flour gingerbread cookies or raspberry chocolate cake next!
Key ingredients & swaps
ALMOND FLOUR. This cake of course has a base of almond flour! It will make it super moist and fluffy thanks to the high fat content and is naturally gluten free and paleo. Perfect for almond flour snickerdoodles as well!
EGGS. You need four eggs for this recipe. Unfortunately, they are essential for both binding the ingredients as well as helping everything rise, so please don’t swap with a vegan egg replacer.
TAPIOCA FLOUR. The tapioca will help absorb some of the excess moisture and give this a more traditional cake texture.
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COCONUT FLOUR. Coconut flour also helps absorb excess moisture. Because it is so absorbent and works differently than other flours, you cannot sub with more almond flour.
SWEETENER. We’ll use a mix of honey and coconut sugar to give this the perfect sweetness but keep it refined sugar free!
COCOA. Cocoa powder gives this cake a rich chocolate flavor. To enhance it, you can add in two teaspoons of espresso powder.
OIL. Oil adds moisture to this cake. I generally use refined avocado oil which has a neutral flavor, but any oil should work.
MILK. Full fat canned coconut milk will add to the richness of this cake. You can sub for light, but I do not recommend subbing with any other type of cartoned milk.
Pan Size Conversions
I made this cake into a 3 layer 8 inch round cake. However, you can definitely make this into a two layer 9 inch round cake.
With just two layers, you will want to omit one cup of batter so they bake properly and also extend the bake time by about 5-10 minutes because the layers will be thicker. If you aren’t feeling a whole cake, try my almond flour cupcakes instead!
How to store and freeze
Once prepared, this almond flour chocolate cake will store for about 3-5 days. Be sure to keep it covered so it does not dry out.
To help it keep fresh for longer, you can store it in the fridge, but I generally keep it at room temperature. Totally up to you depending on how quickly you think you’ll eat it!
If you want to prepare it in advance, you can bake the cake, let it cool completely, then wrap each layer tightly in plastic wrap and freeze until you’re ready to frost. Once it’s frosted, I recommend serving within 24 hours.
Tips to make it perfectly!
Use room temperature ingredients. Room temperature eggs will prevent the coconut milk from hardening in the batter. You can run your eggs until warm water if they’ve come straight out of the fridge. Otherwise, let them sit at room temperature for about an hour.
Spoon & level to measure the flour. You’re probably sick of me saying this if you come here often, but please do not scoop the flour right from the bag!
You will end up with too much flour accidentally. Spoon the flour into your dry measuring cups, then level off the top with a knife. Almond flour bakes differently than other flours, so measuring properly is very important.
Use regular cocoa powder, not dutch-processed. Regular cocoa powder is slightly acidic which reacts with the baking soda to create a nice fluffy texture. Dutch processed cocoa can result in a flat cake.
Can I use a different sweetener? This almond flour cake uses both coconut sugar and honey to help sweeten and moisten the sponge.
I do not recommend swapping the coconut sugar for a liquid sweetener, but you are welcome to swap it for another granulated sugar. Using too much liquid sweetener would result in a dense cake, which we don’t want! For best results, stick to the recipe as is!
More recipes you’ll love…
- Paleo Brownies
- Almond Flour Blondies
- Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Coconut Flour Pancakes
- Almond Flour Sugar Cookies
- Best Gluten Free Cake Recipes
- Almond Flour Chocolate Cupcakes
Lastly, if you want more recipes straight to your inbox, be sure to subscribe to my email list. As always, tag me on instagram if you make this recipe so I can see your creation!
Almond Flour Chocolate Cake
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Wet:
- 4 large eggs
- ⅔ cup oil I used avocado
- 1 ¾ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup honey
- 1 ½ cup full fat coconut milk, well shaken
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Dry:
- 3 cups almond flour
- 1 cup tapioca starch
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Paleo Buttercream:
- ¾ cup palm oil shortening or dairy free butter (if not paleo), softened
- ¼ cup coconut milk remaining from the cake
- ½ cup cocoa or cacao powder or more for a richer chocolate flavor
- 6 cups powered coconut sugar or regular powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line 3 round 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- It’s easiest to lightly grease the sides and bottoms, then cut out round pieces of parchment and place them in each pan so they stick easily. You can also use 2 9 inch round pans, but see notes for adjustments in baking time etc.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients. Be sure to shake the can of coconut milk before opening so that the creamy white part is well combined with the more watery part. You need 1 1/2 cups total, which is just shy of 1 can. Reserve the rest for the frosting!
- In a second bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. Be sure to spoon and level all flours, do not scoop right from the bag!
- Combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk well until a batter forms.
- Transfer to the prepared pans and fill each as evenly as possible. If you have a kitchen scale you can use it to get accurate measurements. Otherwise, just eyeball it!
- Bake for 30-38 minutes. My oven was exactly 35 minutes, but all ovens are different. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If using 2 nine inch pans, bake time will be around 35-42 minutes, but check with a toothpick.
- Once done, remove from the oven, and let cool in the pans for about 15 minutes or until easy to handle.
- Once cool enough, flip over onto a cooling rack, they should slide right out, but if not, just lightly tap the bottom.
- Let cool completely before frosting. A little bit of internal heat will cause the frosting to melt, so be sure they are completely cool. You can stick them in the fridge if you need to speed things up.
- While cooling, make the buttercream by beating together the palm shortening or butter with the coconut milk until creamy.
- Beat in the sifted sugar, sifted cocoa and all remaining ingredients until your desired consistency is reached. If it’s too thin, add more sugar, if it’s too thick add some regular non-dairy milk.
- Once the cake is cool, frost between each layer and then frost the outside. Enjoy!
Notes
Comments
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Wish I could post a picture of how great this cake came out! I did a two layer cakeā¦ I didnāt realize how much butter was need so I cut the frosting in half and did peanut butter in the center! You would never know this cake is made with almond flour! SO GOOD!!!
Thank you š
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That sounds amazing! Love the addition of the peanut butter.
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FANTASTIC CAKE!!! I needed a gluten-free, dairy-free cake for a guest. I bake almost as much as Mrs. Fields, but never gluten free. I studied recipes…studied the pictures; many are obviously rubbery from their pictures. This recipe’s picture and the normal ingredients used made me think it would be a winner. I baked it. Holy cow!! I am super patting myself on the back for trying it. It is absolutely delicious!! I made the cake EXACTLY as the recipe is written. I was 1/2 cup short of almond flour, so I made some of my own from almonds, then I had enough. Cake is moist and absolutely delicious.
I have had dairy-free butter before, and didn’t care for it, and I didn’t have palm oil. So I used a traditional seven-minute vanilla frosting. The cake was a big hit. (Only bad part: my guests ate it all. How thoughtless of them! LOL)
Thank you for developing and sharing this yummy cake recipe.
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Thank you for such a kind review! So happy it was a hit š
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Hi love the recipe but do u gave any egg free version of it as well ? please suggest as I dont consume egg
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I do not, the eggs are key for this recipe!
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Five stars, for sure!
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Hi, I made this cake for a party and received a lot of praise. I’m now planning on making it for a wedding.
My question is: when you say coconut milk do yo mean the coconut milk I can buy in cans and boxes, or do you mean coconut cream?-
You need coconut milk from a can, but not coconut cream, those are different!
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I’m so excited to try this! Can I use granulated sugar instead of the coconut sugar?
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Yes, that’ll be fine!
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Hello Claire – was just about to make this yummy cake and thought I bought all of the correct ingredients until I just learned I didn’t buy the correct kind of almond flour. However, I do have 1.5 cups of super fine almond flour already on hand and wondered what other flour could I use to add to it to total the 3 cups of flour? Any suggestions? Thank you!!
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Unfortunately, there isn’t really a good substitute for the almond flour. If you have almond meal you can try that, but almond flour is really essential here!
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Hey! I tried the recipe today, and it is so good! But I have pretty hard bits throughout from the tapioca. I just bought & used the minute tapioca. Was I supposed to make the tapioca like the box says or just pour it in as is? Itās quite grainy as is.
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Minute tapioca is used for instant tapioca pudding, which is very different! You want just pure tapioca starch which will have a similar texture to cornstarch.
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Hi Claire, this chocolate cake looks really good and I want to make it. But I donāt have full fat coconut milk in hand. Is there anything I can sub the coconut milk with?
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Unfortunately, the full fat coconut milk is key here! You can try subbing for just a regular non-dairy milk, but the cake may not be quite as moist.
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Hi Claire,
I love the dessert recipes on your website. I have a sweet tooth but prefer eating healthier so I avoid refined wheat flour and refined sugar recipes. Recently discovered your website and your recipes come in handy. I have tried quite a few and they all have turned out great. Thank you for sharing.
And one request, if you can please mention the ingredients by weight too for your recipes.In this cake recipe you have used Honey, I donāt like the flavour of it, so was wondering if I can replace it with equal amount of Maple Syrup?
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If you click on metric, you will be able to get the ingredients by weight. You should be able to use maple syrup, but this cake has no honey flavor to it at all, promise!
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I like the ingredients in this cake but would like to make it into cupcakes. How long do you think theyād need to bake?
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I would recommend my almond flour cupcakes instead!
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I agree with all the above comments, this cake is one of the best chocolate cakes Iāve made. Becoz my fly is not paleo or keto, I altered a few thgs but used most of your ingredients.
Like used 2.5cups almond flour & 1/2cup reg flour. Also used reg butter. Went with almond milk thruout as didnāt have coconut milk & lastly added 2-3tbsp of instant coffee to the dry ingredients, all blended together added excellent flavor and the cake was moist. Lastly b4 layering I made coconut sugar syrup & sprayed it on each layer & that gave d cake excellent level of moistness. 2. -
Thank you- This recipe is amazing! I did use a different icing recipe because of wanting a different icing style, but the cake itself was fabulous! I was wondering if I could decrease the amount of sugar I put into it? Would that throw off the wet/dry ratio?
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You should be able to decrease the coconut sugar by about 1/2 cup with no major issues. I’d keep the honey the same though!
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Is there anything that can be substituted for the arrowroot and tapioca starch? None of the stores around us carry either one.
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Your best bet is corn starch! The only thing is that it is slightly more absorbent than tapioca or arrowroot so I would probably use 3/4 cup instead of 1 cup and keep an eye on the bake time.
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Looking forward to making it more keto friendly. So. Can I sub erythritol or xylitol for the coconut sugar? If so, what would be the new carb count? Not sure tapioca or arrowroot starch are keto friendly. If not, what is a good substitute? It looks and sounds delicious – can’t wait to make it!
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Hi Deborah! This cake is designed to be paleo friendly, not keto friendly. There unfortunately isn’t a good sub for the tapioca or arrowroot, as these are needed for structure, but you can definitely swap the coconut sugar for a keto friendly granulated sweetener!
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