Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
by: claire cary
This vegan gluten free chocolate cake is rich, made in one bowl, moist and loved by all types of eaters! This is my go-to recipe to impress a crowd or for any special occasion.
Equipment
Ingredients
Wet:
- 1 cup room temperature non-dairy milk
- ¾ cup oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon apple cider or white vinegar
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 1 cup boiling hot water
Dry:
- 2 ½ cups gluten free all purpose baking flour
- 2 cups fine blanched almond flour
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1-2 teaspoon espresso powder optional
Buttercream:
- 1 batch chocolate buttercream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line two round 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper and set aside. See notes about using 9 inch pans.
- Combine the room temperature milk with the vinegar and mix together in a glass. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl (mixing is easier if the bowl is extra large!), sift together the almond flour, all purpose flour and cocoa powder.
- Whisk in the remaining dry ingredients. The espresso powder is optional, but it really enhances the chocolate flavor. I promise it won't taste like coffee at all!
- Add in all remaining wet ingredients aside from the boiling water and whisk together.
- Whisk in the boiling water. This will help "activate" the cocoa powder.
- Add the batter to the prepared cake pans, trying to keep them as even as possible to ensure even baking.
- Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Add to the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out with a few crumbs. You don't want to underbake since the cake will sink in the middle or end up dense, but over-baking will lead to a dry cake, so start your timer at 35 minutes, and add just a couple of minutes at a time until the toothpick has a few crumbs but isn't wet.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the cake pans for about 20 minutes.
- Carefully flip onto a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting. I usually stick them in the fridge to cool, which takes about 90 minutes.
- Prepare the buttercream, (just be sure to use vegan butter and milk) then frost the top of one layer, add on the second layer, then frost the top and sides of the cake.
Notes
You can use two 9 inch round cake pans instead, but the layers will be thinner and the bake time will be shorter. Start checking at 28 minutes rather than 35.
You can use a different sugar (such as light brown or coconut) in place of the white sugar, but I have the best results with the white. If you prefer, you can also decrease the granulated sugar to about 1 1/4 cups instead of a 1 1/2.
For the all purpose flour, I used Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour, which I recommend. You can use other GF blends, just make sure it has xanthan gum. If you aren't gluten free, regular all purpose works too!
Serving: 1slice / Calories: 468kcal / Carbohydrates: 61g / Protein: 8g / Fat: 25g / Saturated Fat: 2g / Fiber: 7g / Sugar: 35g
