Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Recipe
This rich gluten free chocolate cake has a moist, tender crumb topped with 2-ingredient chocolate frosting. Made easily in one bowl!
Servings: 8 slices cake
Equipment
- Electric mixer (handheld or stand)
Ingredients
For the chocolate cake
- 1 ½ cups all purpose gluten free flour blend (See Recipe Notes)
- ⅜ teaspoon xanthan gum (1/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon) omit if your blend already contains it
- 14 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup sour cream at room temperature
- ½ cup neutral oil (vegetable, grapeseed, peanut, canola all work)
- 2 eggs at room temperature, beaten
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup warm water (about 80°F)
For the chocolate ganache topping
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- 8 ounces dark chocolate chopped (for whipped ganache, you'll need 10 ounces)
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar (optional for whipped ganache)
Instructions
Make the cake.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch round or square baking pan and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla, and water, and mix to combine well. The batter should be very thickly pourable.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth into an even layer and place in the center of the preheated oven.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out mostly clean or with a few moist crumbs attached (about 30 minutes). Do not overbake.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the ganache topping.
- In a small, heavy-bottom saucepan, heat the heavy whipping cream until it just begins to simmer. Place the chopped chocolate (10 ounces for whipped ganache) in a medium-size bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate.
- Allow the cream to sit on the chocolate for about a minute, until the chocolate begins to melt, and mix until the chocolate is melted, and the mixture is smooth and glossy.
- Pour the warm ganache over the top of the cooled cake, and gently spread toward the edges so the ganache begins to drip down the sides of the cake. Allow to set at room temperature before serving.
To make whipped ganache
- If you forgot to use 10 ounces of chopped chocolate instead of 8 and nothing has cooled yet, just melt 2 more ounces of chocolate and add it to the prepared ganache. Follow the same instructions as above through mixing until smooth. Allow the ganache to cool at room temperature until no longer hot to the touch.
- Cover and place the bowl in the refrigerator until the mixture is firm enough to scoop with a spoon. Transfer it to a large bowl.
- Beat with a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until thickened and fluffy (about 5 minutes). It will lighten in color as it reaches the right consistency.
- Add the optional confectioners’ sugar and beat until well-combined. Frost as desired.
Video
Notes
Flour blends
My favorite gluten free flour blends are Better Batter's original blend gluten free flour and Nicole's Best multipurpose blend. Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour should also work, but you'll need to add an additional 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum to your dry ingredients or the cake will look good, but will be crumbly.
Cup4Cup changed its formula and doesn't seem to work as well as it has in the past, so I don't recommend it. To make your own blend using one of my “mock” recipes, please see the all purpose gluten free flour blends page.
Nutritional information
The information you see is an approximation for 1 slice of a single layer 9-inch cake, without the ganache frosting. Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 395kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 262mg | Potassium: 177mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 194IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 1mg