This crazy cake is a gluten free chocolate cake made with no eggs, no butter and no chopped chocolate—but it’s still super moist and tender. And packed with chocolate flavor. Honest.
Have you heard about the Buzzfeed Tasty red wine cake? I saw it in one of those food-pornographic “oh yeah” videos after a reader linked to it and said, um, I want to have it. And make mine gluten free, please.
But the Buzzfeed recipe didn’t look so great to me, just at a glance, and anyway gluten free recipes are different. If I’m going to recreate a cake, I’m just going off taste, texture and concept. Not the “regular” recipe.
Now, usually to get deep, rich chocolate flavor from a cake or cupcake, I’ll replace some of the butter in the recipe with melted chocolate. Not surprisingly, the fastest way to get to a rich chocolate cake is to add, well, chocolate.
But this amazingly moist, naturally dairy-free chocolate cake doesn’t have any chopped, melted chocolate in the batter. And it doesn’t even need it.
The easiest way to make a gluten free wine cake was to take a chocolate cake recipe that already called for water, and simply replace it with wine. WATER INTO WINE. Get it?
So I started with one of my favorite gluten free chocolate cake recipes. It’s a Depression-era special, when butter and eggs were simply out of reach for many. The recipe is already on page 151 of my second cookbook, Gluten Free on a Shoestring Quick & Easy.
I hadn’t made the recipe in a while, so I first made it straight-up with water. It was, in a word, delicious. No eggs, but there’s still plenty of rise and it’s insanely moist and tender. Crazy, indeed.
I then replaced the water with strong brewed coffee, since coffee really does greatly enhance chocolate flavor. Even better. That was my winner, for sure.
Next, it was time to replace water with wine. This time, no bueno for the kids so that just means more for me. Making this crazy cake with wine made it taste really intense.
The texture of the cake made with wine was still absolutely perfect. The taste was different, but the difference is subtle, like you can’t quite put your finger on it but it tastes kind of fruity and earthy, almost.
If you’re invited to a cocktail party and you don’t want to go empty-handed, try making this into a crazy wine cake. It would be spectacular—for adults of course.
This crazy cake gluten free chocolate cake is so ridiculously easy. By the time you get it in the pan and the oven, you almost can’t shake the feeling that you must have forgotten something. But it’s really that easy.
Because there are no eggs, no butter and no milk, none of the ingredients need to be brought to room temperature before baking. If you only need 1 round cake, halve all the ingredients.
Would you rather make a layer cake instead of a bundt? Divide the batter between two round cake pans. Then go crazy with your bad self.
HELLO! I’m Nicole! I make gluten-free food enjoyable & affordable. If they can make it with gluten, we can make it without. That’s a promise!
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Yum! I made this cake for St Patrick’s Day & instead of the white wine I added 2 tbsp of Creme de menthe liqueur. And the just the lukewarm water. It was so savory & very rich. I’m not sure if Creme de menthe is gluten free, but it made for a good mint addition. I decided to try it because I remembered my Mom making a grasshopper cake with the whip cream & chocolate…. Maybe you could try a gluten free version of that cake 😉
Would it be possible to make this cake vanilla instead of chocolate? Would I substitute the 1/2 cup cocoa with an additional 1/2 flour then add a splash of vanilla extract?
You can’t, no, Charlotte. Flour is simply not equivalent to cocoa powder in baking. But never fear! I’m working on a vanilla version of this fabulous cake. Stay tuned!
Okay, great! Thanks for the info :)
Nicole could you please advise on the substitution of Carob powder for the cocoa (if possible)? Bob’s red mill directions recommend the cocoa be replaced with one and a half to two parts carob by weight.
I was thinking a straight exchange by weight may be my starting point…
Thanks a bunch for your recipies. 💕
Hi, Yvonne,
Carob powder is really quite different in taste from cocoa powder, so I honestly don’t know how it would behave. I’m afraid you’ll just have to experiment!
This was an excellent cake!! I loved that it was also for the most part dairy free – I used some dairy free butter and coconut milk in place of the cream in the glaze and I was really happy with it, as were the rest of my family.
I was just thinking how much I missed this cake from my childhood! I’ve been trying to figure out a way to make it GF, this recipe is perfect!!!! Thank you!
I am in love! This cake was awesome! Being Gluten, dairy and egg sensitive this was perfect. I cut back on 1/2 cup and used xilitoyl in place of sugar and used vegan marg, coconut cream and earth balance chocolate in the glaze it was amazing! Thank you this is now my favorite desert recipe.
another homerun and sister, I love me a good bundt cake! :)
can the glaze be made non-dairy? what can I subsitute the whipping cream for?
Coconut cream!
Totally agree with this. I also saw some cashew cream at my co-op recently…. looked delicious.
Having managed a small wine shop in WA state for several years, I had the opportunity to try some amazing wines. I am so going to make this cake for my next wine tasting event. I’ll bet it would also be delicious made with a great WA state Syrah. I’m excited to try this soon!!
That’s awesome, Pamela. I bet it’s going to be a big hit!
I love chocolate cake with coffee but I am wondering how do you think it would taste with half coffee and half wine?
So funny you should ask that, Kim, since that’s basically the one combination I haven’t tried! If you want to use less wine, I have made it with 1/2 wine and 1/2 water. I’m honestly not sure about the wine/coffee combo, but I’m totally curious!