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This easy gluten free chocolate cake is rich, dense, and deeply fudgy—all made in just one bowl with no melted chocolate. Top it with a silky 2-ingredient ganache, or whip it into a fluffy chocolate frosting.
It’s been the go-to birthday cake in my house for years, and readers have baked it for everything from casual weeknights to multi-tiered weddings. No one guesses it’s gluten free—they just know it’s delicious.
“EXCELLENT! No one knew it was gluten free. It was so moist, delicious & not overly sweet. Thank you for my new go to chocolate cake recipe!”
BEHIND THE RECIPE
Tips from Nicole
I first made this cake for one of my kids’ birthdays years ago, when I was determined to find a chocolate cake that didn’t feel like “the gluten free version.” I wanted something easy, with no fussy steps or fancy ingredients, but still rich and satisfying enough that everyone would want seconds.
This cake delivers all of that, and it’s my go-to for weeknights, birthdays, and anytime someone asks for chocolate. It’s not fancy. Just fudgy, dependable, and flexible enough to make your own.
What you’ll need to make this cake
- Gluten free flour – Use a high-quality all purpose gluten free flour blend for structure and a tender crumb. (Better Batter or Nicole’s Best work beautifully here.)
- Sugar – Just enough granulated sugar to sweeten the cake and keep it tender
- Cocoa powder – No melted chocolate needed. Cocoa powder delivers all the deep chocolate flavor you want in a fudgy cake. Dutch-processed preferred, but natural works too.
- Baking soda – Gives the cake lift and reacts with the acid in the sour cream to help keep it moist.
- Salt – Balances the sweetness and deepens the chocolate flavor.
- Eggs – Add richness and structure. Bring them to room temperature so they mix evenly into the batter.
- Oil – A neutral oil keeps the cake moist and tender without weighing it down. No butter to melt—just pour and mix.
- Sour cream – Adds moisture and tang, with just enough fat to make the cake soft but not greasy.
- Vanilla – Enhances the chocolate flavor and adds warmth and depth.
- Water – Warm water helps bring the batter together and bloom the cocoa powder for an even richer flavor.
How to make gluten free chocolate cake
Whisk together the dry ingredients: gluten free flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and sugar. Add the sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla, and warm water, and mix until well combined. The batter will be thick. Spread it evenly in a greased 9-inch round or square pan.
Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
How to make an easy chocolate frosting
Ganache is the easiest chocolate frosting you can make: just heavy cream and chopped chocolate. Pour it over the cake for a silky glaze, or whip it into a fluffy spread.
To make ganache, heat heavy cream until it just begins to simmer. Pour it over chopped chocolate, let sit for 5 minutes, then stir until smooth. Pour it over the cooled cake and let it drip down the sides.
For whipped ganache, start with 2 more ounces of chocolate. Chill the ganache until scoopable, then whip until it’s light and fluffy.
My Pro Tip
Expert tips
1. Bring cold ingredients to room temperature
Cold eggs and sour cream can cause the batter to clump or bake unevenly. Float the eggs in warm water and microwave the sour cream briefly to speed things up.
2. Use Dutch-processed cocoa powder for richness
Natural cocoa works, but Dutch-processed gives this cake a deeper, more complex chocolate flavor.
3. Don’t overbake
Pull the cake when a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Overbaking leads to dryness, even in a fudgy cake.
4. Want even more chocolate flavor? Use coffee.
Replace half the warm water with brewed coffee (regular or decaf) to intensify the chocolate taste without making the cake taste like coffee.
5. For layer cakes, double both the cake and the frosting
This recipe makes one generous layer. To build a stacked cake, increase the yield to 16 and divide the batter between two pans.
6. Store frosted cake in the fridge if needed—this one won’t dry out
Thanks to the oil and sour cream, this cake stays soft and moist, even chilled. Just wrap it well.
Ingredient substitutions
Dairy free
The only dairy in the cake is sour cream, which you can easily replace with nondairy sour cream (like Violife or Tofutti) or thick plant-based yogurt (like Kite Hill).
To make dairy free ganache, use canned coconut cream or any vegan heavy cream (like Califia Farms, Country Crock, or Silk).
Egg free
This recipe uses 2 eggs. Try replacing each with a chia egg or flax egg. Flax eggs offer more structure, but may add a mild flavor the cocoa powder should mask.
Cocoa powder
Dutch-processed cocoa makes this cake extra rich, but natural cocoa (like Hershey’s) works, too.
Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Recipe
Equipment
- Electric mixer (handheld or stand)
Ingredients
For the chocolate cake
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) 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 (70) unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (168 g) sour cream, at room temperature
- ½ cup (112 g) neutral oil, (vegetable, grapeseed, peanut, canola all work)
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature, beaten
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (6 fluid ounces) warm water, (about 80°F)
For the chocolate ganache topping
- ¾ cup (6 fluid ounces) heavy whipping cream
- 8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped (for whipped ganache, you'll need 10 ounces)
- 1 cup (115 g) 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, whisk together the flour, xanthan gum, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and sugar.
- Add the sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla, and warm water. Mix until smooth. The batter will be thick but pourable.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer.
- 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 saucepan, heat the cream until it just begins to simmer. Place the chopped chocolate (use 10 oz for whipped ganache) in a medium bowl and pour the hot cream on top.
- Let it sit for 1 minute to melt, then stir until smooth and glossy. Pour over the cooled cake and gently spread to the edges so it drips down the sides. Let it set before slicing.
To make whipped ganache
- If you used only 8 ounces of chocolate and haven’t cooled the ganache yet, melt 2 more ounces and stir it in now. Let the ganache cool at room temperature until it’s no longer warm to the touch.
- Cover and refrigerate until it’s scoopable. Transfer to a large bowl and beat with a handheld or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until fluffy and lightened in color (about 5 minutes).
- Add confectioners’ sugar, if using, and beat until smooth.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
For a layer cake
To make a two-layer cake, double the recipe by clicking the 2[X] button in the recipe, and use a larger mixing bowl. Divide the batter evenly between two greased 9-inch pans.
Bake at 350°F, rotating the pans halfway through, until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs (about 30 minutes total).
make ahead/leftovers
Storage instructions
Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days—or up to 4 days if it’s fully frosted.
This cake is so moist and tender, it even stores well in the refrigerator without drying out. Use that option if you won’t finish it within a couple days.
For longer storage, let the cake cool completely, then wrap it tightly in freezer-safe wrap. Freeze frosted or unfrosted for up to 4 months. Defrost at room temperature before frosting and serving.
You can also make the frosting ahead. Store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Let it come to room temperature before spreading—or re-whip it briefly for a lighter texture.
Common issues
If your cake rises and then falls as it cools, your oven may be too hot. Most ovens run hot, so I recommend using a standalone oven thermometer and replacing it regularly.
No, butter has more moisture and less fat than oil, so the texture won’t be the same.
Yes, as long as it’s liquid at room temperature.
Yes! A 9-inch square pan works with no changes.
For an 8-inch square pan, bake about 5 minutes longer.
For an 8-inch round pan, make sure it’s 3 inches deep, and increase the bake time by about 5 minutes.
To bake in a 9×13-inch pan, increase the recipe by 75% (change yield from 8 to 14 slices) and bake for about 40 minutes.
You can, but reduce the oven temperature to 325°F after 15 minutes to prevent overbaking. Glass heats slowly but retains heat longer, so it can cause burning around the edges.
Just let it sit at room temperature until soft enough to scoop, then whip as directed.
Related Recipes
Love this cake? Here are a few more chocolate desserts readers come back to again and again:
- Flourless Chocolate Cake – Ultra-rich and naturally gluten free, with a silky texture that melts in your mouth.
- Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes – Lighter, fluffier, and just right for parties or lunchbox treats.
- Gluten Free Chocolate Bundt Cake – A showstopper that bakes up beautifully in a bundt pan—no special skills required.
- Gluten Free Brownies – With a crinkly top and irresistibly chewy center, these are everything a brownie should be.
this came out great!! I’ve made several GF cakes before with questionable success, and I read something recently about sour cream (or Greek yogurt which is what I used here) being the trick to making sure a gluten free cake doesn’t come out too gummy. I’m glad I searched for that specifically this time because it was delicious! Still a pretty dense cake, but in a good, fudgy kind of way, and not gummy or weird at all. I used bob’s red mill baking flour.
You will have significantly better results if you use a better quality, better-balanced flour blend, Mira. Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour blend is not either of those things, and it’s the reason you are getting gummy results. Please see my gluten free flour blends page for a full explanation. The key is the right recipe, and the right flour blend. Not sour cream or Greek yogurt!
Hi Nicole, thank you for this recipe! As a busy mum of three little ones a one bowl cake is the best! I’ve made this today (just the cake without the ganache) (Thursday) for my sister’s birthday on Saturday afternoon – any thoughts on whether it will last ok until then or should I freeze it tonight and take out and add the topping on Saturday morning? Many thanks, Helen
Hi, Helen, Definitely freeze it! Not that it won’t last, but wrap it tightly and freeze it, then defrost at room temperature and it will be good as new when you serve it!
Your cake looks delicious! I’m out of gf flour. Could I substitute the same amount, 1 1/2 cups, of regular regular flour? Thx!
I’m afraid that baking with conventional flour is not at all the same as baking with gluten free flour. I really recommend that you find a recipe that is developed for conventional flour, Beverly.
Do you think the cake would hold up well enough to triple the recipe for a 3 layer cake in 8 inch cake pans? I’m trying to put together a hodgepodge of recipes to create a chocolate covered strawberry cake for my husband’s birthday, and the simplicity of this recipe looks promising plus I just love that you list your ingredients by weight!
Since you’ll be measuring by weight, Amanda (the only way to bake successfully!), I think you could triple the recipe. Depending upon the size of your oven, though, you may have to bake in batches. Lucky birthday man!
Thanks so much for the wonderful information and recipes you provide! I’d like to make this cake, but I’m out of sour cream – any chance of replacing with Greek yogurt? I have a bunch of that in hand now because we love your pizza and monkey bread recipes!!
Hi, Elyse, You should be able to use Greek yogurt in place of sour cream, yes. I wouldn’t recommend using nonfat yogurt, though, for this cake. It needs the fat!
The best gluten free chocolate cake I have made. Really lovely moist texture. Fab! Thank you
I’m so glad you loved it, Annie. It’s a “back pocket” recipe!
Hi Nicole. This looks amazing and I’m actually making it now for my brother’s birthday! Just a query-the video shows you adding vanilla, but it’s not in the ingredient list. I’m adding it anyway but thought I would ask for future reference. :) thank you!
Thank you for pointing that out, Priya. I don’t always add it, to be honest, but it certainly doesn’t hurt! I added it to the ingredients list. Oh, and happy birthday to your brother. This is my family’s go-to chocolate birthday cake. :)
This was my 1st time making any form of ganache. I used unsweetened bakers chocolate, and learned the hard way that you meant a semi sweet or bittersweet type dark chocolate, like a bar of 70 or 85%. I’ve added the confectioners sugar and given it a bit of a beat, and it’s edible, but I’ll read up more on ganache before I try it again. Would semi-sweet baking chips work?
Oh no, Carol, never use unsweetened chocolate unless a recipe calls for it! You can’t use chocolate chips to make ganache properly, since they have a fair amount of wax in them. That’s what helps them hold their shape even in the oven.
Thanks for the great recipe!
I used this cake to go with a buttercream I just had to try (Tahini honey – tastes like Halva, link to recipe below) but I reduced the sugar to 1/3 cup to make it a darker cake.
Was not expecting that much of a rise but the tops are trimmed and waiting to be made into a cake sandwich thingie!
10/10 would make again
Link to the tahini honey chocolate cake – https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/baking-and-desserts/chocolate-tahini-and-honey-celebration-cake/
Since my husband is a diabetic, is there a sugar substitute, perhaps monkfruit, one can use?
Hi, Trish, I would try Lankato monkfruit granulated sugar substitute. It does tend to be drying, though, so you may need to add a bit more liquid. Add it about a teaspoon at a time, and try to match the precise consistency of the batter that you see in the videos.