Quinoa Chocolate Cake Recipe

This decadent quinoa chocolate cake super is moist and fudgy, flourless, and not too rich. Plus, it's naturally dairy free and gluten free!

Why make a chocolate cake with quinoa instead of gf flour?

Everyone loves a flourless chocolate cake for that dense fudginess that can't be beat. But this cake is different.

It's not only because its texture is more like a more traditional chocolate cake. Or because it's naturally dairy free, made with oil instead of butter.

I've made this cake so many times over the last week or so, and I broke the cardinal rule of making someone else's recipe. The first time I made it, I did the very thing I always say you should never, ever do. I made it with my own special changes.

But to be fair, since the first time I saw this recipe for a naturally gluten free chocolate cake on Mel’s Kitchen Cafe (hi, friend!), I was super curious to see if you could substitute the cooked quinoa (yes! quinoa is a gluten free pseudo-grain!) for a cooked grain or alternative porridge-like food. And I'm happy to report that… you can!

More choc quinoa cake ingredients notes

• Eggs – The eggs are really important in this recipe, helping to bind everything together and give the cake lift.
• Oil – A neutral oil, like grapeseed or vegetable oil, is perfect for making a rich chocolate cake when combined with cocoa powder.
• Vanilla extract – A flavor enhancer that also helps overwhelm any taste of quinoa.
• Sugar – Not just a sweetener, but a tenderizer, sugar is an important part of this rich chocolate cake
• Cocoa powder – Cocoa powder not only gives the cake a deep chocolate flavor, but its aroma covers any remaining quinoa bitterness.
• Baking powder and baking soda – Make sure your chemical leaveners are fresh, and they'll never fail to add the proper lift to your cake.
• Salt – Balances the sweetness and brings out the flavor of the chocolate

You can make this naturally gf cake with cooked quinoa or cooked teff

I've made this cake with either cooked quinoa or cooked cooked teff. The original recipe has a slight tendency to sink as it cools sort of like a soufflé, so I removed some moisture and changed a few other ingredient proportions.

Making this quinoa gluten free chocolate cake as I've specified below (no milk, more cocoa powder, oil instead of butter) made a similarly moist and tender cake as the original recipe I tried. It also made a chocolate cake that rises without sinking very much at all.

The cake is stable whether you make it with cooked quinoa or cooked whole grain teff. Just make them on the stovetop according to the basic package directions with water. Note that the proportion of grains to water is different for each grain.

If you're using teff to make your flourless chocolate cake

If you use cooked teff to make this flourless chocolate cake, you should know a few things about whole teff. First, be sure you're using the individual grains of this ancient nutritional powerhouse, not teff flour, for this recipe. They can be somewhat easy to confuse, since the whole grains are super tiny.

When you cook the whole grain teff in water, you'll need a ratio of 4 parts water to 1 part whole grain teff. For example, if you'd like to cook 1/2 cup of whole grain teff (raw), you'll need 2 cups of boiling water. You'll find that it cooks like porridge, and becomes firm as it cools like polenta.

You can crumble the cooked and cooled teff, or you can let it take the shape of the bowl that it's in, and throw that right into your blender to make the cake batter.

Tips for preparing the quinoa for this naturally gluten free chocolate cake

I started out making this cake in what's become the traditional manner: cooking it in water. But it turns out that you don't even need to cook the quinoa. You can just soak it in water for about 12 hours and blend away.

If you'd like more details on soaking quinoa for baking, please click through. But the general idea is to place about 1 cup (by volume, if you like) raw quinoa in a bowl or jar, and add enough tap water to cover by about in inch.

Cover the quinoa and water mixture, and allow it to soak in the refrigerator overnight, or for up to 24 hours. Drain the soaked quinoa in a fine mesh sieve or nut milk bag, measure the soaked and drained quinoa by weight in place of the cooked quinoa, and proceed with the recipe as written below.

Making gluten free chocolate quinoa cake — quick tips

Use a blender for the best quinoa cake

Even though we soften the quinoa by cooking (or soaking) it before using it in the cake batter, we need to blend it with the oil and some other wet ingredients so it doesn't add any unwanted texture to the cake.

You don't need a high speed blender for this task, but even a lower powered blender will make a smoother batter that holds everything together better than a food processor. If you don't have a blender, you can use a food processor, but your cake may be a little more fragile, and may even have a bit of texture.

Choosing the right baking pans

As written, this recipe makes a single 8-inch round cake, but you can make it easily in an 8-inch square cake pan without any modifications. If you'd like to use a 9-inch pan, just reduce the baking time as it will be ready faster.

I always recommend baking in light-colored cast aluminum baking pans for even baking without burning. To make a layer cake, just double the batter, divide it evenly among 2 prepared cake pans, and bake as directed, rotating the pans halfway through to ensure they bake evenly.

I don't recommend using a bundt pan, since this cake is not sturdy enough to hold together reliably in that quantity, and in that sort of pan.

Use parchment paper for easy removal

Most of my round cake pans are not nonstick, so I'm always sure to grease them well with cooking oil spray, and lining them with a round of parchment paper.

To remove the cake from the pan, allow it to cool until it's no longer hot to the touch, place an upside down wire rack on top, invert the pan and rack, and remove the pan by lifting it up and off the cake.

A simple frosting for chocolate quinoa cake

My favorite frosting for this simple chocolate quinoa cake is a rich whipped chocolate ganache. You'll find the recipe below. I only add the (optional) confectioners' sugar to the whipped ganache if I plan to travel with the cake and need the frosting to be firmer.

How to store chocolate quinoa cake so it stays fresh

This chocolate quinoa cake is super moist, so it doesn't dry out easily. However, when it's plain and not covered in frosting, it can be somewhat fragile so be sure to keep it wrapped tightly or on a stable base like a serving platter before you serve it.

Quinoa gluten free chocolate cake: Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy free quinoa chocolate cake

This cake is already dairy-free by nature, since it's made with oil instead of butter. To make the chocolate ganache dairy-free, make sure you're using dairy free chocolate, and replace the heavy whipping cream with chilled coconut cream from the can (liquid set aside or discarded).

Can you make quinoa chocolate cake without eggs?

That is a tough one. There are two eggs in this cake, and you can try a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel), but the eggs are very important in this cake.

Quinoa/teff

I haven't tried this recipe with any other cooked seed or grain, but I suspect that it would work with anything that cooks in water like a porridge. Feel free to experiment!

Try to steer clear of anything that has a very strong flavor and that doesn't pair well with chocolate. Teff and chocolate are very compatible. Or just make our one bowl gluten free chocolate cake if you can't have teff or quinoa.

FAQs

How to make quinoa chocolate cake