Who doesn't love a gluten-free easy vegan chocolate cake recipe? This one bowl beauty has the advantage of being gluten-free, vegan, and refined sugar-free.
Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Cake
This tender, dark, very chocolatey cake is enriched by coconut milk which deepens its flavor and brings an almost buttery quality though it's entirely dairy-free. It's perfect as-is but would also be nice with a scoop of raspberry or lemon sorbet.
For the flours in this recipe, I used white rice flour in the flour mix because I happened to have a large bag of it on hand. I tend to lean on whole grains for the most part, but white rice flour does have its place. It's a great neutral flour with a bit of starch to help hold things together, which is appreciated here because there are no eggs in this recipe. The white rice flour is balanced by almond flour in an equal amount.
I love the flavor of this cake -- it's deep, rich, not too sweet, and very very chocolatey. A favorite aspect is that it's a one bowl cake, making preparation a breeze.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
It's so easy. I love a one-bowl cake, and this one is no exception.
Delicious fudgy texture. The white rice and almond flours melt together to create a dense, moist cake that nonetheless retains a cake-y crumb (meaning it's not like a flourless chocolate cake which has a tendency to be a chocolate brick).
Vegan! Coconut milk in this recipe brings flavor and richness, while keeping the recipe totally suitable for vegans and those who need to eat dairy-free.
Gluten-Free Flours Needed
White rice flour. While I don't use white rice flour too often because I prefer the nutritional hit whole grain gluten-free flours bring, this flour works perfectly in this recipe.
Almond flour. Almond flour is a staple in gluten-free baking for good reason: it's versatile, great for structure because of its high protein content, and plays well with other gluten-free flours.
More about gluten-free flours.
Ingredients in Gluten-Free Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake
- White rice flour
- Almond flour
- Coconut sugar
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking powder
- Coconut milk: I like the gum-free coconut milk cans, but you could use any coconut milk here.
- Fine sea salt
- Water
How to Make Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Cake
For the full instructions, see the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Combine dry ingredients. Sift or whisk together the flours, coconut sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, and salt.
- Add coconut milk and water. Stir well to combine.
- Bake. Pour batter into prepared 8-inch cake pan and bake for 45 minutes. Cool before serving.
Substitutions
White rice flour - swap sorghum flour or oat flour.
Almond flour - try tiger nut flour or another nut flour.
Coconut sugar - use brown sugar.
Coconut milk - use your favorite non-dairy milk of choice.
Storage
Store the cake in the fridge, well-covered, for 3 days. Eat straight from the fridge or bring to bring temperature before serving.
Tip
If you would like an even richer cake, replace the ½ cup of water with coconut milk.
FAQ
In this case, the answer is easy! The combination of almond flour and coconut flour keeps this cake rich and never dry.
As with many things gluten-free, it depends. But, it often takes a gluten-free cake a little longer to bake. In this recipe, you'll need about 40-45 minutes of bake time.
Because gluten-free flours perform differently than wheat flour, "over-mixing" gluten free flour can actually give the cake better structure! This helps the cake layers rise better as they bake and gives the cake a more tender crumb. One caveat is that when you use buckwheat flour you need a more delicate hand. It's better folded into the batter at the end of mixing.
Recipe
Easy Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup/100 g white rice flour
- 1 cup/100 g almond flour
- ¾ cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup coconut milk
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350° F and lightly grease an 8-inch cake round with coconut oil. Line with a round of parchment paper.
- In large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the coconut milk and water and stir well to combine.
- Pour batter into pan, place in oven, and bake for about 40-45 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven, place on a rack, and cool in pan 15 minutes. Turn out onto rack to cool completely.
- Serve cake plain, with whipped cream, or ice cream. Cake will keep, well covered in the fridge, for 3 days.
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