A beautifully simple and delicious gluten-free chocolate layer cake made with a combination of oat and almond flours that bakes up perfectly each time.
Perfect Gluten-Free Chocolate Layer Cake
I could happily eat chocolate cake every day of the year. While I won't, I also can't help myself from experimenting with different variations. Today's recipe is a slight riff on my oat flour chocolate cake and also inspired by my absolute favorite chocolate cake recipe (non gluten-free). It is tender, beautiful, and hard to stop eating. I think it would make a wonderful dessert to welcome in the new year.
Because -- we're nearly there, aren't we? I'm hoping for clear skies so we can get to the beach, as is a sort of annual tradition. No swimming in Sydney Harbour this year for New Year's Eve -- it's far too chilly for that here in Northern California, but some winter days here can be gorgeously warm and sunny. So, I'm crossing fingers. Cake would be a perfect treat to bring along.
I used a simple combination of oat and almond flours for the flour base in this cake, and they are great together -- this might be my favorite gluten-free flour combination of all time. See the substitution options below the recipe, but if you can't do almonds, you could do exclusively oat flour, or swap in another whole grain gluten-free flour. It's a very simple cake, made with a whisk rather than a mixer, and the batter comes together in minutes. Hope you enjoy this one.
Ingredients You Need for Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake
- Oat flour: A wonderful gluten-free whole grain flour for baking
- Almond flour: Use almond flour not almond meal
- Unsweetened cocoa powder: I like Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder
- Maple sugar and coconut sugar
- Baking soda and baking powder
- Olive oil
- Large eggs
- Greek yogurt
- Whole milk
- Freshly brewed coffee: You could use hot water instead
Tips for Success
- Let batter rest for at least 15 minutes before baking. Oat flour really benefits from a rest to let it absorb liquids.
- Bring ingredients to room temperature before using.
- See "Notes" section following the recipe for substitution suggestions.
How to Store
To store, wrap the cake well and keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Perfect Gluten-Free Chocolate Layer Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups/185 g gluten-free oat flour about 2 cups
- ½ cup/75 g almond flour about ½ cup
- 1 cup maple sugar or sugar
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup olive oil
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extact
- 1 cup hot, freshly brewed coffee or water
Instructions
- Lightly grease two 8-inch pans with at least 2-inch sides with olive oil and line with parchment paper rounds. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oat flour, almond flour, sugars, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, eggs, yogurt, milk, and vanilla. Stir and whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir very well to combine. Stir in the coffee and stir until batter is smooth and combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and preheat oven to 350° F. Let batter rest while the oven heats, about 15 minutes.
- Place pans in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, checking at 45 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean and the edges are starting to pull away from the edges of the pans. Remove from oven and let cake cool in the pans on a wire rack for 30 minutes, then turn out onto the rack to cool fully. The cake will be quite tender so it’s a good idea to refrigerate it before frosting.
- Fill and frost cake with chocolate buttercream or your frosting of choice. Cake will keep well wrapped in the fridge for up to 5 days.
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