The Best Chocolate Cake (and yes, it’s gluten free and dairy free)

I’ve never liked chocolate cake (gasp!). I love chocolate. I love cake. Put them together and I’m just not interested – too often I’ve found chocolate cake to be dry and lacking in depth of flavour.

Then I met this cake….and everything changed.

What’s amazing about this cake?

This chocolate cake uses brewed coffee (use decaf if you’re avoiding caffeine) and lots of quality, dark chocolate to really intensify the chocolaty flavour. There is also mashed avocado (hello secret ingredient!), which provides healthy fats to really bring moisture to the cake, while also reducing the amount of oil needed. With a lot of the sweetness coming from the chocolate, this cake requires much less sugar than other recipes but doesn’t sacrifice taste! It has half the amount sugar per serving when compared to a store bought cupcake.

Gluten Free & Dairy Free

And one serving provides you with 14% of your daily iron intake, 11% of your daily magnesium intake and 9% of your daily zinc intake. Not bad for a piece of cake!

This cake doesn’t have to be gluten free (simply sub in regular all purpose flour), but it does make it easier to share with those that are celiac orare sensitive to gluten. Choosing dairy free chocolate also makes this cake vegan friendly and helps those who find dairy doesn’t sit well with them. In searching for recipes it’s often difficult to find something that is both gluten free and dairy free without sacrificing on texture and taste. I was so happy to finally find a texture and taste for this cake that I was happy with (and that met the approval of my local food critics aka my kids!).

Ideas for topping this cake

Chocolate ganache (sprinkles are fun too)
Coconut whipped cream and fresh berries
Coconut whipped cream and canned/fresh cherries

I hope you enjoy this cake and perhaps if you’re not a chocolate cake lover it will convert you to the dark (chocolate) side…

The Best Chocolate Cake (yes, it’s gluten free & dairy free!)

Author: Alyssa

Print Recipe

Description

This chocolate cake turned me from a chocolate cake hater into a chocolate cake lover. It’s truly the best I’ve ever had!

Ingredients

Units Scale

1 1/4 cups All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour
1/4 cup Almond Flour
1/4 cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
1/2 cup Coconut Sugar
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 Avocado (half a large avocado, mashed)
1/4 cup Avocado Oil
2/3 cup Coffee (decaf)
85 grams Dark Chocolate
1/2 cup Dark Chocolate Chips
3/4 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
113 grams Dark Chocolate (optional, for chocolate ganache)
1/4 cup Plain Coconut Milk (optional, for chocolate ganache)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F; grease a bundt pan with coconut oil, set aside.
Combine dark chocolate and brewed coffee in a small saucepan and whisk together over low heat until melted together. Set aside to cool slightly.
Whisk together mashed avocado and oil, then combine with the cooled coffee chocolate mixture and almond milk. Whisk until well combined.
Combine dry ingredients together in a medium sized mixing bowl and whisk together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips and spoon batter in the prepared bundt pan.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least an hour, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.
If making the chocolate ganache, melt together the dark chocolate and coconut milk over low-medium heat, stirring continuously to avoid burning. Once the chocolate is melted, set aside to cool for a few minutes, then spoon over the cooled chocolate cake.

Notes

This cake can also be made with regular all purpose flour if you’re not gluten free. You may also substitute any other kind of milk in this recipe and it will work just fine.