My blog as well as Kelly’s were featured last Friday in the Best of Blogs section of Food News Journal: mine for the culinary dictionary post and hers for the egg-free biscuits.
The recipe I’m sharing today is inspired—with quite a few changes—from Kelly’s cookbook The Spunky Coconut, which specializes in gluten-free, sugar-free, and casein-free recipes.
Unlike Kelly’s, this chocolate cake is made of brown rice and tapioca flours instead of coconut flour, canola oil instead of coconut oil, and sugar instead of agave syrup. I love coconut, but I had to work with what I had.
I have made a couple of gluten-free desserts before, but none of them included gluten-free flour. There are so many on the supermarket shelves nowadays, that it’s a pleasure to discover and experiment with the different varieties.
I remember when, about seven years ago, I went to several grocery stores looking for a gluten-free flour—after I had read a book about blood type diet that said that blood type O carriers should limit their consumption of gluten—and couldn’t find a single one.
Last week when I went shopping for flour for this cake, I found tapioca, millet, buckwheat, amaranth, coconut, and many many other gluten-free flours.
I wasn’t sure what the consistency of a gluten-free chocolate cake would be like. I imagined it would fall apart without the gluten—I guess in my mind gluten was wrongly associated with glue somehow.
But not at all, the cake was hardly different than any chocolate cake I’ve ever had. It was quite delicious. The cocoa powder I used was of excellent quality and that counts a lot in baking.
So use the best cocoa you can get. Your chocolate cake will only be as good as the chocolate you use.
Gluten-free Chocolate Cake Recipe
- ¾ cup canola oil
- ½ cup organic cocoa powder
- ¾ cup agave syrup (or 3/4 cup sugar)
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a cake or Bundt pan.
In an electric mixer, beat the oil and cocoa powder. Add the agave or sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt, brown rice flour, tapioca flour, baking soda and baking powder. Beat again. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes. Cool the cake completely before unmolding.
