If you’re craving a chocolate cake that’s a bit lower in sugar and has delicious coffee flavors, then make this Gluten Free Mocha Chocolate Cake (it’s vegan too!)
This allergy-friendly cake is made without refined ingredients and is a rich indulgence that kills chocolate cravings. While this is an allergy friendly food, it is not a low-calorie recipe.
If you want to make a lighter version of this cake, use less oil, and less sugar (replacing with more Truvia). Make a 1/2 batch, (1 9-inch layer), and use a thin layer of frosting (if any). This cake definitely qualified as my weekend baking indulgence (more on that later).
We adapted this recipe from a cake recipe in Living Without Magazine (which became Gluten Free and More magazine). The original recipe is no longer available for us to link to.
Gluten Free Mocha Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup hot brewed coffee regular or decaf
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 cup light tasting olive oil
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup Truvia
- ½ cup coconut sugar or other granulated sweetener
- 3 cups brown rice flour
- ⅓ cup flaxseed meal or ground chia seed
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare 2, 9-inch cake pans (or 3, 8-inch cake pans) by spraying the sides with oil and placing a parchment circle in the bottom of each pan.
- In a bowl, whisk together the coffee, cocoa powder, hot water, applesauce, oil, vanilla, sugar, and the Truvia. Mix well and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, flaxseed meal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. Mix well.
- Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour batter into the prepared cake pans and bake in the oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes. Remove from the cake pans and let cool completely before frosting.
- Frost with Mocha Buttercream Frosting (below) or Fudgy Ganache. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Mocha buttercream frosting with Homemade powdered sugar
Mocha Buttercream Frosting (Vegan)
Ingredients
- ½ cup raw sugar or raw date or coconut sugar
- ⅓ cup Truvia
- 2 Tablespoons arrowroot starch
- 1-2 teaspoons instant coffee granules to taste
- 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
- Dash salt
- ½ cup palm shortening*
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Make your powdered sugar: in a blender or magic bullet, place the raw sugar, Truvia, arrowroot starch, instant coffee, and cocoa powder, and pulse until a fine powder forms. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, beat the palm shortening or coconut oil until creamy. Add in the the powdered sugar and beat until incorporated. Add vanilla, and beat again until creamy. Use to frost a cake. Store in the fridge.
- * You can replace some of the palm oil with SunButter or other nut/seed butter for a “Peanut Butter” flavor frosting.
Nutrition
Mocha Buttercream Frosting
Makes @ 1-1/2 cups, moderately frosts a 2 layer cake. Makes about 12 servings, 2 Tablespoons each
Vegan, gluten free; Free of: dairy, eggs, yeast, soy, corn, white sugar
- 1/2 cup raw sugar (or raw date or coconut sugar)
- 1/3 cup Truvia
- 2 Tablespoons arrowroot starch
- 1-2 teaspoons instant coffee powder/granules
- 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
- Dash salt
- 1/2 cup palm shortening
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions:
- Make your powdered sugar: in a blender or magic bullet, pulse the raw sugar, Truvia, arrowroot starch, instant coffee, and cocoa powder until a fine powder forms. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, beat the palm shortening until creamy. Add in the homemade powdered sugar mixture and vanilla and beat again until creamy.
- Frost the cake with this once the cake has completely cooled.
- You can replace some of the palm oil/shortening with SunButter or nut butter for a PB type frosting if you want.
Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie. She’s a food allergy mom and allergy friendly food blogger of 12 years based in Wyoming. Sarah is also an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Certified Health Coach, Revolution Running certified running coach, and an ACE Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist
We are making this for my daughter’s birthday party this weekend. I just looked at the Truvia ingredients and realized it has cane sugar. She is allergic to cane sugar. Any suggestions for a replacement for the Truvia? We are considering Lakanto’s Monkfruit sweetener (erythritol and monk fruit extract) and xylitol. Thanks so much!
Hi Christa! You could try using the Lakanto, or the baking Stevia powder, although the baking stevia powder might make it slightly dry. You’ll probably get good results with the Lakanto or the xylitol. Let me know how it turns out for you!
This looks amazing! Two questions:
1) Would it work with cassava flour?
2) Any idea the bake time and temp for a cupcake version?
Thanks so much!
Hi Christa! I’m not sure if cassava flour would work in this recipe since we used a whole grain flour and I don’t know that this recipe would convert well to using cassava flour. If you were making cupcakes, you’d bake them at the same temperature but for only about 17-18 minutes.
I think the frosting recipe is the same as the cake recipe.
Hi Eileen, thank you for letting me know! Something is going wrong with my recipe cards and I’ll contact the developer to fix it. In the meantime, I’m writing out the recipe for you at the bottom of the post.
Sending sweet thank yous for your amazing recipes. My house is now filled with cakes cookies and muffins and my 3 year old boy who is allergic to dairy eggs gluten and corn can eat to his hearts content….amazing!!!
Thanks so much for sharing that Anna! It means a lot to me to hear my recipes are helping people <3 If you have any favorite recipes you want to see re-made, let me know!
Do you know what would be the best alternative to rice for? I would like to make this tomorrow without going to the store 🙂
A good gluten-free alternative to rice flour in this recipe would be sorghum flour or gf oat flour. You can try other flours, but the amount of liquid you will have to add might change. For example, buckwheat flour is very absorptive, so you may need less flour or more liquid. All in all, sorghum or oat flour would probably yield the best results.
Saw this on Andrew’s page…looks delish. Will be trying it out!!:)
This looks wonderful! Can’t wait to try it, thanks 🙂
Fantastic, what an awesome cake!