This gluten free chocolate espresso layer cake is vegan, soft, moist and scrumptious.
It makes the perfect vegan espresso dessert and delicious gluten free birthday cake!
This chocolate espresso cake is also a delicious gluten free vegan Valentine's dessert, with creamy mocha frosting.
You will see, making this gluten free chocolate cake with coffee frosting is going to be quick and easy.
Ingredients
The ingredients for this flourless chocolate cake are easy to source.
For the cake batter
- almond flour, it makes the cake soft and moist
- gluten free brown rice flour, I love it for its neutral taste and its lighter texture (compared to white rice flour)
- potato starch or other gluten free starch, it works as a binder and makes the cake soft
- baking powder (I use baking soda + cream of tartar)
- coffee powder, I suggest using decaffeinated
- sugarless cacao powder
- brown sugar, or white
- seed oil, I used sunflower, but coconut oil is great too
- apple sauce, this works as an egg substitute
- gluten free vegan milk, best if rice or soy (almonds and nut milks in general are good too)
- dairy free dark chocolate
For the vegan coffee frosting
- boiled or soaked unsalted cashews
- espresso coffee (or instant coffee aswell), I suggest decaffeinated
- icing sugar or other powdered/liquid sweetener (not regular white/brown sugar)
- vanilla extract or vanilla paste
Full recipe in the card below
Tips and substitutions
Here are some tips to make this vegan gluten free chocolate espresso layer cake.
In this recipe you can replace the almond flour with the same amount of brown rice flour.
It will result in a slightly less soft cake, but still very good 😉
You could replace the brown rice flour with millet (not brown) or sorghum flour.
You can bake the cake in one pan only and - after the cake has cooled down completely - slice it half way.
If you like this cake idea but want to avoid the coffee, omit the coffee powder in the batter and replace the espresso in the frosting with plant based milk.
Almond or hazelnut milks would work great with the chocolate cake.
From my experience, this cake is best made and frosted before serving.
Leftovers keep well in the fridge for a few days. But if you want to serve it as a dessert or for a birthday, bake the cakes early enough to completely cool down.
And frost it before serving.
If you make this recipe or have questions, leave me a comment down here! And a 5 star rating if you have loved it would help me grow the blog 😉
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Ciao!
Sonia
📖 Full Recipe
Gluten free Chocolate Espresso Layer Cake {Vegan}
Equipment
- 2 bowls
- 1 spoon or spatula/whisk
- 2 9 inch baking pans (or 1 pan only, you can cutthe cake in half)
- 1 Blender
- 1 kitchen scale
Ingredients
For the cake batter (7 inch round pan)
- 150 grams gluten free almond flour
- 150 grams gluten free brown rice flour
- 120 grams gluten free potato starch
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (decaf) coffee powder
- 4 tablespoons unsweetened cacao powder
- 90 grams brown sugar
- 60 grams seed oil or coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons apple sauce (for a vegetarian option, it can be replaced with 2 eggs)
- 290 grams rice milk (or other gluten free vegan milk)
- 100 grams dairy free dark chocolate (+ more for decoration)
For the coffee cream
- 320 grams boiled/soaked unsalted cashews
- 180 grams (decaf) espresso coffee (instant coffee is ok too)
- 1 tablespoons icing sugar (or other sweetener) (more, if desired)
- vanilla extract to taste
Instructions
For the coffee cream
- Brew some espresso coffee and let it cool down, or make instand coffee
- In a blender add cashews and coffee and blend until you have a smooth, "spread-able" cream, then add the sugar (or other sweetener) and the vanilla extract, adjusting them to your own taste
For the cake batter
- Pre-heat the oven at 180° C / 360 F
- In a bowl add the apple sauce, milk and seed oil and mix (better if with an electric whisk) for a minute
- Melt the dark chocolate in a microwave or in a double-boiler
- In another bowl mix sugar, flours, starch, baking powder, cacao powder and coffee powder
- Add the liquid mix to the dry ingredients, mix well then add the melted chocolate and incorporate well
- Divide the batter into two 9-inch pans and bake for 25-30 minutes (or until when inserting a toothpick, it comes out clean). If you only have one pan, bake the whole batter in it for 40-45 minutes.
- Once baked, let the cakes (or cake) cool down completely before removing them from the pan (and slicing it into two discs, if baking one cake only)
- Set the first cake/disc on a serving plate, spread a layer of coffee frosting and grate some dark chocolate on top
- Add the second cake disc, spread more coffee frosting on top and on the sides and grate some more dark chocolate on top
- If you want to serve it as a dessert or for a birthday, for best result bake the cakes early enough to completely cool down and frost it before serving.Leftovers keep well in the fridge for a couple days.
Claire says
I am so happy I found this recipe! My husband loves anything chocolate and coffee, he is gluten and dairy sensitive, so I was happy to find a vegan option too. And the cake came out very soft, which was honestly unexptected! Will make this again
Sweet Sensitive Free says
I'm so glad when a recipe can make our loved ones happy!