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Gluten Free Chocolate Cake?
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DD is turning 6 on Wednesday and the family she would like to invite for her birthday is gluten-free. We are refined-sugar free (I mainly use honey). I know there are probably tons of recipes out there on the internet, but since I know there are several of you on here that have various dietary restrictions, I was wondering if you could share with me a tried-and-true chocolate cake or chocolate brownie recipe that would be suitable for those needing to be both gluten and refined-sugar free so we can all enjoy it together?
Thanks!
Jen
Jen,
I have made this recipe many times and our family LOVES it! It’s flour-less and made without refined sugars as well. I have toyed with the recipe a bit so that I use less erythritol and more coconut sugar. The icing is especially wonderful with only a tablespoon of erythritol and then adding the coconut sugar until it tastes as sweet as you like. Also, I usually add less cocoa powder to the icing than the recipe calls for. Just add sweetener and cocoa powder to taste while whipping so that the icing is fluffy and creamy.
Healthy Indulgences Chocolate Cake
It’s definitely not a cheap cake, but worth the price for a special occasion!
Hope you enjoy!
Lindsey
Lindsey,
This looks like a yummy cake! I like that the recipe gives alternatives to some of the ingredients. I might give this recipe a try!
The erythritol is very expensive where I live. I like erythritol because it is almost 0 on the glycemic index, therefore it won’t spike the blood sugar or add extra padding to the rear end.
I don’t like using erythritol because it gives the cake and the icing, especially, a bit of a bitter aftertaste and because of the cost. I don’t use honey in this recipe, but you could try it and let me know how it works. I do use the bit of liquid stevia, but then I substitute coconut sugar in place of most of the erythritol in both the cake and icing. Erythritol is sweeter than coconut sugar, but because of the bitterness, I really prefer the coconut sugar which has a deeper, richer flavor. Plus, coconut sugar is full of good minerals. Also, I made this cake with shortening once, and I’ll never do it again. The icing did not taste good at all! I couldn’t tell in the cake so much, but the icing was ick! I recommend 100% butter, and raw butter for the icing if you can get it.
One more thing about the icing: if you have a mixer, use the whisk attachment and really whip the butter with the sweetener. The longer you whip it, the fluffier the butter becomes. It usually takes me about 15 minutes to make the icing because of the amount of time I whip the butter with the sweetener.
These make great cupcakes as well. Just reduce the baking time to 18-20 minutes. I allow my family to have these cupcakes with breakfast because they’re so healthy. I actually made these cupcakes last week just because, and we ate them with breakfast 3-4 mornings in a row.
Those are just my tips for this recipe, since I have made it so much. Trial and error have taught me that these adjustments produce the best-tasting and healthiest cake/cupcakes for our family.
Blessings,
Lindsey
Sounds yummy, Lindsey!
But if you don’t want to make it from scratch..Pamela’s Brownies or Cookies are a great substitute..very rich though. We have it at our Kroger. But have found Pamelas at Publix and health food stores. All of her products are GF! And all that we have tried are yummy! I know that I have made some other premix GF and it tasted yucky! So hope this helps!
Thanks for the extra tips Lindsey! I just printed out the recipe and I hope to give it try maybe this weekend. I will most likely do honey and stevia for the cake. For the icing, I’ll probably do a combination of the stevia and maybe agave nectar. I’ll have to see how it works with agave nectar. The stevia will most likely give it that little extra sweetness kick. 🙂 I can’t wait to try this! I made some flourless black bean brownies awhile back and they turned out really good. My family really liked them. I didn’t tell them there were black beans in them until after they tried them and found they liked them.
Stevia, agave nectar, and/ or palm sugar can be subbed for the erythritol and are not as expensive. The stevia I use does not have the aftertaste and is cheepest on vitacost.com. It is called Stevita, and I get the spoonable 16 oz size. Agave nectar is cheepest on amazon.com (at least in my neck of the woods) and is cheeper in the larger container (when breaking it down/ oz.). Ditto on the palm sugar.
Be aware that Pamela’s uses egg &/or milk in many of their boxes – just in case this is also an issue. Otherwise, these get a thumbs up from the kiddos. 🙂
I have a recipe for flourless choc cake as well, but I can not put my hands on the recipe just now. If you want it as well, I can post it later.
Oh, and last but not least, there is a flourless choc. cake in Nourishing Traditions if you have a friend who may have this cookbook (or maybe you have it yourself).
Do any of you know what the exchange would be when substituting the other sweeteners for erythritol? In other words, how much agave nectar would you use in place of the erythritol? Same for stevia.
You can go to this site for some subs. It doesn’t have one for stevia, but through trial and error we have found that a scant 1 T of stevia is = to 1 cup of sugar. I can’t remember if agave nectar is listed, but think of this sweetener as similar to honey in sweetness and form to measure it out.
HTH,
~j
Thanks for the link blue j. But there’s no listing for substitution equivalents for erythritol. I’m wondering how much you would substitute for erythritol.
I don’t know anything about erythritol. I’m wondering if it would be like using stevia.
Erythritol is not nearly as sweet as stevia, but it is sweeter than sugar. I have no idea what the substitution would be. I personally prefer coconut sugar, especially if you powder it by running it through a coffee grinder prior to use in the icing. It has such a rich flavor. We are not agave nectar fans, so I can’t help there.
Sorry!
Lindsey
P.S. For those interested, I made this cake again today. I made a vanilla buttercream icing by leaving out the cocoa powder and adding an additional 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract. I used organic, salted, cultured butter for the icing, and it turned out AMAZING! So now we’ve got the chocolate cake with vanilla icing for our life group tomorrow evening. I’m excited!
No problem blue j. 🙂
Thanks for the ideas all. In the end, her friend got sick and couldn’t come. =( But I will keep these ideas tucked away for future reference!
Jen
LindseyD.,
I made the recipe for the flourless chocolate cake you gave the link for. I ended up doing honey and stevia for the sweeteners and I changed the amounts of each. I did 1/2 tsp. pure stevia extract and about 3/4 cup honey. I did not make the icing recipe but instead made whipped cream using heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract, and agave nectar. Then I made a thin layer of buttercream icing to go between the cake layers. I used just a tad bit over a 1/2 stick of butter, pure cane sugar that I ground in the coffee grinder until it was a consistency like powdered sugar, and then added a little vanilla extract. It is awesome! What a fabulous recipe! I am so glad you shared the link with us.
My hubby said that there’s a restaurant that is well known for their flourless chocolate cake and he’s tasted it. He said he liked this one I made much better. Even my teenage daughter said it was delicious and that was after she knew there were black beans in it. That’s saying something! 🙂 So this recipe is definitely a keeper!
Thanks for posting the link!
I don’t like using erythritol because it gives the cake and the icing, especially, a bit of a bitter aftertaste and because of the cost. I don’t use honey in this recipe, but you could try it and let me know how it works. I do use the bit of liquid stevia, but then I substitute coconut sugar in place of most of the erythritol in both the cake and icing. Erythritol is sweeter than coconut sugar, but because of the bitterness, I really prefer the coconut sugar which has a deeper, richer flavor. Plus, coconut sugar is full of good minerals. 
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