YAY! It’s free from gluten, dairy, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish and sesame! This recipe does contain eggs. If eggs are an issue, please check out my Beetroot Chocolate Cake. Note: This post contains affiliate links, so any purchases made on Amazon through the links will help support Yay, It’s Free From This!
This amazing Free From Chocolate Cake is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, completely nut-free and contains no seeds. It is adapted from the bittersweet chocolate cake recipe by the wonderful Ina Garten. I’ve been streaming her Back to Basics series and this cake seemed so easy and simple. I wanted to translate it and try a free from version. Since it calls for a small amount of flour, I thought gluten-free flour could easily be used instead. I was not wrong! It only took two attempts to get this right. Managing multiple, life-threatening food allergies can be incredibly challenging, so to have such a decadent, but easy cake recipe to make that’s also free from major food allergens is a huge win for us. I can’t wait to make this for our next gathering with friends or family…or just because we’re craving chocolate cake. 😉
Free From Vegan Butter
For my first attempt of this Free From Chocolate Cake, I substituted the dairy butter with all vegan butter. Good vegan butter that is also nut-free is challenging to find. Also, any recipe that calls for melting butter is difficult because although vegan butter tastes good spread on toast or in a buttercream frosting, melting it usually results in that “funny” taste to me.
We had just discovered Violife’s Butter Block, and I think that it’s truly as delicious as dairy butter. I thought this Violife vegan butter would be different when melted. Although not too bad, it still had the slightest off taste, and I forgot about how much salt it contained. The resulting cake was good, but you definitely tasted the salt. We all still thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing, lol, especially my son who is just starting to be able to have baked eggs safely.
Shortening
My go-to butter substitute, especially for melted butter recipes, is palm shortening. I mention this in a lot of my posts and recipes. Shortening was super popular for baking back in the day. It fell out of favor because of the trans-fat content. Palm shortening does not have any trans-fat, and because of its high melting point, baking with it is great. Gluten-free baking particularly, benefits from shortening. Check out this article by King Arthur Baking to learn more.
The down side to shortening is the lack of flavor. Knowing this, for my second attempt, I partially substituted the vegan butter. The original recipe calls for 15 tablespoons of butter, which is almost two sticks. I tried 11 tablespoons of shortening and 4 tablespoons of the vegan butter. Then I reduced the salt to half and doubled the coffee granules to boost flavor. This really worked!
Free From Flour Substitute
When I watched Ina make this, it seemed like a flourless cake, but then she sprinkled a bit of flour into it. Only a quarter cup, so I knew it would be easy to substitute the wheat flour with gluten-free flour. I used my homemade gluten-free flour and added a bit of xanthan. Alternatively, I do like the Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free flour and King Arthur’s Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour. Both work great in all sorts of free from recipes and they’re a convenient staple to have on hand in your pantry.
Make the Free From Chocolate Cake
Butter and gluten or not, this chocolate cake is super easy, I promise. It’s why I love Ina Garten so much. Her recipes are simple, accessible and delicious!
So first, in a large bowl, measure and weigh the chocolate chips (as usual, I use Enjoylife Dark Morsels) and the vegan butter plus shortening. The first time I made this, I put this over a pot of simmering water and melted gently as the original recipe called for. I didn’t want to risk burning the chocolate. The second time I made this, I was impatient and did it in the microwave. Faster, easier and less dishes!
I have a 950W and did one whole minute, stirred and only heated for another 30 seconds. You want it to where it’s about 95% melted. Just keep stirring and don’t put it back in the microwave. Depending on your microwave, do less or more in 30-second increments, but watch carefully. You really don’t want to burn the chocolate.
Then whisk in the sugar, followed by the eggs, salt and coffee powder. Finally, sprinkle the flour over the batter, and gently fold with a spatula. The batter will look a bit gooey, but that’s okay! Scrape into a prepared springform pan and bake.
How to Serve Free From Chocolate Cake
After baking, allow to cool in the pan. You can serve it slightly warm or at room temperature. I recommend serving this with oat milk whipped cream and fresh strawberries. I love Whole Food’s 365 Oat-Based Whipped Topping. Or you can serve it with Oatly’s Vanilla Ice Cream or any other dairy-free ice cream that works for your specific diet restrictions. Both were pretty dang good, but my favorite way to eat this is by itself, cold, straight out of the refrigerator and with my hands. 😋
If you need a decadent free from chocolate cake for yourself, your family, friends, your kids’ school function, or anyone, make this cake! And please tell me what free from things you served it up with! Whatever your diet restrictions are, no one should miss out on chocolate cake. We had some gorgeous spring weather and took it outside to enjoy. My son ate this like it was about to run away from him, lol! Cheers! 🤗
Free From Chocolate Cake
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy8
servings15
minutes40
minutesGluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free chocolate cake for absolutely any occasion.
Ingredients
5 oz (11 Tbsp) organic palm shortening, See Notes
2 oz (4 Tbsp) vegan butter, such as Violife butter block, See Notes
7 oz nut-free, bittersweet chocolate like Enjoylife dark chocolate morsels, See Notes
6 (3/4c) oz cane sugar
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp instant coffee or espresso granules
1/4 tsp kosher salt, See Notes
1.5 oz (1/4c) gluten-free flour, plus extra for the pan
1/4 tsp xanthan gum, omit if flour already contains it
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350º F.
- Grease an 8-inch springform pan with shortening or vegan butter, and use gluten-flour to coat.
- Put the vegan butter, shortening and chocolate in a heat safe bowl. Either create a double boiler by placing a the bowl over a pot of simmering water, or microwave the mixture to melt it. If melting over the pot, make sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl. Stir occasionally, until the chocolate melts. Take the bowl off the heat and set aside. If microwaving, heat on high for one minute. Take it out and stir. Microwave again for 30 seconds. Stir again, until everything is melted and the mixture is smooth. Please See Notes for microwave watts.
- First, whisk the sugar into the chocolate mixture, then whisk in the eggs. Finally add the coffee and salt, whisking until the mixture is combined and smooth.
- Sprinkle on the flour over the batter evenly and fold it in gently with a spatula until it’s incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place it on a sheet pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Start checking at 25 minutes. I baked for a total of 40 minutes. If you test with a toothpick, it will not come out clean when it’s done. I look at the edges and also if the center of the cake no longer moves when you jiggle it.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely on a baking rack. The cake will deflate as it cools. Run a small knife around the cake and remove the sides of the springform pan.
- Cut the cake in wedges and serve warm or at room temperature with dairy-free whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, and/or fresh berries.
Notes
- If you would prefer not to use shortening, use all 7 ounces of vegan butter, but be sure to omit the salt altogether.
- If you would prefer to use no vegan butter at all, use all 7 ounces of shortening, but perhaps add a teaspoon of vanilla extract for extra flavoring.
- My microwave is 950W and a total of one minute and 30 seconds was enough to melt the chocolate. If your microwave has higher watts, microwave in 30 second increments to prevent burning.
- I only use Enjoylife chocolate for baking. Other dairy-free, gluten-free chocolates are usually cross-contaminated with peanuts, tree nuts or other allergens. Be sure to check the labels carefully if you have severe allergies.