Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake

The best gluten-free chocolate cake recipe.  A deliciously moist and chocolaty cake, covered in a decadent chocolate buttercream frosting.  It’s the gluten-free chocolate cake of your dreams!

This recipe is based on the classic Hershey’s Chocolate Cake recipe, adapted to be gluten free.  I know that a lot people use the recipe as is, just substituting in a gluten-free flour blend for the all-purpose wheat flour, but I find an extra egg and a little extra milk make all the difference.  I also use buttermilk instead of regular milk, and hot coffee instead of hot water, which helps create the most wonderfully intense chocolaty flavour. 

The resulting cake is deliciously moist and chocolaty.  Topped with my decadent chocolate buttercream frosting, it’s the gluten-free chocolate cake of your dreams!

Made in just one bowl, it’s also surprisingly simple to make.  

Whether gluten-free or not, everyone loves this cake.  It’s great for birthdays and family gatherings.  

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Top Tips for Perfect Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake
• Storage
• Recipe Card

Ingredients

For the chocolate cake:

• granulated sugar
• gluten-free flour, all-purpose blend
• cocoa powder
• baking powder
• baking soda
• salt
• eggs
• buttermilk
• vegetable or canola oil
• vanilla extract
• coffee, hot

For the chocolate buttercream frosting:

• butter, softened
• cocoa powder
• icing sugar
• milk
• vanilla extract
• espresso powder

See recipe card for quantities.

Ingredient Notes

Gluten-free all-purpose flour blend:  Use a blend that contains xanthan gum, so the cake has enough structure and stability.  Make sure your blend doesn’t contain any ingredients with strong flavours, such as bean flour.  Refer to baking with gluten-free flour for more information.

Cocoa powder:  I use dutch-processed cocoa powder for this recipe. 

Buttermilk:  Real buttermilk is best, but if you don’t have any on hand you can add 1 tablespoon of white or apple cider vinegar to a liquid measuring cup and then add enough milk to measure 1 cup. Stir and let stand for 5 minutes before using.

Coffee:  You don’t taste the coffee in the cake, but it really enhances the intensity of the chocolate flavour. If you don’t want to use coffee, you can replace it with hot water. 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).  Grease two 9-inch cake pans and line with parchment.  Combine the sugar, gluten-free flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or large bowl (if using hand held mixer). Mix on low speed, or whisk by hand, until well combined. 

2. Add the eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla and mix on low speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes.  Scrap down the sides of the bowl as needed. 

3. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and gradually add the hot coffee.  Mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. 

4. Pour the cake into the two cake pans, distributing the batter evenly between both pans. Bake for about 35 – 40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached.  Let cool slightly in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the chocolate buttercream frosting:

1. Add the butter and cocoa powder to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or large bowl (if using hand held mixer).  Cream together on low to medium speed, until well combined. 

2. Add a third of the icing sugar, followed by a third of the milk, and mix until combined on medium to high speed.  Repeat 2 more times until all the sugar and milk has been added. 

3. Add in the vanilla and espresso powder and mix well.  

4. Frost the cooled cake with the chocolate buttercream frosting.  

Storage

Leftovers: store up to 2 days, covered, at room temperature. 

Recipe Card