Everyday dinners
Gluten-free chocolate cake
Two layers of chocolate sponge with a simple cocoa buttercream filling and topping.
A straightforward chocolate sandwich cake with cocoa in the sponge and buttercream. Spread the icing between the layers and over the top, leaving the sides bare.
Use a gluten-free flour blend intended for cakes rather than a single flour. This recipe is in development and has not been kitchen-tested.
The recipe
Gluten-free chocolate cake
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Total*
- 60 min
- Makes
- 12 servings
*Estimated development timings. Allow 10 minutes standing in the tins and about 60 minutes cooling on a rack before icing. These 70 minutes are additional to the 60-minute preparation and cooking total, so allow about 2 hours 10 minutes overall. Baking and cooling may take longer; follow the completion checks.
Ingredients
Tick things off as you go.
For the sponge
For the buttercream
Equipment
- Use two round sandwich tins measuring 20 cm across and at least 4 cm deep.
- Use baking parchment and a little of the measured butter to prepare the tins.
- Use kitchen scales, a measuring jug and measuring spoons.
- Use two mixing bowls, an electric hand whisk, a sieve and a flexible spatula.
- Use a cooling rack, a skewer and a palette knife or ordinary table knife.
Let’s make it.
- 01
Prepare the tins
Heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / gas 4. Spread the reserved 10 g butter thinly over the insides of both tins and line their bases with baking parchment. Check that the paper lies flat and the sides are evenly greased.
- 02
Combine the dry ingredients
Sift the flour, 40 g cocoa and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in the xanthan gum until the mixture is an even brown with no visible pockets of flour.
- 03
Beat the butter and sugar
In the other bowl, beat the remaining 200 g sponge butter with the caster sugar for 3–4 minutes. Scrape down the bowl halfway through. The mixture should look paler and noticeably fluffier, although a little sugar graininess is normal.
- 04
Finish the batter
Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of the measured dry mixture with each egg. Fold in the remaining dry mixture and the 75 ml milk, scraping the bottom of the bowl. Stop when no dry streaks remain and the thick batter drops from the spatula with a gentle shake. Do not taste the uncooked batter: gluten-free flour also needs cooking. Wash your hands with soap and warm water after handling the raw ingredients or batter.
- 05
Bake the sponges
Divide the batter equally between the tins and smooth the surfaces. Bake side by side on the middle shelf for 25–30 minutes. Both centres should spring back lightly and a skewer inserted into each centre should emerge without wet batter. If either centre is still wet, bake for another 3–5 minutes and check again. While the cakes bake, wash the bowls, beaters, utensils and work surfaces with warm soapy water before using them for the buttercream.
- 06
Cool the layers
Leave the cakes in their tins for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges, turn them onto a rack and carefully peel away the paper. Allow about 60 minutes to cool. Before icing, check that the centres and undersides feel completely cool; warm cake will melt the buttercream.
- 07
Make the buttercream
Using the clean bowl and beaters, beat the 125 g butter until creamy. Sift in the icing sugar and 25 g cocoa in two batches, mixing slowly at first. Add the 30 ml milk and beat for 2–3 minutes, scraping down the bowl, until evenly coloured, fluffy and easy to spread.
- 08
Fill and finish
Place one cool sponge on a serving plate and spread half the buttercream evenly over it. Set the second sponge on top and cover its top with the remaining buttercream. Check that the layers sit level and the filling stays in place. Cut into 12 slices, then cover and refrigerate any cake you are keeping.
Ingredient checks
Choose flour and baking powder labelled gluten-free, and check cocoa, icing sugar, xanthan gum and any substitutes for gluten-containing additions or warnings. Avoid ordinary wheat flour and barley malt ingredients. For someone with coeliac disease, use clean tins, bowls, beaters, sieves and work surfaces, fresh parchment and butter uncontaminated by bread crumbs. Check all labels for the other UK allergens as well.
Allergens: Contains eggs and milk.; The specified ingredients do not intentionally include celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, fish, lupin, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soya or sulphites; check every product label for ingredients and cross-contact warnings.; Gluten-free flour blends and alternative dairy products vary, so reassess allergens whenever you change brands or make a substitution..
Make it work for you
If your gluten-free plain flour blend already contains xanthan gum, omit the separately listed xanthan gum; different blends may change the crumb.
For a dairy-free version, replace both quantities of butter with equal weights of firm dairy-free baking block and both quantities of milk with unsweetened gluten-free soya drink; this introduces soya and has not been kitchen-tested.
Do not replace the flour blend with almond flour, coconut flour or plain rice flour in the same quantity, as they absorb liquid differently.
For another day
Once completely cool, cover and refrigerate the cake at 0–5°C within two hours of baking; if decorating later, refrigerate the cooled layers first.
Eat refrigerated cake within 48 hours, or freeze portions promptly if you will not finish them.
Wrap cooled slices individually and freeze in a sealed container for up to one month as a provisional quality guide; this recipe's texture after freezing has not been tested.
Defrost covered slices in the fridge and eat within 24 hours of fully thawing; this cake does not need reheating.
Exploding food
What goes in.
The ingredients, seen a little differently. This image is an illustration of the main ingredients; use the written recipe for the full list and quantities.
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