Recipes

RECIPE: Gluten Free Chocolate Sponge Cake

If anyone knows me, you’ll know that I love chocolate cake. I’ve been making my chocolate cake in many forms for a few years, and I haven’t actually put the recipe on my blog until now! Shock horror! It really is a favourite with my friends and family, and is my most requested bake with my work colleagues. So why not share it so everyone can enjoy it?

Making this two layer gluten free chocolate cake is easy peasy, and is perfect for any birthday, afternoon tea, or just on those days where you want to eat your feelings in chocolate cake (we’ve all been there).

I make this cake with dark brown soft sugar, purely because it brings out the chocolate flavour, and makes the cake a bit fudgier than with caster sugar.

There is no sifting icing sugar or messy worktops to make buttercream. Instead of the classic buttercream, I opted to go for a ganache frosting. It’s a lot quicker and easier to make, and is much easier to clean up after making. I use a dark chocolate which is at least 50% cocoa solids. I personally like to use the Dr Oetker chocolate as the packaging is clear on the cocoa solids percentage, and it mixes a lot better, as well as it being gluten free and safe for coeliacs. Unfortunately, I haven’t made this ganache dairy free, but when I do, I will make adjustments to the recipe for dairy free folks who wish to enjoy this delicious cake.

Cooling the ganache down until it goes to a thick, spreadable consistency is key to coating this cake, as it stops it sliding all over the place. If your ganache cools down too much and you find it’s not very spreadable, you can heat it in the microwave in short bursts, keeping an eye on it, until you get to the desired consistency. Alternatively, you can place the bowl of ganache over a pan of simmering water, stirring frequently until you reach the right consistency.

You can find the recipe below, so scroll down to view.

Gluten Free 2 Layer double Chocolate Cake

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Print

A 2 layer gluten free chocolate sponge with chocolate ganache frosting.

Credit: thecoeliacsloth.com

Ingredients

For the Cake:

  • 200g Self Raising gluten free flour
  • 45g Unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 220g Dark Brown Soft Sugar
  • 1tbsp Vanilla Extract
  • 220g Margarine
  • 2tsp Xanthan Gum
  • 4 Tbsp milk
  • 4 Medium eggs

For the ganache :

  • 250g Dark Chocolate (50% cocoa solids)
  • 300ml Double Cream

Directions

      1. First, make your ganache. Break up your chocolate and put it in a heat proof bowl.
    1. Heat up the double cream in a saucepan on a low heat, until boiling.
    2. Pour the cream into the bowl of chocolate and stir until all of the chocolate has melted and the cream and chocolate has fully emulsified.
    3. Leave your ganache to cool down.
    4. Preheat the oven to 180°c, and grease and line 2 standard sandwich tins.
    5. Cream together the margarine and dark brown sugar.
    6. One at a time, beat in the eggs, and then add the milk and the vanilla extract.
    7. Sift in the cocoa powder, flour and Xanthan Gum. Mix these well until you get a thick cake batter.
    8. Divide the cake batter into the two sandwich tins.
    9. Bake for 20-25 minutes. To test if they’re cooked, insert a skewer into the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean, the cake is baked. Alternatively, gently press the centre of the cake and if it springs back, it’s baked.
    10. Leave the cakes to cool completely and transfer to a cooling rack.
    11. Once the cakes are cool, stack them up, spreading a layer of ganache in between them. Then, coat the cake with the rest of the ganache.
    12. Serve, and enjoy