This super moist chocolate cake looks amazing and tastes even better. I almost don’t want to mention that it’s gluten-free because it’s one of the best desserts we’ve ever had. This decadent concoction uses cooked golden quinoa in place of any flour and you are going to love it! I’ve added double frostings for your chocolate addiction enjoyment.
The frosting and chocolate ganache push it way over the top to give the impression that you are one savvy baker. This cake would taste delicious just dusted with cocoa powder. But if you really want to add to the aesthetics and kick up the flavor factor to out-of-this-world incredible, I suggest you make the chocolate whipped frosting and spread it in-between the layers and the rich but easy chocolate ganache over the top. I should just show you more pictures to prove my point:
And how about…
Just before the first bite…
Super Moist Chocolate Cake
Your guests will never know this is gluten-free and made with cooked quinoa instead of flour. This cake could be served simply with cocoa powder dusted on top or for more panache add the chocolate whipped cream and ganache frostings. Note: The step for cooking the quinoa will produce more than needed, so be sure to measure the 2 cups you need before adding to the other ingredients. To measure the cooked quinoa, loosely scoop it and level with the back of a knife. You don't want to pack it.
Servings 14
Calories 566
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 cups cooked and cooled quinoa, I prefer golden but have used red and rainbow
- ⅓ cup milk
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup butter, melted and cooled
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the chocolate whipped cream frosting:
- 1 pint whipping cream
- ⅔ cup good semi-sweet chocolate chips
For the ganache:
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup good semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ teaspoon instant coffee granules, optional
Instructions
- For the chocolate whipped cream frosting:
- Melt ⅔ cup chocolate chips in microwave in 30 second increments. Once melted, stir into the pint of whipping cream. This may look "chipy" and not totally incorporated. That is fine. Refrigerate while cake is baking. Whip as you would for normal whipped cream. (see note below) Spread chocolate frosting over one layer and place the second layer on top of first layer, leaving cake on the cooling rack.
- For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease two 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper.
- Combine ⅓. cup milk, 4 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a powerful blender or food processor. Process just until combined. Add 2 cups of cooked quinoa and ¾ cup butter. Blend well until smooth.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together1 ½ cups sugar, sift in 1 cup cocoa, add 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon salt. Add the contents from the blender and mix well. It will look kind of grainy but this is normal.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake on the center rack for 32 to 35 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool for 15 minutes. (The top may crack. No problem.)
- Invert the cakes onto cooling racks and remove parchment from what is now the top.
- At this point, you could sprinkle powdered sugar or cocoa powder over the tops of each cake and serve for a simple dessert. But I highly recommend adding the next steps.
- For the ganache:
- While the cake is still on the cooling rack, heat 1 cup chocolate chips, ½ cup heavy cream and ½ teaspoon coffee granules over double boiler until smooth. Place a cookie sheet under the cake on the cooling rack. Pour ganache slowly over top of the cake and spread until it runs over edges. You can leave it like this or use a spatula to then smooth the ganache around the sides. Using two spatulas or pancake turners, gently slide under cake and transfer to a serving platter.
- Store any left over cake covered in the refrigerator for up to one week or freeze for up to one month.
Notes
- Make sure to measure your quinoa after it's cooked. One cup of raw quinoa will make more than 2 cups cooked.
- I highly recommend making this cake the day before serving as the flavors just get better and more chocolatey overnight. Refrigerate the cake until serving if making ahead of time, then remove the cake 30 minutes before cutting to bring closer to room temperature.
- Note regarding chocolate whipped cream frosting layer: When you mix the melted chocolate chips with the whipping cream, it may clump up. Don't worry about if it looks spotted that is totally fine, too. I've made this before and had the chocolate stay kind of "chipy" and this result tastes just as good and some have told me it tastes even better then the smooth version. You can't get this wrong. It'll taste amazing and I highly recommend adding this layer.
- If you melt the chocolate chips and the whipping cream together in the microwave, the mixture will be more uniform but you'll need to refrigerate this mixture for about an hour after it's melted together so it's cold enough to whip.
Nutrition Facts
Super Moist Chocolate Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 566
Calories from Fat 333
% Daily Value*
Fat 37g57%
Saturated Fat 21g131%
Cholesterol 132mg44%
Sodium 250mg11%
Potassium 454mg13%
Carbohydrates 53g18%
Fiber 5g21%
Sugar 29g32%
Protein 8g16%
Vitamin A 1015IU20%
Vitamin C 0.2mg0%
Calcium 95mg10%
Iron 3.6mg20%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Cake recipe from Quinoa 365.
Question: Do you use natural cocoa powder (like Hershey’s) or dutch-cocoa (processed with alkali) in this recipe? My cupcakes came out caved in on top (but still absolutely delicious!) and I’m wondering if I used the wrong kind and messed up the leavening.
Hi Ginny, I use regular cocoa powder (Hershey’s). I’m sorry to hear your cupcakes caved in, I wonder if you need to bake them for longer?
Like all of the others, I also want to thank you for this recipe! I’ve been making it for family and friends for a few years now and it’s always a hit and usually a request for me to bring! ( Especially to birthday parties ~we have close friends with celiac.)
So far, I’ve adjusted it by using… 1 cube butter and 1/4 cup of coconut oil ~ 2 eggs and 1/3 cup egg white ~ Also, I throw a little handful of mini chocolate chips in the cake batter for fun ~ In the whipped cream, I use cocoa, powdered sugar and vanilla instant pudding for stabilizer) ~
This is a chocolatey, moist and delicious cake and no one has ever guessed that there’s 2 cups of quinoa in it ~ An Excellent recipe!
Wow Karen, this means a lot to know you’ve been making the recipe for years now. I like your adjustments and am so glad this works out for your celiac friends and I agree, no one would guess that quinoa is the secret ingredient. Thanks for commenting!
I’m curious whether you’ve tried making a lemon/vanilla cake with quinoa instead of chocolate?! Or do you know where I might find an excellent recipe?
Hello! I haven’t tried a lemon or vanilla version yet but this has been requested before and it’s on my list to try. I’m sorry I don’t know of another recipe source for a good vanilla or lemon quinoa cake. I’ll be experimenting with lemon and vanilla this summer but I’m sorry that doesn’t help you right now.
Have you made this as cupcakes? If yes, then how many cupcakes will this recipe make?
Hi Diksha, I’ve made this recipe into cupcakes many times with mixed success. The cupcakes don’t hold together super well but are still tasty. The recipe makes approximately 24 cupcakes and I recommend not filling the cups more than about 2/3 full. Hope this helps.
Making this for my kids for Valentines Day! Thanks for sharing 💕
Hi Autumn, thanks for selecting this recipe for your kids’ Valentines Day! I’m honored. 🙂
I’m not a baker but I tried this. The only thing was, I made the frosting and put it between the layers (which turned out perfectly!). Then I made the ganache. Also perfect. But when I poured the slightly cooled but still liquid ganache over the cake layers, the whipped frosting immediately melted and oozed out and the top layer slid off the lower layer. All the whipped frosting ended up in the tray under the cake instead of between the layers. I made a second batch of ganache and poured it over the whole cake. It still tasted delicious but I wondered. Is the whipped frosting supposed to be an alternative to the chocolate ganache instead of layered between the cakes?
Hi Vivian, I’m sorry that you had the results you did with the cake. The whipped cream frosting goes in-between the layers with no ganache and then I very thinly cover the sides and top with the whipped cream. Then pour the ganache (cooled) over the entire cake. Hope this helps for next time. Thanks for letting me know what happened. I’ll go in and edit the recipe to ensure this is clear.
I appreciate that you didn’t try and convince me that this cake was “healthy” or that I can have this cake “guilt free” because It contains quinoa lol! Just made it for my boyfriend’s birthday as he recently found out that he has a gluten intolerance. He absolutely hates dry cakes and pastries (which is not not good for his whole gluten free thing). This cake was a smash hit. Rich, dense, and most importantly, moist! I had to show him the recipe to prove that it is in fact gluten free! thank you <3
Nicole, I had to laugh out loud at your comment. Yes, “healthy” and “guilt free” would just seem wrong here not to mention it wouldn’t sound as appealing, right? 😀 I’m so glad it was a hit for your boyfriend’s birthday and gluten-free or not, this is one of our favorite chocolate cake recipes, period.
made the cake part with a different icing and it was amazing!
just wondering if you’ve tried using quinoa to make the cake a lemon/vanilla instead of chocolate?! Or know of somewhere I could get a good recipe?
Hi Nadi, You’re not the first person to ask for a lemon or vanilla option. I’m actually testing both this month. Stay tuned! Also, I’m so glad you loved the chocolate cake.
so I have never posted anything after trying a recipe on line but this was the best recipe I have tried. my sis in law can not have anything with gluten so I googled a recipe and there you were. I tweeked the whip cream because it just was not whipping. I used one container of cool whip and melted the chips with 2 table spoons of almond milk then I added about two table spoons of chocolate instant pudding mix. omg what you get in the middle of this fabulous cake is like the nougat of a 3 musketeer bar. I have been told that this cake will need to be made for future gatherings… thank you thank you thank you… btw it tastes even better the next day. usually any cake I buy that is gluten free from a bakery gets hard and is only good for the day of…. this recipe is amazing. thanks again!!!
Thank you Lily! I also get rave reviews whenever I make it and no one will believe it’s gluten-free. I’m so glad it was such a hit for you. You made my weekend, thank you. 🙂
Sally,
I have been enjoying this fabulous recipe for years, so I thought it was about time I stopped by and thanked you! The first time I made it as cupcakes for a gluten-free friend’s party. She couldn’t believe how good they were and that quinoa was the secret ingredient (as you know, most gluten-free cakes are… yuck). The second time was for my church here in LA, which is attended by quite a few gluten-free Hollywood types. Again, a hit! And they were so grateful that they could eat it because it didn’t have any wheat. The most recent time was for a pool party. I didn’t have to make a gluten-free dessert for that, I just picked this recipe because it is so moist and delicious and I knew everyone would love it. One girl tentatively asked, “these aren’t gluten-free by any chance?” I could see on her face that she felt stupid for even asking. Of course the poor gluten-free people never get to eat any cake at the party. She was just thrilled when I said, “yep, it actually is gluten-free!” This is my favorite from-scratch chocolate cake recipe, period. I too have a Blend-tec and it always comes out great. Never made it as a cake, just cupcakes. Next time I may try doing a dairy-free version subbing coconut oil or palm fruit oil shortening for the butter so the dairy-free people can enjoy too. Let us know if you ever develop a vanilla version of this. I find good yellow cake recipes are harder than chocolate for some reason. Thank you so much for developing this recipe, it sure is a winner!
Hi Ginny, You’ve truly made my week with this nice note. This is my go to chocolate cake recipe just because it’s fabulous, whether gluten-free is a necessity for the gathering or not. You have me feeling inspired to try and adapt this into a yellow cake version and I agree, good yellow cake (gluten-free or not) is harder to get right for some reason and can be often dry. Thanks again for your nice comments. It really means a lot, have a great week!
I made this cake for my best friend’s birthday because she is gluten intolerant. The previous year I made the mistake of making her a gluten free chocolate cake from a box, because me, not being gluten intolerant, did not know gluten free cake mixes are disgusting.
But this cake was DELICIOUS. So, so good. I love moist cakes and the consistency of this cake was perfect. Also, the frostings for this cake just add to the heavenly experience.
We lovingly refer to this cake as ‘Pangea cake’ because after we ate the first pieces, we went back for seconds and found that the top layer had split apart and slid across the decadent whipped filling, much like the continents splitting apart. But it did not detract from the flavor at all and we still devoured it…probably within hours (college students, haha).
Hi Katie, I LOVED this! Ha! Pangea Cake. I’ll never think of this recipe the same again though I myself have never had the experience of the cake separating into different “continents”. 🙂 I’m glad you all enjoyed it, nonetheless! Thanks for making my weekend and taking the time to stop by with your great comments.
Thanks for another winning recipe, Sally! My husband made this for my birthday yesterday and it is fabulous! I have been wanting to try this recipe for a long time, and I’ll be excited to make it again soon (for other friends who can’t eat wheat/gluten).
Happy birthday Stephani! This made my day. I’m honored that your husband chose this recipe. Thanks so much for letting me know and I’m glad it was a hit. 🙂
I have 3 questions: why do you melt the butter? why do you recommend a blender? and why do you recommend 3/4 c quinoa and 1-1/2 c water? My package says 1/2 c and 1 c water. This is really a good cake that is really super moist (almost wet) but it didn’t work in my blender at all!!!
Hi Cherie, First of all I’m glad you liked the cake. To answer your questions: Why do you melt the butter?- The butter melted works well with using the blender and is easily incorporated throughout (did you not think the melted butter worked well?) Wy do you use a blender?- The blender just mixes the quinoa smoother then say a food processor will. My blender is a pretty powerful one (Blendec) and it works perfectly every time. You can definitely mix it in a food processor or stand mixer. You’ll just taste a little more “popping” crunch of the quinoa when eating the cake, which maybe you experienced since it sounds like it didn’t work in your blender. Why do you use 3/4 cup quinoa to 1 1/2 cups water?- I’m not sure what you mean by this question. The quinoa to water ratio is always 2:1 which those quantities are. I know it doesn’t use the entire amount of quinoa after it’s cooked and you, I guess, would be fine to cook less. That’s just a measurement to ensure you have enough after cooking. Thanks for your comments and questions. I hope I answered them to your satisfaction.
Was wondering if you have ever tried making this as a vanilla cake?
Hi Selina, I have not but now you’ve got me curious. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. I would maybe add an extra teaspoon of vanilla and (of course) just omit the cocoa.
I read the reviews and decided to try this cake today. I have been making g/f cakes for 5 years and hands down this is the best g/f chocolate cake I have ever made. There is absolutely no way you could tell it was made with Quinoa. I made two small changes reduced the sugar to just over a cup and halved the cream filling ingredients. Fantastic thank you for sharing.
Manisha, Thanks for your comment and I’m so glad you liked the cake. It truly is our favorite chocolate cake, of any type!
Just found this great recipe ‘ adapted it to suit dairy free and sugar free. Basically the same recipe except swapped coconut oil instead of butter. Swapped sugar to 1 cup of rice bran syrup and 1/2 cup of ground flaxseed. Also reduced cocoa to 1/2 cup. Ready delicious. Will make again.
Let me start by saying that I’m not the greatest baker (lol). So I’m not sure how I ruined this perfect recipe 🙁 Is the batter supposed to be thick? I mean mine came out very thick. I had a hard time putting it in the baking pans! I substituted Stevia for the sugar and unsweetened Almond Milk. My cake came out pretty flat and not fluffy at all. HOWEVER……it was amazing!! I didn’t make the chocolate frosting but I did make the ganache – pure heaven!!! My husband, who is usually a hard sell, absolutely loved it. Ok, so maybe it wasn’t ruined after all…. So I was just wondering what I could do next time for it to turn out moist and fluffy. Thank you for an awesome and healthy recipe!
Hi Veronica, this cake doesn’t rise super “fluffy”, but I’ve never made it with stevia and I LOVE almond milk, but since it is more thick than regular milk, that might have helped make it pretty thick. Sugar will kind of disolve to increase the liquid in a recipe, so not having the sugar could have been another factor. But it doesn’t sound like it was ruined at all to me! Glad you (and your husband) liked it. I say just keep making it and just know it will not be a tall, fluffy cake. Success!
Is it possible to substitute honey for the sugar and Almond milk for milk?
Hi Jenny, I have never done either of these, but it’s worth a shot. I would do a practice cake first if this is for a special occasion, etc. I think everything would work out fine. Take note, however; you cannot substitute honey for sugar as a 1:1 ratio. For every one cup of sugar used in a recipe, you should use 2 tablespoons less honey. So, in this recipe, substitute 1 1/2 cups sugar with one cup plus 3 tablespoons of honey. Also, increase the baking soda from 1/2 teaspoon to 3/4 teaspoon. Hope this helps. The consistency might be a little different, but if you haven’t tried the original version, you probably won’t even care.
Have you tried it as cupcakes? Wanting to do this for my daughters birthday.
i’ve been making this cake for several years and it’s a family favorite. If I may, I would like to offer a little advice. Be sure to rinse the quinoa first before you cook it, somehow this makes it pop better and the cake is less grainy. Personally, I always make this cake the day before I need it. Then I freeze the two layer cakes overnight in their pans. I find the frozen cakes much easier to work with when frosting.To make the whipped chocolate frosting, I use a heavy pan and combine the chocolate chips and heavy cream over medium heat until the chocolate chips are melted. Then I put it all in a deep glass dish and set it in the refrigerator for several hours before whipping it in the cold bowl.I think this is the best chocolate cake in the whole world, and no one in our family is gluten intolerant!
Nancy, thanks so much for taking the time to share these great tips! I’m making this next week and will incorporate all your advice. We also think it’s the best cake ever and none of us are gluten intolerant either! 😉
What brand of chocolate chips did you use in this cake? Looks good!
Rather than use the ganache and chocolate whipped cream frosting , will plain butter cream frosting work? My husband does not like so much chocolate and I can’t eat it all myself. I would love to give this a try. Thanks
Hi Sally,
I really enjoyed this cake! It was delicious. I only had a few comments about the cake/experience!
1) Most definitely follow the guidelines about waiting for the cake to cool, and cooking it until the toothpick comes out clean! The cake that cooled longer and had the toothpick come out clean, only cracked down the middle. In the future I may let the cake cool completely and turn it out over the other cake versus putting them on a cooling rack (mine sunk into the grates of the cooling rack). The cake that left a few pieces on the toothpick fell apart completely (I’m assuming more-so because of the temperature though – I was excited and wanted to eat it asap), but luckily since it was warm still, I used it as the bottom layer and mended the gaps with raspberry jam – ha ha!
2) I am not used to sweet desserts, or eating much sugar at all, and typically immediately cut the sweetness down by a third or so. I only used 1 cup of sugar in the recipe, and still found it a little on the sweet side for me, especially with the whipped topping and ganache. Next time, I’ll probably stick to 2/3 cup of sugar, and just a sprinkle of icing sugar on top, and a little bit of raspberry jam in the middle. That jam “bandaid” turned delicious very quickly! But again, this is just my preference 🙂
Thank you for the recipe, Sally. It’s wonderful. 🙂
Aiysha, Thanks for the great comments and tips about your experience! They will definitely be helpful to other visitors. I’m glad you liked the recipe. 🙂
I just wanted to thank you for your time and efforts with this blog and your time in responding to everyone and trying to help. That’s no small feat, and I just wanted to say as an avid blog reader, it means a lot! I will be trying this cake for my fiance’s 30th birthday (he is amenable to eating gluten free for me but usually equates that with eating cardboard, so I’m excited to try and wow him with this!) Thank you again for all that you do and for your creativity and efforts here!
Melissa,
Thank you for your kind words. Having blog readers like you comment on my recipes means a lot to me. I’m so happy you’re making this cake. We truly love it and I hope your fiance’ does too.
What a wonderful surprise – a delicious chocolate gluten free cake that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to make! I made it for the first time for my nephews in laws birthday and everyone loved it. I baked it in a single pan (wilton soccer ball, one side only) and it baked nicely in a little over an hour. Thanks so much for putting this out there.
Hi Briana, Thanks so much for choosing this cake for your nephew’s birthday! I also look for gluten-free recipes that don’t require 3 different types of flour plus expensive xantham gum. Glad you liked it! 🙂
This cake is so good. I was recently diagnosed as a celiac and was mourning the loss of chocolate cake forever. I decided to try this, it looked different with quinoa. You can’t tell its not wheat flour. my new fav recipe of all time. Thank you!
Nikki,
My blog is just over a year old and has received over 2,500 comments from people trying my recipes. I am telling you this because I have never felt so grateful or happy from any other comment than I am with yours. I’m so glad you liked this recipe and that you won’t have to give up your love for chocolate cake. All the best to you and thanks again for taking the time to comment.
I love this cake!!! My boys think it is the best cake in the world. I was hoping to try and make it as one cake rather than two and leave out the cream filling as it is for a treat at work. Have you done this? I was wondering how long I should cook it for if I have all the mix in one cake pan.
Renee, I love hearing that that your boys love this cake so much. I am right there with them! I have never made it as one layer before. Are you planning on baking it in a 9×13 cake pan? If so, I’m thinking the baking time would be MAYBE about 5 minutes longer. The thing I have found with this cake is, it doesn’t really dry out if it bakes a few minutes longer than needed. With that, I would just kind of touch the cake to see that it springs back well about half way into the added baking time. You should be fine with that. Good luck and thanks for your comments!
I just made this recipe into cupcakes using red quinoa. They sunk in the middle and the quinoa texture was apparent. After reading all the positive reviews, I must have done something wrong! Maybe cook the quinoa longer or a different type of quinoa? I used a food processor and it never got really smooth. Any suggestions?
Anne,
If I may offer a thought or two on your experience…
Is it possible, as you were working with chocolate, that any moisture, even a drop, could have gotten into the chocolate? That will make it seize as you describe. Also, when bringing cream to a slight simmering state, often steam will create droplets in the cream, or some moisture, on the insides of the pan, which is steam (water) can drip into what you are pouring it into, again, causing it to seize.
Baking gluten free is not like baking with regular flour. The experts at KingArthurFlour dot com have created formulas with temperatures for baking GF goods. To be done, the baked good needs to be 205〫for breads, 210 to 215〫for cakes, etc. It is very easy to under bake a GF cake. They often look done, but fool you when you cut into them, or they fall.
Check out their website for baking tips. Look at their recipes for cakes, etc., and in ‘community’ under gluten free for lots of help and suggestions. They also have a blog that takes the reader step by step with recipes. It is all very educational.
It is not uncommon to pour a ganache over a whipped cream or light frosting base. Make sure your ganache mixture is not too warm as to interfere with the base under it. (It is helpful if the cream base is chilled too) That will cause it to run before you can get all the ganache on the cake. After making sure it is not too hot, and you pour it on, even partially, you can put the baked good in the refrigerator for a few minutes before taking it out to try again, a lighter coat over the first attempt. Yu can smooth out the top after the second one, and it won’t look inedible.
It is frustrating to even the most patient baker when things go as wrong as they did in your earnest attempt to bake a treat for a friend. Pressure! I hope these few tips help, and you will look up KAF, and try again. I am sure your friend will appreciate your efforts.
My son made me a lemon birthday cake last year that looked like a disaster ! But I said nothing and it was delicious. I was so happy to have a treat made for me!
hi. I am not a big fan of quinoa but this recipe looks really good. Can you taste the quinoa in the cake?? Also, is there a vanilla version of this cake? Thanks! My 6 year old daughter has celiac and I was looking for a healthier cake recipe and this seems like it. I’m hopimg you cant taste the quinoa!
Karen, I guarantee you will never know there is quinoa. You cannot taste it at all. That being said, I have a heavy-duty Blendtec blender so it blends up everything pretty well. Just be sure to process the quinoa blending step thoroughly. You still would not taste the quinoa, but the texture might be present. For a vanilla version, though I’ve never tried this you might be able to just leave out the cocoa powder and maybe add 1 teaspoon of vanilla? Good luck and let me know if you try a vanilla version.
I came from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. I have had this bookmarked for awhile now, but was skeptical. I was looking for a gluten-free recipe to make for some friends, as their dog just passed. Wow. Seriously. So. Good! I made cupcakes instead but they came out great still! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Marie, I’m so glad the recipe won over your skepticism. Sorry to hear about your friends’ dog, though. I have been wondering about making it into cupcakes so I’m glad to know it worked out. Thanks for your comment!
Oh my goodness! Moist, rich, and yummy! We couldn’t get enough. Thanks so much!!!
M Luciano, thanks for your comment and I’m glad you liked it! 😀
Came out great! Bringing it to the dessert table this Thanksgiving!
Jimbob, I am honored. Glad it turned out for you. Also, good job making it a day ahead. It is definitely better the second day.
Does the baking soda and baking powder need to be gluten free as well? I want to make a gluten free birthday cake for my daughter because she has a friend who is gluten free.
Jen, I used regular baking powder and baking soda. I don’t think it’s an issue if someone is eating gluten-free unless the person has Celiac Disease.
This recipe is amazing. Do you know how well it freezes for frosting and eating later? I want to bake it ahead of time for an event and then ganache it the day before when it is thawed out. Thanks.
Hi Jennie,
I have never done this but am quite confident it will be fine if frozen ahead of time. Good luck with the cake and thanks for visiting my blog and for your nice comment.
Cannot wait to try this for cupcakes! I thought it might use quinoa flour which I don’t like the taste of, then saw it uses quinoa cooked. Thanks for the recipe to sooth the total chocolate addict that some of us are.
Hi Donna, First of all, thank you for visiting my blog! I just made cupcakes with this recipe last week and they were delicious so I hope you will like them as well. And I agree with you about quinoa flour! 🙂
Hi Sally – I found your blog today from Mel’s blog when she posted about this cake. I really like the collection of recipes you’ve posted so far – great work! As for this cake, you’ve changed my life. My best friend has recently gone gluten free and I made this for her today and it was fantastic! Could not believe how good it was! And, I agree about the ganache btw 🙂
Hi Deb! Thank you so much for your nice compliments. They truly mean so much. I’m glad you have already made this cake for your friend! I have made this sooo many times now and every time, I still can’t believe it’s gluten free. And yes, the ganache is like Heaven on earth. I made this cake for some teachers at my son’s school last year and one of the secretaries asked if she could just have some of the ganache over ice cream, lol!
hi…i wanted to know can we use all purpose flour instead of quinoa as we don ‘t get any quinoa in the place i stay…n if yes than how much of flour should i use…pls help…thank u…
Hello,
I have never made this particular recipe with all purpose flour instead of quinoa. If you use flour, it will be much less moist and I’m not sure what amount will be an absolute perfect measurement. I hate to steer you away from my recipe, but here is a good one that is very close to mine. This cake has excellent reviews and uses the same ingredients as the ganache recipe I use. Good luck! 🙂
Ignore me, I just spotted the sugar, haha!
I’m glad you found the sugar and let me know if you try it what you think. I just made it again for a birthday party last weekend and everyone devoured it! 🙂
So there’s no honey or coconut sugar in this recipe, is it still sweet?
Oh my word….this was AMAZING!!! It got devoured so quickly. Super moist and so hard to believe it was GF. I am currently in the middle of emailing it out to everyone that attended the party!!! Thanks for this recipe 🙂
Susan, you made my day and I know just what you mean about this cake. My family almost didn’t believe me that it was GF. Thanks so much for taking the time to post a comment. 🙂
Sally – you have the BEST recipes (I just pinned the shrimp appetizer). I have to admit, I’m slightly skeptical about the quinoa in this cake but I’ve never been known to turn my nose up at anything chocolate and I believe you when you say it’s fabulous. Trying soon!
Holy cow! Sally treated us to a sample. Fabulous! My hubby’s only complaint was that the sample was too small!
Ann, I’m so glad you guys liked it. I should know that anything chocolate going to your house needs to be BIG! 🙂
Oh my gosh, that ganache topping makes the cake! Can’t wait to try it!