This moist and chocolaty gluten free chocolate cake with raspberries is the ultimate cake recipe! The cake is also dairy-free, with a dairy-free frosting option!
There are lots of cake layers, fresh raspberries, and homemade chocolate buttercream frosting! It doesn't get any better than this chocolate cake with raspberry filling.
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It is another birthday month in our house, just about everyone has a summer birthday! That means lots of cake like this gluten free chocolate raspberry cake.
Then it was Mr. Fearless Dining's turn...he wanted chocolate and raspberries. I couldn't wait to share this easy chocolate layer cake recipe with you. Please remember that I am not a professional cake decorator, and I usually learn the hard way so don't forget to read down to see my frosting tips.
This gluten free chocolate birthday cake is pretty incredible...I think part of the success is because I found a seedless raspberry jam. It really made all of the difference because you get all of the fresh raspberry flavors with no crunch from seeds!
Overall, we had a great birthday party for Mr. Fearless Dining, the chocolate raspberry cake recipe was a huge hit with not only the gluten-free crowd but all of our non-gluten-free foodies as well. I didn't get the pretty pictures of the cake sliced up.
Why this cake is amazing:
This cake is full of dark chocolate flavor, which works beautifully with raspberries. It makes an incredible dark chocolate raspberry cake that is moist and delicious. You will find this cake quick and easy to make, and I would rate it as an advanced beginner level dessert.
You may not need a cake quite this large. This gluten free chocolate raspberry cake has three giant layers. I had about 18 people over for the party, so I went all out to make this cake extra-large! You can also make this recipe as cupcakes!
If you love chocolate as much as we do, check out my best gluten free chocolate dessert recipes!
What you need to make this:
- Gluten free flour blend - I have tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure GF and Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 GF blend. That doesn't mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours.
- Xanthan gum - If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain Xanthan Gum or Guar Gum, please add 1 teaspoon.
- Cocoa powder- I get a lot of questions asking if cocoa powder is gluten free. The answer is most should be. Always check ingredients. There are several great gluten free cocoa powder brands I love including Rodelle and Anthony's.
- Chocolate pudding mix - I use Jello brand, which is a gluten free pudding. I used the cook box.
- Raspberry jam - Make sure to get seedless or your cake will turn out crunchy.
Recipe step by step directions:
Step 1: Add the dry ingredients to a bowl and whisk to blend them all together.
Step 2: In a smaller bowl, add the wet ingredients and mix well.
Step 3: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until they are just barely mixed. This will make your cake light and fluffy.
Step 4: Here is a good picture of the consistency your gluten free chocolate cake batter should have.
Step 5: Pour the batter into greased cake pans and bake at 350º F for 25-30 minutes (depending on the size of your cake pans used.)
Step 6: Remove the cake pans from the oven and gently remove the cake from the pans onto a cooling rack.
Assembly:
To assemble this chocolate cake with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting is easy!
Step 1: Put the bottom cake layer onto a cake stand. Notice that my cake cracked. This can happen when making a large cake, and I talk about this more below in the recipe FAQ.
TIP: In hindsight, I wish I cut the top off to take some of the bulges off each layer. Second, I put the jam layer before the buttercream layer. That made it really hard to spread the buttercream because it was a lot thicker.
Step 2: Add the frosting ingredients to a standing mixer. Whip up your frosting.
Step 3: Cut the domed top off each cake layer so the cake has a flat top.
Step 4: Add the frosting, then add the jam on top. It will spread a LOT easier this way. The jam made it all slippery! Repeat until you use all of your layers of cake.
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ:
To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, it is done baking. If you see batter or crumbs, the cake needs to bake longer.
Piece the cake together the best you can. In this instance, the cake didn't break into parts. Use your frosting to fill the cracks to help solidify the cake
Add layers and frost!
You will want to use a raspberry jam that has the seeds removed!
These cake will keep up to 4 days in an air-tight container, or up to 4 months in the freezer.
This cake is already dairy-free so you would just need to make the frosting dairy-free by using vegan butter.
Gluten Free Birthday Cakes
- Gluten Free Lemon Layer Cake
- Moist Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
- Gluten Free Carrot Cake
- Decadent Gluten Free Vanilla Cake
- Gluten Free Unicorn Cake
Tools:
- A mixer certainly makes this cake and frosting much easier to make!!
- I used three big cake pans like these. If you only have two, just reuse one to make that third layer.
Recipe
Gluten Free Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten free flour blend * see note
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ½ cup cocoa powder * see note
- 1 box chocolate pudding
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup coconut oil
- 1 ¼ cups almond milk * see note
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Frosting:
- 14 ounces raspberry jam
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 16 tablespoons butter softened
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup almond milk
Cake Topper
- 1 cup fresh raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º F.
- Add egg, vanilla, almond milk, coconut oil, hot water to a standing mixer and mix on low until it is all blended. You can also blend the wet and dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
- Turn the mixer off and add sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder and mix.
- Gradually add the flour, cake cocoa (not the cocoa labeled frosting), and pudding mix in small increments. Turn the blender off when you add more and mix on low.
- Grease layer cake pans with coconut oil and pour in cake batter about ¾ the way to the top.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until done.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and dump out of the pans onto a cooling rack.
Frosting:
- In a mixer, add powdered sugar, cocoa, softened butter, vanilla, and almond milk. Mix up until it is creamy like frosting.
- When the cakes are cool, use a knife to remove any domed surface so the top of each layer is flat.
- Add chocolate cream and frost the first layer. Add some raspberry jam and spread it out over the frosting.
- Add the next cake layer and repeat the process.
- When you get to the top layer, skip the raspberry. Frost the top layer and sides with the chocolate buttercream frosting.
- Put the cake into the refrigerator for 30 minutes minimum to chill.
- Top with fresh raspberries.
Notes
- I have tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure GF and Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 GF blend. That doesn't mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours.
- If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain Xanthan Gum or Guar Gum, please add 1 teaspoon.
- I highly recommend using raspberry jam with the seeds removed.
- To make the frosting dairy-free, substitute the butter for vegan butter.
- Other dairy-free kinds of milk will work but I do not recommend canned coconut milk.
- To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake If the toothpick comes out clean, it is done baking. If you see batter or crumbs, the cake needs to bake longer.
- Allow the cake layers to cool before adding frosting and building the cake.
- This cake will keep up to 4 days in an air-tight container, or up to 4 months in the freezer.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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This post was updated from an older June 2015 post with more details and easier-to-follow directions.
Karen
I know it won't be as attractive, but can this amount of batter be baked in a 9x13 pan?
Sandi Gaertner
Of course you can use a 9x13 pan :-). Just keep an eye because baking time may differ depending on the depth compared to a layer cake pan. Enjoy!
Natalie
Tried this recipe out a little skeptical because I have been trying to hone my gf and df baking skills and Pinterest just hasn't been a good place for quality recipes. BUT WOW. This was wonderful. My whole GF DF family was very impressed and even made it their self proclaimed favorite cake since they have been on the diet. It was gone in 2 days
Thanks
Sandi Gaertner
I am really glad you liked it Natalie. Thank you for coming back to let me know.
Kelli
I think I am missing something. When do you add the pudding mix and the first 1/2 cup of cocoa?
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Kelli, Thank you so much for your note. I clarified the directions a little more. I hope this helps.
Martine vagnier
This looks amazing. Can you please break out the frosting recipes? I only see listed certain types of different icings but no directions and quantities for each broken out, hope this makes sense.
And thanks for sharing the bloopers- saves many people a lot of aggravation.
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Martine, I broke it out and clarified the instructions around making the frosting. I also bolded FROSTING next to frosting ingredients. I hope this helps :-). I am glad you liked the included blooper, I really should add those more often. Have a great weekend!
Ginny McMeans
That is an absolutely gorgeous big chocolate cake. The added raspberry jam layers sound just perfect. I think I can use chia eggs in this so I am going for it. Thanks!
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you so much Ginny. I would think chia eggs would be fabulous.