If you love chocolate, this gluten free devil's food cake recipe will be for you! This cake is made the old-fashioned way from my Grandma's delicious recipe. It has rich dark chocolate flavors are in every bite you take of this gluten free devil's food cake.
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Today is all about chocolate cravings. As I was going through my family's antique recipe cards, it was really hard to figure out what to make next.
When I saw this devil's food chocolate cake recipe in my grandmother's recipe box, I knew I needed to convert this recipe to gluten free asap just in case my readers love chocolate as much as my family.
Devil's food cake is a moist, rich chocolate cake. If you love angel food cake, this would be the chocolate version of that cake. This gluten free version of devil's food cake is dense, and rich, and would be delicious by itself, or smothered in a rich chocolate frosting.
Why this cake is so good:
You will also notice this gluten free chocolate cake has a darker color than many gluten free chocolate cake recipes. This recipe has extra baking soda, which changes the pH level of this cake, making it a deeper dark brown color.
This gluten free cake recipe can make a sheet cake, a layered cake, or cupcakes! If you love chocolate as much as we do, you will want to check out all of my delicious gluten free chocolate recipes.
Ingredient notes:
I love how this card is noted: "Never Fails". If you are a chocoholic, or just love chocolate cake, this easy gluten free chocolate cake recipe is going to become one of your favorites!!
When you make this cake, you will find it is a moist chocolate cake that is still light and airy. I created another delicious Gluten Free Chocolate Layer Cake that is beautiful for a party.
As you can see, this cake has all of the delicious devil's food cake traits, it is moist and rich!
Variations:
- Make this cake in a round baking pans and you have an amazing gluten free birthday cake!
- It also makes a delicious gluten free sheet cake. All you would need is the frosting! It would be perfect for a kid's birthday party.
- Knowing my kids, they would want a cupcake version of this so they can pile on the frosting :-).
If you want to try more recipes with this cocoa, give these Gluten Free Chocolate Donuts or this delicious Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes recipe a try!
Recipe step by step directions:
This cake is a little different from your typical cake recipe because the cake is made from a chocolate custard. You want to make the chocolate custard first, and allow it to cool a little bit. This is what makes the cake is so moist and chocolaty!
Step 1: This gluten free chocolate cake is so easy to make! The first step is to make the chocolate custard in a saucepan. Add the chocolate custard ingredients to the saucepan and melt everything together and bring to a gentle boil. Whisk to prevent burning.
In the old days, this cake was made with unsweetened chocolate baking squares. Times have changed over the years and many more devil's food cake recipes are made with unsweetened cocoa powder now.
Step 2: Mix in the chocolate custard, remaining wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
I have tested this recipe with three flour blends. That isn't to say a lot more will work, but there are so many on the market now it is expensive to test them all, plus I would drown in chocolate cake!
Avoid heavy starchy flour blends or blends with bean flours. If your blend doesn't include Xanthan Gum, add 1 teaspoon to your blend.
- King Arthur Measure for Measure is a nice blend and it is corn-free as well in case you have to avoid corn.
- Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Blend is a good blend as well, you will want to let your batter sit for 5-10 minutes if you use this one. It seems to help prevent graininess.
- Authentic Foods MultiBlend is another great flour blend. This company mills their gluten free flours extra-fine, which really makes a difference in gluten free baking. They make a lot of great blends and individual flours you can try.
Step 3: You can see the batter is just right (sorry for the meh picture!) Bake the cake in this 8x8 pan, it is a perfect size, unless you prefer to make a cute little-layered gluten free birthday cake! Then you would want these layer cake pans.
Step 4: Bake your cake at 350º F for 30-45 minutes. That is a big range, but it really depends on the size pan you use.
I like to use what I call the toothpick test for checking to see if my cake is done. Insert a toothpick into the middle of your cake. If the toothpick comes back clean, your cake is finished baking. If there are crumbs or batter on your toothpick, you need to bake it longer.
Are you ready to take a bite? I love how this forkful of cake looks like a heart!
Tips and Recipe FAQ:
There are a lot of great high-quality gluten free cocoa powders out there. I tend to use this organic cocoa powder because it has great flavor. I also like Rodelle and Ghirardelli.
You can easily make this cake dairy free by using vegan butter.
I used almond milk but other dairy-free kinds of milk will work but I do not recommend canned coconut milk.
These gluten free devil's food cake will keep up to 4 days in an air-tight container, or up to 4 months in the freezer.
More gluten free chocolate desserts:
- How fun are these Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Pops? Everyone will love decorating them.
- This Dark Chocolate Custard makes a wonderful chocolate dessert that is thick and creamy.
- A Gluten Free Chocolate Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is perfect for a birthday cake, or use the batter to make cupcakes!
- Banana and chocolate go perfectly together in this easy Gluten Free Chunky Monkey Donuts recipe.
Recipe
Gluten Free Devil's Food Cake
Ingredients
Custard
- ¾ cup cocoa powder * see note
- ½ cup almond milk * see note
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg yolk
Cake
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup butter melted
- ½ cup almond milk
- 1 ¾ cups gluten free flour blend * see note
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º F.
- Spray coconut oil in an 8x8 baking pan.
- In a saucepan, add custard ingredients and cook over low heat. Allow to bubble gently, then remove from the heat.
- In a large bowl, add all cake dry ingredients. Sift together.
- Add wet ingredients to custard and whisk to blend.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake 30-45 minutes until done. *see notes
Notes
- Baking time really will vary by pan size, if you are making sheet cake, thinner layer cakes, or cupcakes with this batter.
- I have tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure GF, Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 GF blend, and Authentic Foods Multi 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.
- To make this recipe dairy-free, substitute the butter for vegan butter.
- There are several great gluten free cocoa powder brands I like to use. Ghirardelli, Rhodelle, Anthony's, and Hershey.
- 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 September 2018 post when it appeared on my old blog Grandma's Gluten Free Recipes. I moved it over to this blog when I merged my two sites.)
Deborah
My flour blend doesn't contain xanthan gum. Would you recommend adding it to the recipe?
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Deborah, please add 1 teaspoon of Xanthan Gum
Belinda
Have you been successful in doubling or tripling this recipe? Thanks!
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Belinda, you can always double or triple the recipe. Would you be making layers or is this for a larger sheet cake?
Tammy
Have you used a frosting on this cake before? If you have what do you like?
Sandi Gaertner
This cake tastes great with chocolate frosting. You can make the one in my chocolate cake recipe if you need a recipe.
Bee
I am in the same boat, still very wet in the middle after 30++ and I've used a metal pan of the size recommended..
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Bee, I updated this recipe today to and added information about the gluten free flours I tested in this recipe. I found people using starchy gluten free flour blends are finding it needs to bake a lot longer. I hope my clarifications will help.
Melissa
Can you use regular 2% milk in place of almond milk?
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Melissa, you can definitely use regular milk in this recipe. Enjoy :-).
Rhonda
I tried to make this cake but it did not get done in 30 minutes. Left it in for probably 5 minutes more and still wasn't done in the middle. I used a glass baking dish - could that have been the problem?
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Rhonda, I am not sure the size and depth of the pan you used. I haven't baked in glass bakeware either. I hope you let it bake longer so you could enjoy it?
Victoria
Utterly fantastic! I used this recipe to make a gluten free devil's food/whipped cream frosting birthday cake. I'll never try to get this from from a bakery again!
One question, the cake is a little more dense than I would prefer. Can it be made to be just a little bit fluffier? If yes, how could I do that? And where can I send you some $$ For all the money I will save every year, not getting this store-bought and (worse) full of gluten?
Thank you, thank you!
Sandi Gaertner
LOL, you are too funny. I think adding more liquid would help make the cake fluffier...but more importantly, be really careful not to overmix the batter. Don't use a standing mixer or electric mixer when incorporating the wet and dry ingredients. I have two great digital e-cookbooks for sale if you ever want to pick one up.