Birthdays, weddings, and graduations; aside from celebrations what do these events all have in common? Cake! The cake is an essential part of any commemoration big or small. This paleo chocolate cake recipe is the perfect and most delicious way to ring in all of life’s best moments.
When you’re dealing with food sensitivities, it can feel like there are so many things you’ll have to miss out on. Food is not only essential for giving us energy, it helps connect us to people. All of my best memories happened gathered around a table, with food and people I love. When I first became gluten-free and dairy-free, I thought I would no longer be able to participate in these celebrations and traditions. Birthday cakes, Christmas cookies, and Friday night pizza all felt completely out of the question.
While these items may look very different to me now than they did a few years ago, I’ve found there are so many incredible substitutes for some of my favorite foods. It turns out with a little creativity (and lots of almond flour), you can recreate all kinds of familiar favorites. Chocolate cake is one of my favorite ways to celebrate just about anything. This paleo chocolate cake recipe is the perfect way to keep those traditions alive in a gluten-free and dairy-free way.
Ingredients Needed
To make this easy and delicious paleo chocolate cake recipe at home you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Almond flour: For this cake, we’ll need 1 3/4 cups of almond flour. I’ve linked one of my favorite brands of almond flour, however, I also love the almond flour at Trader Joe’s. I’ll usually use the Trader Joe’s brand almond flour when I can find it.
- Coconut flour: This recipe requires a mixture of coconut and almond flour to get the cake the right texture and mimic the outcome of using regular flour. We’ll need 1/4 cup of coconut flour for this cake recipe.
- Cocoa powder: Cocoa powder is what makes this cake chocolate! We’ll need 1/2 cup for this recipe. The Ghiradelli brand cocoa powder linked is the best one out there in my opinion.
- Baking soda: We’ll need 1 teaspoon of baking soda for this chocolate cake recipe.
- Salt: To bring out the chocolate flavor in the cake, we’ll need 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
- Eggs: You’ll need 3 eggs for this recipe. I haven’t tried using flax eggs to make this recipe vegan, but if you’re vegan and would like to try making this recipe, using 3 flax eggs should work as well.
- Coconut oil: For this cake recipe, we’ll need 1/3 cup of melted coconut oil. This serves as our dairy-free butter replacement and gives the cake a subtle coconut flavor.
- Maple syrup: To make this chocolate cake sweet, we’ll add 1/2 cup of maple syrup.
- Vanilla: Finally, we’ll use 1 tablespoon of vanilla to complete this paleo chocolate cake recipe.
Frosting Ingredients
The following ingredients are needed to make the chocolate frosting for this cake:
- Vegan chocolate chips: Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips are my favorite vegan chocolate chips. They taste exactly like the real thing but are dairy-free and free of many other common allergens. For the frosting, we’ll need 2 cups.
- Coconut cream: To make the frosting the right consistency we’ll add 3/4 cup of coconut cream.
- Coconut oil: You’ll need 1/4 cup melted coconut oil for the chocolate frosting. This will give the frosting a slight coconut flavor.
- Vanilla: Finally, we’ll add one teaspoon of vanilla to finish the frosting.
How to Make this Paleo Chocolate Cake Recipe
First, combine all of the frosting ingredients in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 60-second increments, stirring in between until the ingredients are completely melted. Set aside until cooled and firm.
Next, preheat the oven to 325 F and grease 2 8-inch cake pans.
Then, in a large bowl, mix the almond flour, coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. Divide the batter evenly between the two greased cake pans.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 mins. You’ll be able to tell the cakes are done by inserting a toothpick and seeing if it comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely before frosting (at least 15 mins).
Finally, frost the cooled cake and serve!
Recipe Tips
Answering your paleo chocolate cake recipe questions. If you don’t see the answer to your question, feel free to leave a comment!
Making this recipe vegan
Although I haven’t tried it with this recipe, replacing the eggs in the cake batter with flax seed eggs would make this recipe vegan. To do so you’ll replace each egg by mixing 1 tbsp of flaxseed meal with 3 tbsp of water and letting sit for 5 minutes before adding to the wet ingredients. By replacing the egg with a flax egg, this recipe will be completely vegan-friendly!
Toppings
To make this cake stand out you can top it with sprinkles, fruit, or chocolate chips. Adding toppings and decorations to a cake makes it special, so feel free to get creative with how you choose to decorate it!
Paleo Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups almond flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup coconut oil melted
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 2 cups vegan chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup coconut cream
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Combine all of the frosting ingredients in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 60-second increments, stirring in between until the ingredients are completely melted. Set aside until cooled and firm.
- Preheat the oven to 325 F and grease 2 8-inch cake pans.
- In a large bowl, mix the almond flour, coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla.
- Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 mins. You’ll be able to tell the cakes are done by inserting a toothpick to see if it comes out clean.
- Let cake cool completely before frosting (at least 15 mins).
- Frost the cooled cake and serve!
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Rich Clement says
Awesome!
madeofeverythingnice says
So glad you enjoyed it!