Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake

This cake is a chocolate-lover’s dream. Decadent, moist, perfectly sweet with that intense dark chocolate flavor coming through - and magically, gluten-free! As someone who doesn’t have to be weary of gluten-containing foods, it should speak volumes that this is currently my favorite cake (I’ve made it once a week for the past month). I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 1/4 cups gluten-free flour (this needs to be a 1:1 substitute - my favorite is Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose gluten-free mix)

• 1 cup coconut sugar

• 1/3 cup cocoa powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 cup water

• 1/3 cup avocado oil

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Pre-heat your oven to 350F, and line a 9 inch cake pan with parchment paper

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, coconut sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Mix well until evenly distributed.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the water, oil and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, combining thoroughly with a wooden spoon, hand mixer or silicon spatula. Once your oven is pre-heated and ready to go, add the balsamic vinegar to the cake batter, mixing thoroughly. Pour the batter into the lined cake pan, and bake for 25 minutes.

Use a skewer or toothpick to prick the middle of the cake - if it comes out clean, pull the pan out to cool. If batter clings to the skewer, you’ll want to keep baking - check every 2-3 minutes with a fresh skewer until it comes out clean.

I let my cake cool in the pan, on top of a cooling rack for 15 minutes. At this point, it’s usually safe to remove the cake with it’s parchment, and allow it to continue cooling on the rack.

This cake is great by itself, but fantastic with toppings! I have used chocolate coconut ganache and chocolate avocado buttercream with delicious results! Enjoy!