Chocolate Cherry Cake
The gluten-free cake that exceeded all off our expectations. Its super cute vintage style made it perfect for this years Galentine’s Day Party.
Gluten-free chocolate cake, spiced cherry jam and vanilla buttercream
Chocolate Cherry Cake
Serves 6-9 people depending on size of slice.
Ingredients
Dry
2 cups - gluten free flour ( I used Bobs Red Mill )
1 3/4 - cup sugar
3/4 - cup Dutch cocoa powder
1 1/2 - baking soda
2 tsp - baking powder
1 tsp - sea salt
3/4 - cup vegan butter or coconut oil
1 tbsp - vanilla extract
Wet
1 1/2 cup - oat milk + 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup - coffee ( I used Bustillo espresso )
3 - flax eggs ( 3 tbsp flax seeds mixed with 9 tbsp hot water )
Butter Cream
1 cup - vegan butter
1 cup - vegetable shortening ( I used spectrum )
5 1/2 cups - sifted powdered sugar
1 tbsp - vanilla extract
1 tsp - salt
2 tbsp - oat milk
Cherry Filling
1 pound cherries, pitted
2 tbsp - vegan butter
3 tbsp - lemon juice
1 tsp - cinnamon
1/4 cup - brown sugar
Instructions
makes 3 - 6 inch cake pans or 2 8 inch cake pans
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
I like to start with my wet ingredients and mix my oat milk and apple cider vinegar to get a sort of buttermilk in the works. I also get boiling hot water and mix 9 tbsp of hot water with 3 tbsp flax seeds and set that aside to thicken.
Brew some coffee and set that aside. Next scale out all your dry ingredients. In a large bowl add in your flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Give the dry mix a mix with a whisk and set aside.
I now return to my buttermilk mixture and continue adding in the melted vegan butter, coffee and vanilla. Pour this into your dry mix as well as your thickened flax seeds and give it a gentil mix till everything is combined.
Grease your cake pans and distribute the batter evenly. like to use portioning scoops to do this but you can also use a scale to weigh pans individually to make sure they all have an even amount of batter.
If you are using 3 6 inch cake pans it should take about 40 min to bake. Once your cakes are done set them aside to cool or even cool over night.
While the cake is baking is usually when I make the filling which comes together pretty easily. Saute your cherries in butter until they start to soften. Once pretty soft, add in your lemon juice and allow to cook down some more. Sprinkle in your salt, cinnamon and brown sugar. Stir and allow to cook down on low heat to allow everything to combine into a jam. Once finished pour into a dish and allow to cool in the fridge to set.
For the buttercream I use a stand up mixer and use the whip attachment to whip together the butter and shortening for about 3-5 min on low to medium speed. I take turns between adding one cup of powdered sugar at a time making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl each time and allowing each cup to mix thoroughly with the butter. Continue this till all the powdered sugar is used up, then add in your vanilla, salt and milk and allow to mix for another 2-3 min till all is combined and fluffed well.
To start assembling your cake cut the rounded tops of the cakes off and put a dollop of frosting on your cake board and secure your base layer of cake to the board. Make a light layer of frosting and then pipe a little fence around the perimeter of the cake. This will keep your cherry filling inside. Place your next layer of cake on top and cover the top in butter cream. Pipe butter cream all around the cake and then use a cake spatula to smoothen it all out covering all of the cake. Using a bench scraper, remove all the excess buttercream and smoothen the sides.
Typically I always do a base coat on the cake in white and allow it to set in the fridge while I mix my other colors. You can play around with your design and have fun with the colors and pipes you use. If you would like to see how I piped my buttercream and decorated this vintage style cake check out the video.
Notes:
I know finding vegan friendly brands for baking can sometimes be a challenge so here are some of my favorite products to work with that can even be found on my amazon store front.
Plant-Based shortening that is organic and fair trade.
Bone char free powdered sugar.
Truly the best gluten free flour I have baked with.
Probably one of my favorite kitchen appliances alongside my air fryer.
Thank you ,
If you have made this recipe or any others leave a comment <3
