No one is more surprised than I am to tell you that this Gluten-free, Soy-free, Egg-free & Dairy-free Chocolate Cake is a truly moist, delicious, chocolate cake. And the soy-free & dairy-free chocolate frosting is out-of-this-world amazing!
Okay, cakey-friends. Let me start this post by disclosing a few things. First, I know almost nothing about baking allergen-free. Seriously... nothing. The only other gluten-free cake I baked several years ago was a complete disaster and since then, I've avoided this type of baking at all costs.
With that in mind, if I've overlooked any allergens in any of the ingredients listed, I cannot be held responsible. Please do your own research and due diligence before consuming this cake and/or selling this cake to a client with allergies.
When a friend from high school asked me about doing this cake, and I confirmed that the birthday girl didn't have allergies, but rather food intolerances and dietary preferences, I agreed to try. She asked that it be gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free. Eggs were okay but as it turns out, the recipe I used didn't use eggs.
Making cakes pretty is the best part of my job...
She told me upfront that they didn't have high expectations for the cake to taste good, but hoped it would be pretty. Of course, making cakes pretty is the best part of my job, so I decided to give it a shot.
And to my great surprise... it ended up tasting good and being pretty ♥️.
Here's what Stephenie had to say after the fact:
My day was made! Not that I plan on baking cakes like this often. I'm thrilled to have a recipe in my pocket that works and makes clients happy!
So, with my very limited knowledge of baking allergen-free cakes, I'm going to share the very specific recipe I used. And by specific, I mean I'm going to list the exact ingredients (including brands). I'm not a paid representative of any of these companies and there may be suitable substitutions. I'm just going to tell you what worked for me along with what I think would work in the way of substitutions.
So here goes...
Gluten-free, Soy-free, Egg-free & Dairy-free Chocolate Cake and Frosting Ingredients:
Cake:
- Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Flour
- Sugar
- High-Quality Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Almond Breeze Chocolate Almond Milk
- Corn Oil
- White Vinegar
- Vanilla Extract
Frosting:
- Country Crock Plant Butter
- Nutiva Organic Shortening
- High-Quality Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- Vanilla Extract
- Powdered Sugar
- Almond Breeze Chocolate Almond Milk
Substitutions:
- I know nothing about baking with any other allergen-free flour so I cannot tell if you if any other types of flour would work. The Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Flour worked perfectly and it's the only one I tried.
- Sometimes I use inexpensive Nestle Toll House Baking Cocoa Powder - other times I buy the fancier Ghirardelli Premium Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. Either would be great in this recipe.
- I used Almond Breeze Chocolate Almond Milk. I suspect other brands would work just fine and possibly something like rice milk, but I can't say that with any certainty.
- Corn oil is what I already had on hand, so that's what I used. I think canola oil would've been a better option (it's more neutral in flavor), but I didn't want to make another trip to the grocery store. The cake smelled a little like popcorn coming out of the oven (says my kids), but we couldn't taste the corn oil at all.
- Country Crock Plant Butter with Olive Oil was perfect for frosting. I'm not sure what alternatives there are for dairy-free and soy-free butter substitutes. I do know I looked at a couple of options that were soy-based but this is not. Although this product does have a cross-contamination warning, so keep that in mind.
- Nutiva Organic Shortening. Again I have no idea what alternatives are out there for a soy-free shortening product. The only tip I have for this one is to warm it in the microwave before creaming it with the "butter". Otherwise, you end up with tiny bits of it that do not lend to smooth frosting.
So, armed with all of that, I baked and made frosting and was so, so happy with how it turned out. But then it was time to make it pretty. I could tell immediately that the frosting had a great texture and consistency for piping, so I wasn't' worried about that.
Easy Drip Cake
I initially wanted to add sprinkes to jazz it up but realized very quickly that gluten-free, soy-free and dairy-free sprinkles are not something you can pick up at Walmart. So that was out.
Then it hit me... I could do a drip cake. After making this easy drip cake awhile back, I've come to love drip cakes! It's so easy to dress a cake up when doing drip. Since I didn't want to sort through yet another recipe and make sure it checked all the boxes, I decided to try something else.
In my All Things Cake group, several members suggested just melting buttercream and using it for drip. So with that in mind, I took about a cup of the soy-free and dairy-free frosting, melted it, stirred it up really good, and used it for drip.
It worked beautifully!
My only complaint was it started to set up and get a little clumpy as it cooled. The middle wasn't nearly as smooth as the edges, but really, I can live with that!
Lastly, let me give you one last tip so you can learn from my mistakes. The first time I baked this recipe, it came out so great. Unfortunately, I'd made a mistake. Just after I stacked the layers and crumb-coated the cake, it hit me... I had used Bakers Joy in the pans. 😟
Bakers Joy is not gluten-free OR soy-free. Oy! I had already decided if that cake turned out well, I'd bake it again to share on the blog, but because of my mistake, I had to go ahead and bake it again that night.
Instead of Bakers Joy, I sprayed the pans with non-stick olive oil spray and then dusted them with the same Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour I used in the cake. This did leave a white residue on the outside of the cake layers, but it didn't alter the flavor at all.
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Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Flour
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Ghirardelli Premium Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Buy Now →My husband is very, very leery of any "diet" foods so I knew his opinion would be very valuable to me. I also took the cake to a few friends in our homeschool group to share and eventually shared slices with some of my regular clients who showed interest. I got all positive reviews!!
The silky-smooth rich chocolate frosting was my favorite part, but the cake was really, really good too. It's not nearly as dense as other gluten-free cakes I've had and really had a delicious flavor profile.
If you have questions or you try this recipe, please leave a comment. As previously stated, I'm not an expert with cakes like this but I'll help you out if I can! So, are you ready for the recipe? Here it is:
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Gluten-free, Soy-free, Egg-free & Dairy-free Chocolate Cake and Frosting
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
Description
No one is more surprised than I am to tell you that this Gluten-free, Soy-free, Egg-free & Dairy-free Chocolate Cake is a truly moist, delicious, chocolate cake. And the soy-free & dairy-free chocolate frosting is out-of-this-world amazing!
Ingredients
Please note: I am not an expert in baking allergen-free cakes and have no training in this area. With that in mind, if I've overlooked any allergens in any of the ingredients listed, I cannot be held responsible. Please do your own research and due diligence before consuming this cake or selling this cake to anyone with allergies.
Cake:
- 3 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Flour
- 1 ¾ cup white granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 2 cups chocolate almond milk
- ½ cup corn oil or canola oil
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Frosting:
- 3 sticks of Country Crock Plant Butter with Olive Oil, softened
-
4 ounces Nutiva Organic Shortening
-
2 pounds (1 bag) powdered sugar
- 1 ½ cups cocoa powder
-
½ cup chocolate almond milk
-
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prep (3) 8-inch pans with olive oil spray and then dust the pans with gluten-free flour.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt).
- In a separate small bowl, mix together the almond milk, oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract.
- Add the wet and dry ingredients together and stir until well-combined, scraping down the sides as you go.
- Divide the batter evenly between the three prepared pans.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Frosting:
- Soften the shortening in the microwave for 15-20 seconds (or until you can stir it and it's creamy).
- Cream the shortening and plant butter together until smooth and silky.
- Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate almond milk and vanilla. I highly recommend a Bosch Mixer for making frosting so the bowl is completely closed and you don't get a powdered sugar cloud. See my video in this post.
- Mix together until smooth. If the frosting is too stiff, add more almond milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency. If the frosting is too thin, add powdered sugar ¼ cup at a time to thicken.
- When the cakes are cooled, place one layer on a cake plate and then top with a generous amount of chocolate buttercream. Repeat until all stacked, then cover the outside with frosting.
- (optional) If you'd like to add the chocolate drip, microwave approximately 1 cup of buttercream for 30 seconds, then stir until smooth and similar to chocolate syrup. Use a spoon to create the drip effect on the cake (see this post for instructions).
- Pipe a border and rosettes if you'd like to dress it up!
- Enjoy!
Notes
- I know nothing about baking with any other allergen-free flour so I cannot tell if you if any other types of flour would work. The Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Flour worked perfectly and it's the only one I tried.
- Sometimes I use inexpensive Nestle Toll House Baking Cocoa Powder - other times I buy the fancier Ghirardelli Premium Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. Either would be great in this recipe.
- I used Almond Breeze Chocolate Almond Milk. I suspect other brands would work just fine and possibly something like rice milk, but I can't say that with any certainty.
- Corn oil is what I already had on hand, so that's what I used. I think canola oil would've been a better option (it's more neutral in flavor), but I didn't want to make another trip to the grocery store. The cake smelled a little like popcorn coming out of the oven (says my kids), but we couldn't taste the corn oil at all.
- Country Crock Plant Butter with Olive Oil was perfect for frosting. I'm not sure what alternatives there are for dairy-free and soy-free butter substitutes. I do know I looked at a couple of options that were soy-based but this is not. Although this product does have a cross-contamination warning, so keep that in mind.
- Nutiva Organic Shortening. Again I have no idea what alternatives are out there for a soy-free shortening product. The only tip I have for this one is to warm it in the microwave before creaming it with the "butter". Otherwise, you end up with tiny bits of it that do not lend to smooth frosting.
- Instead of Baker's Joy, I sprayed the pans with non-stick olive oil spray and then dusted them with the same Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour I used in the cake. This did leave a white residue on the outside of the cake layers, but it didnt' alter the flavor at all.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Gluten-free, Soy-free, egg-free, dairy-free, chocolate cake, chocolate, GF, SF, DF, Eggless, cake, Allergen-free
Wow thank you for step by step instruction I will surely try this as am new in the baking cakes
★★★★★
I can’t wait to try this recipe! I have made allergen free chocolate cake before and they are ok. Would you have an allergen free red velvet recipe with cream cheese frosting?
No, this is the only recipe I've ever tinkered with more than once and had success.
This sounds fantastic! I'm just starting out in the cottage industry baking business and I do not plan to promote gluten free products. However, this is a very nice recipe to have in my back pocket. I do have a question - the icing colors contrast a bit between the cake cover/piping and the drip. Is that color contrast created simply by heating the buttercream?
Yes, the only change was melting the frosting and I loved the (accidental) contrast!
Me too, looks very intentional!
Thank you so much for sharing! I am gluten and dairy free and I am always looking for ideas. I definitely want to try this!
If I made this a vanilla cake would I need to substitute the cocoa powder with more flour?
LOVE LOVE LOVE your websites! You are always my go to for inspiration and recipes.
I have no idea. Again, I'm not an expert with this type of baking and I haven't tried any variations. I've read that subbing more flour for cocoa doesn't work but I don't know that from experience. If you decide to try, I'd love to hear how it turns out.
Thank you for sharing this! I have a client that orders egg free cakes, so I appreciate this and the reviews!
Awesome!
We were wondering what kind of magic this cake was make of! It was amazing. I was at Aimee's birthday party and we were all very impressed. We never expected it to taste so good! I've not baked this myself yet, but will definitely be in the future!
★★★★★
What is the purpose of adding white vinegar to this cake? Is it really necessary?
Have you ever seen the volcano science experiment where kids mix vinegar and baking soda to make a volcanic eruption? This is the same concept. The vinegar reacts with the baking soda to create bubbles which helps the cake to rise and not be so dense. This combo is a substitution for eggs, so it is necessary.
How to the ingredients you have to purchase for such a cake reflect on how it’s priced
This recipe sounds great. I wonder if you tried the recipe with all purpose flour if you didn’t need a gluten free cake only dairy free.
I haven't tried it but I imagine it would work perfectly!
How much butter is required? Butter sticks come in different amounts. Thanks for the recipe.
With the brand mentioned, 4 sticks is a pound, so 3/4 of a pound.
Rose, I purchased all the ingredients and have been cooking and baking for 50 years. The cake batter and frosting tasted good.
It looked beautiful frosted. Then, I picked up the platter and the cake started cracking. I immediately started cutting it into salvageable slices. Any suggestions??
Hmm, I'm not sure. I've baked this a dozen times or so with no problems and no client complaints. I have no idea what might have happened.