A delicious gluten-free and dairy-free rich Chocolate Cake with Pumpkin Spice Frosting. The perfect dessert recipe for fall!
I had another recipe I was going to bring you today but after making this cake last weekend, I switched gears. I didn't make this cake for any particular reason other than I really wanted cake.
I wanted chocolate, wanted pumpkin. I wanted cake. What else are you going to do?
Chocolate cake with pumpkin spice frosting!
This cake was probably one of the best decisions I made all week. Never underestimate the power a slice of rich chocolate cake has to put a smile on your face.
The chocolate cake is made with a mixture of sweet rice flour, millet, sorghum and tapioca starch giving it a moist crumb. I love using millet when making cakes, as I find it enhances the texture we are used to in cakes made with regular flour. And the frosting—oh, the frosting—is kissed with pumpkin, sweetened with maple syrup, and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
Have a lovely weekend, friends. Hopefully it involves cake!
Chocolate Cake with Pumpkin Spice Frosting (GF + DF)
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 1 cup sweet white rice flour
- ½ cup millet flour
- ½ cup tapioca starch
- ¼ cup sorghum flour
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ½ cups coconut sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup coconut oil melted and cooled
- 1 cup non-dairy buttermilk I used unsweetened almond milk + 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup hot water
Pumpkin Spice Frosting:
- 4 cups non-hydrogenated palm shortening
- ⅓ cup pumpkin puree
- ⅓ cup maple syrup or up to a ½ cup if desired
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 -3 tablespoons cacoa nibs or mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two 9-inch cake pans with coconut oil and line bottoms with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together sweet rice flour, millet flour, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together melted coconut oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Add liquid mixture to the dry ingredients mixing with an electric mixer on low. Add hot water and beat until just combined. Divide batter between both pans and bake for 28 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in cake pans on wire rack.
To make frosting:
- In a medium bowl, whip palm shortening for about 30 seconds. Then add pumpkin, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and spices. Mix until fully combined.
To assemble cake:
- Once cakes are completely cool, on a cake plate or stand, place one cake top side down. Spread a layer of frosting on top. Place second cake top side down on top of bottom layer. Frost a thin crumb coat on top and sides of cake. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes and then frost the remainder of sides and top of cake. Sprinkle cacao nibs around top perimeter of cake.
Notes
Nutrition
danielle is rooting the sun
tessa there is simply nothing to do when you want all of those ingredients but fulfill the urge! this is a gorgeous cake, and not only do the alternative flours excite me, the frosting makes me swoon! ♥
Tessa
I totally agree (now to do this more often!). :) Thank you so much, Danielle!
Janice Proudfoot
Tessa, how much tapioca starch do we use? Also, can I use brown rice flour that I have on hand? I've never heard of sweet rice flour. Can it substitute for any rice flour? I am anxious to try this cake. Sounds delicious!
Tessa
Hi Janice! I'm sorry about that! I just fixed it - you will need a 1/2 cup of tapioca starch. Sweet white rice flour is also known as sticky rice flour. It is more starchy than brown or white rice flours and acts as a binding agent. I'm afraid if you subbed brown rice for the sweet white rice flour in this recipe that the cake may not "glue" together as well and could be fairly crumbly. Brown rice flour also has a slightly grittier texture to it than sweet white rice flour does. When a recipe calls for regular white rice flour, I have in the past subbed in brown because it is what I've had on hand and it worked pretty well. But, for this cake, I don't think brown would work as well. I use Bob's Red Mill brand sweet white rice flour and it can be found in most grocery/health stores as well as on Amazon. Thanks, Janice!
Janice Proudfoot
Thank you so much for your explanations. I am very new to GF cooking, but your cake looks delicious and I enjoy browsing through your other recipes, too. Thanks for figuring all of this out so we can just enjoy baking things!
Tessa
Happy to answer any gf baking questions I can! Thanks so much, Janice!
Medha @ Whisk & Shout
This looks unreal! The layers are perfect and I love the frosting flavor :) Pinnin!
Tessa
Thank you so much, Medha! Pumpkin spice + frosting is just so good. ;) Enjoy your weekend!
Sophie | The Green Life
Beautiful! I love the fact that you've made a cake without any special occasion. So awesome! You're right, cake is always a good idea! :) The pumpkin spice and chocolate combo sounds heavenly! <3
Tessa
Thanks so much, Sophie! I've decided making a cake without any occasion is something I need to do more. :) Also, I'm so glad to have found your blog!
jaime
the pumpkin spice + chocolate thing sounds like the perfectest cozy hug right now! it's beautiful! beautiful! oh, and i love millet in cakey things, too. i was working on a doughnut recipe a while back and couldn't get the texture right till i added millet to the mix -- so light and lovely. hope you have a great weekend, tessa! xo
Tessa
Thank you Jaime!! :) Good call on the millet in the doughnut recipe - I will have to try that! Happy Friday! xo
Kathryn
I was planning to have cake-filled weekend this weekend but now that I've seen this, i don't know how I can resist. This is just perfect.
Tessa
Haha, I like the way you plan. Hope you are on the mend and feeling better! xo.
June @ How to Philosophize with Cake
What a lovely cake that looks like! Chocolate + pumpkin is such a great combination, I imagine they worked wonderfully in here :)
Tessa
Thank you, June! I agree, it is a winning combo for sure. :) Have a great weekend!