Moist, fluffy Gluten-Free Sourdough Chocolate Cake made sugar-free. This delicious cake recipe has unique rich flavor and is incredibly light and fluffy.
Have you ever had a craving for a deeply rich sinfully chocolatey chocolate cake that was also light, fluffy and tasted like little flavor fairies were sprinkling magical chocolate essence all over your mouth buds?
Yeah, me too.
All day, every day.
If you’re like me, and chocolate cake is the only spirit animal you could possibly identify as your own, you’re in the right spot. This Gluten-Free Sourdough Chocolate Cake is crazy unique, fun to bake, and a lovely little crowd-pleasure.
PLUS, it is easy to adapt according to the ingredients you have on hand.
For those times you have a chocolate hankering (all day, every day) and sourdough starter to discard, let this delicious chocolate cake recipe be your jam.
I make it using my gluten-free sourdough starter and a gluten-free flour blend.
Recipe Highlights:
- Gluten-free
- Sugar-free
- Super light, moist, and fluffy
- Delectable crinkle top
- Can easily be made dairy-free
- Can easily be made with any granulated sweetener
How to Make Sourdough Chocolate Cake:
Add sourdough discard, whole milk (or coconut milk) and gluten-free flour (or regular all-purpose flour if you aren’t gluten-free) to a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Allow this mixture to sit 2 to 4 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9” x 9” cake pan with parchment paper (or use a 9-inch spring form pan).
Whisk the eggs, oil, and vanilla extract together in a bowl or measuring cup until well combined. Pour this mixture into the mixing bowl with the sourdough mixture.
Add the sugar-free sweetener (I use Truvia, but you can go with your favorite granulated zero calorie sweetener), cocoa powder, espresso powder, sea salt, and baking powder to the bowl with the remaining ingredients and stir well until combined.
Pour cake batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake on the center rack of the oven 25 to 35 minutes, until cake has risen and set up. It should feel firm when poked in the center.
Allow cake to cool at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Can I Make This with Regular Flour and Sourdough Starter?:
Yes! If your sourdough starter is made using regular all-purpose flour (meaning it is not gluten-free), you can still make this recipe using all of the same portions. Simply use your sourdough discard and regular all-purpose flour and you’re good to go. In other words, you do not have to make this cake gluten-free.
What Type of Flour to Use:
I use Bob’s Red Mill’s Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour for this recipe, but you can use your favorite gluten-free flour blend of choice. King Arthur and Pamela’s work great too!
Note that not all gluten-free flour blends behave differently as they contain different portions of different flours.
For this reason, I can’t guarantee the results if you don’t use the same flour as me (Bob’s Red Mill), as I have not tested the recipe using any other flour.
Recipe Adaptations:
- Replace whole milk with buttermilk or full-fat canned coconut milk.
- Use coconut sugar or granulated cane sugar instead of sugar-free sweetener.
- If you don’t follow a gluten-free diet, use regular all-purpose flour instead of gluten-free flour.
More Sourdough Recipes:
- Gluten-Free Sourdough Waffles
- Fluffy Gluten-Free Sourdough pancakes
- Gluten-Free Blueberry Sourdough Muffins
Enjoy this fermented cake!
My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!
If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!
Gluten-Free Sourdough Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten-free sourdough discard (unfed sourdough starter)*
- 2/3 cup whole milk or non-dairy milk of choice
- 1 1/3 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour *
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup avocado oil
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup sugar-free sweetener or coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 Tbsp instant espresso granules
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Add sourdough discard, whole milk and gluten-free flour to a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Allow this mixture to sit 2 to 4 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9” x 9” cake pan with parchment paper (or use a 9-inch spring form pan).
- Whisk the eggs, oil, and vanilla extract together in a bowl or measuring cup until well combined. Pour this mixture into the mixing bowl with the sourdough mixture.
- Add the coconut sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, sea salt, and baking powder to the bowl with the remaining ingredients and stir well until combined.
- Pour cake batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake on the center rack of the oven 25 to 35 minutes, or until cake has risen and set up. It should feel firm when poked in the center. To check for doneness, insert a digital thermometer into the center of the cake. It is fully cooked once it reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees F, and the texture is best between 190 and 205.
- Allow cake to cool at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Mine was quite dense, and I used fairly active starter, but it didn’t seem to rise – or I couldn’t tell if it did. My full fat coconut milk did have cream in it though (very thick) – do you think that’s the problem? My middle was still raw after 45 minutes baking it too. Any help would be super appreciated! I find I’m so impatient learning to bake as a celiac.
Hi Kristen! Thanks a bunch for sharing this! What brand of GF flour did you use? Sometimes this makes a difference because some brands are more absorbent than others. It sounds like a little additional flour would have helped the cause, or baking the cake for longer and looking at it as more of a brownie experiment. Baked goods are fully cooked after they reach an internal temperature of 190 degrees F, which can be super useful in gluten-free baking because it isn’t always very obvious when a baked good is cooked through. In this sense, inserting a digital thermometer into the center of whatever you’re baking can be super helpful. I typucally mention this in my new baked good recipes but never mentioned it in past recipes (like this one) so I’ll edit the recipe now to mention it. So I would say as long as your cake reached 190 degrees F, it’s safe to eat. While it seemingly doesn’t have a cake-like texture, perhaps it can be used to add to ice cream, or as brownies instead of cake. I hope this helps!
Any egg replacement recommendations?
Hi there! I haven’t tested the recipe using an egg replacer, but I think it may work – My one cautionary note is that the cake may turn out a little dense, similar to the consistency of brownies. You can try using two flax eggs (2 tbsp flaxseed with 6 tbl water) or add 1/2 cup of additional milk. Because the recipe is made with gluten-free all-purpose flour and sourdough discard, there should be enough leavening that the eggs aren’t super necessary. Nevertheless if you’re looking for a traditional cake texture you may want to google a different recipe because I’d hate for you to go through the trouble of making it and not be satisfied with the result. Hope this helps!!
any idea on a weight measurement (grams) for the 1 cup starter?
Time to resurrect my sourdough and put it to work on this recipe!
Right?? Mine has been chilling in the refrigerator too and I’ll have to whip it out to make another cake soon 😀 xo
@Julia, This is one of the best GF cakes I have eaten. Very similar consistency as a standard cake! I did use castor sugar as I did not have any other option in my cupboard. I also mixed in a third of a cup of cacao nibs. Love it.
Right?! My boyfriend and I were completely amazed by how it turned out…I never would have thought cake made with sourdough discard could taste so amazing. Thanks so much for the sweet note! Trying it with cacao nibs next time I make it 😀
So, correct me, but my sourdough starter is totally gluten…
Yes please let me know as well as I fed my starter with water and regular flour. Thanks Linda
Hi Kathy,
I use a gluten-free sourdough starter. You can still use your regular sourdough starter for this recipe – I won’t make a difference whether your use gluten-free sourdough starter + gluten-free flour or regular sourdough starter + regular flour 😀 xoxo
You can make a gluten free sourdough starter with many different gluten free flours. One of the most popular for a gluten free sourdough starter is brown rice flour.
I love this idea–the texture looks perfect! I keep killing my sourdough starters accidentally but next time I get my hands on some I’m definitely trying this!
Isn’t it crazy?!! I was amazed at how light and fluffy yet moist the cake turns out. It’s seriously like no other. I’m putting good juju out to the universe that your sourdough starter thrives so it can be put to use in this cake 😀 xoxoxo