Rich Chocolate Quinoa Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

June 12, 2011 by Leanne Vogel August 25, 2017

Rich, velvety gluten-free chocolate cake made with cooked red or white quinoa, topped with a sweet, thick frosting. Can be made vegan, too!

Ingredients

Frosting

• 3/4 cup coconut butter
• 1 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated overnight – see note
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
• 3/4 cup arrowroot

Cake

• 2/3 cup red quinoa, uncooked
• 1 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 1 cup cacao powder or cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

1. To make the frosting:
2. Mix all ingredients with a hand mixer or food processor.
3. note: I used 2 cans of organic coconut milk, chilled overnight. Pierced a hole in the bottom of each can and drained out the coconut water. Allowed the coconut cream to soften on the counter for an hour before I began the recipe.
4. note2: recipe could be made vegan if agave nectar is used instead of unpasteurized honey.
5. note3: if the frosting is too soft to spread on the cake, place in the fridge for 20 minutes and retry.
6. To make the cake:
7. In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa and water. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Remove from heat [keep covered!] and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Once complete, fluff with fork and set aside.
9. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F
10. Lightly grease two 9 inch round pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper [believe me, it’s worth the effort. Just DO it!]. Set aside.
11. Combine milk, eggs, and vanilla in blender. Blend until smooth.
12. Add 2 1/4 cup of the cooked quinoa, and the coconut oil. Blend until smooth [may be challenging to do, just blend it as best you can]
13. In a large bowl, whisk together coconut sugar, cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the contents of the blender to the bowl and mix well with a hand mixer.
14. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake on the middle rack of your oven for 40-50 minutes [my cake was perfectly cooked at 48 minutes]. You can test to determine if the cake is done by inserting a toothpick in the middle.
15. Allow cakes to cool for a couple of hours before removing from the pans and topping with icing.

Nutrition Information Per Serving