Rich Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Cake with Fresh Pears from Cooking With CSA

Guest post from Sarah & Peter of Cooking with CSA, a kid-friendly plant-based, gluten-free seasonal recipe subscription service.

Today we’re sharing a recipe that is gluten-free and vegan… but don’t get scared off!

Gluten-free does NOT mean: weird, gross, boring, dry, plain or hard to make! It DOES mean: no wheat (all species), barley and rye.

Some people are allergic and some people- like us- just feel better when we avoid it.

This cake is so delicious we know when you make it you’ll come find us and tell us how good you think it is. The best part about this cake is there is no frosting. The reason that is a good thing is because:

1. Frosting is a pain in the butt to make!
2. Frosting is super unhealthy

Rich Chocolate Cake with Fresh Pears

Continue reading for full recipe.

Rich GF Chocolate Cake with Fresh Pears

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 55 min
Total Time: 1 hr 25 min

Ingredients

• ¹⁄₂ cup coconut oil at room temperature
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 1 flax egg (1 Tbsp. flax meal to 3 Tbsp. water)
• 1 cup coconut buttermilk (add 1/2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar to milk and stir let sit for 10 minutes)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups brown rice flour
• ¹⁄₂ cup cacao powder (or cocoa)
• ¹⁄₄ cup toasted carob powder (or more cocoa)
• ¹⁄₄ tsp. baking soda
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. baking powder
• 1 dash sea salt
• 2 pears (if pears are not your thing use apples or skip the fruit all together)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
2. Make the flax egg and coconut buttermilk and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, use a silicon spatula and mash the coconut oil until smooth. Add the sugar and mix until smooth.
4. Add the flax egg and mix even more. Then add in the coconut buttermilk and vanilla. The batter will look a bit uneven and will separate, that’s normal.
5. Sift the flour, cacao, toasted carob, baking soda, baking powder and salt together into the wet ingredients. Stir well with a metal spoon, but don't over mix.
6. Scrape the side of the bowl, making sure that all the ingredients are well blended. Then pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
7. Top with pear slices, laying them two by two, they will overlap slightly. Bake in the oven for 55 minutes.
8. Cool in pan on a rack for about 15-20 minutes, at which point you can remove cake from pan and slice.
9. Serve alone or with coconut ice cream ;)

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Have you baked anything gluten-free? How’d it turn out?

Thanks so much to my friends Sarah & Peter at Cooking with CSA. Their goal is to help families cook more and make delicious recipes with real food! Check them out for recipes, inspiration and good conversation. 

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