Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: Makes 8-12 slices
- Category: Cakes, Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: French
A Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake recipe with step-by-step photos. A French chocolate and almond cake which is light, moist, gluten-free and also dairy-free! Also known as a Queen of Sheba Cake (Reine de Saba).
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 125 g (4.5 oz) dark chocolate (bittersweet chocolate, 70% cocoa)
- 70 g (2/3 stick) unsalted butter or coconut oil
- 125 g (1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)
- 50 g (1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon) ground almonds
- pinch of fine salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) (without fan).
- Line a 22 cm (9 inch) springform cake pan with greaseproof paper.
- Melt the chocolate and butter (or coconut oil) in a bain marie, or in a stainless steel or glass bowl over a pan of simmering water. Make sure that the bowl does not touch the water.
- Let the melted chocolate cool briefly while you get on with the next steps.
- Separate the eggs.
- Place the egg whites into the bowl of stand mixer, and place the egg yolks into a large mixing bowl.
- Lightly beat the egg yolks with the sugar.
- Add the cornflour (cornstarch), ground almonds and salt.
- Add the melted chocolate mixture to the batter.
- Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter, about one-third at a time.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan.
- Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Run a palette knife or knife around the edge of the pan to help prevent the cake from sticking to the sides.
- Leave the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack.
- Serve with whipped cream.
Kitchen Notes
MAKE IT GLUTEN-FREE
To make this a gluten-free cake, make sure that you use gluten-free cornflour. Not all brands of cornflour (cornstarch) are gluten-free. The original recipe calls for fécule which, in France, refers to potato starch. If potato starch is readily available where you live, you could use this in place of cornflour.
MAKE IT DAIRY-FREE
The original recipe for Reine de Saba uses butter. To make this a dairy-free cake, I have made this recipe several times with coconut oil with very successful results. You can smell the coconut while the cake is baking, but there is barely any taste of coconut in the cake itself.
VARIATIONS
This cake is really delicious with the addition of 1-2 tablespoons of liqueur to both the cake batter and whipped cream, such as Frangelico, Cointreau, Grand Marnier, Amaretto, or rum.
OVEN TEMPERATURES All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly.
CONVERSIONS To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 196
- Sugar: 14.5g
- Sodium: 39.3mg
- Fat: 12.5g
- Carbohydrates: 18g
- Fiber: 1.3g
- Protein: 3.7g
- Cholesterol: 75.2mg
View the recipe online: https://eatlittlebird.com/queen-of-sheba/
