Easy Chocolate Raspberry Cake (gluten free, vegan)

A single layer dark chocolate cake covered with a generous raspberry glaze. This Easy Chocolate Raspberry Cake is both gluten free and vegan and can be made with either fresh or frozen raspberries.

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• ⭐ Why you'll love this recipe
• 📖 Ingredient notes
• 💭 Substitutions
• 📋 Variations
• 🥣 Step by step instructions
• 👩🏻‍🍳Top tips
• 💬 Recipe FAQs
• 🍪 Other chocolate recipes you might like
• 📋 Recipe / Recette
• Comments / Commentaires

I created this chocolate raspberry cake for my brother's birthday in July. I needed a cake that was easy in order to make it with my nephews. The kids wanted a chocolate cake with raspberries on top so I came up with this birthday cake idea. The whole family loved it!

⭐ Why you'll love this recipe

• This recipe is shockingly easy and simple.
• Perfect for baking with kids (I made it with my 3 nephews aged 7 and 6).
• This chocolate raspberry cake is gluten-free, grain-free, vegan and paleo compliant.

📖 Ingredient notes

For the chocolate cake

• Zucchini. Do not peel the zucchini before blending it (leave the skin on). For that reason I recommend using organic zucchini.
• Almond flour. Almond flour is both gluten free and paleo compliant. So whether you are gluten free or paleo, you are good to go! See below if you want a nut free substitution. And if you love almond flour, you can make my Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread or my Vegan Vanilla Mug Cake.
• Dark chocolate chips. Make sure to use dairy free, vegan or paleo compliant chocolate chips if needed. Check the ingredients carefully for that. If you have some leftover chocolate chips, you can make my Tigernut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies.
• Cacao powder. Make sure to use unsweetened cacao powder.
• Arrowroot. It is a starch. See below for substitutions.
• Oil of your choice. I either use extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil.
• Raspberries. I use frozen raspberries to make this cake but you can also use fresh raspberries if you prefer. I add them to the batter, directly after getting them out of the freezer which means that I don't thaw them before and, of course, they are still frozen when I add them.

For the raspberry glaze

• Agar agar. It's a gelling algae. It's gluten free, vegan and paleo compliant. See below for substitutions.
• Raspberries. Again, I use frozen raspberries to make the raspberry glaze. But feel free to use fresh raspberries if you prefer.
• Sugar. This recipe will work with any kind of sugar but make sure to use unrefined sugar if you are paleo.

For the quantities and complete list of ingredients for this gluten free vegan Chocolate Raspberry Cake, please see the recipe card below.

💭 Substitutions

• Arrowroot substitutions. You can replace it with tapioca flour/starch. Both arrowroot and tapioca starch are paleo compliant. And if you are not on a paleo diet, you can either use corn starch or potato starch.
• Almond flour substitution. If you are nut free, you can use tigernut flour instead. If you don't know what tigernut flour is and want to learn more about it you can read my post What is tigernut flour.
• Agar agar. If you are not vegan, you can use gelatin instead of agar agar. Gelatin is gluten free and paleo compliant.

📋 Variations

If you want, you can replace the raspberries that are folded in the batter with more chocolate chips.

🥣 Step by step instructions

Chocolate cake preparation

• Cut the zucchini in pieces. Transfer zucchini pieces to a small blender along with the maple syrup, oil and apple cider vinegar. Blend until smooth.

• In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (almond flour, arrowroot, baking soda and cacao powder).

• Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

• And mix with a spoon until well combined.

• Add the chocolate chips and 80 g (¾ cup) of unthawed frozen raspberries.

• Fold the chocolate chips and raspberries into the batter.

• Line or lightly oil a 7 inches (18 cm) round baking pan with removable bottom and transfer the batter into the pan.

• Bake for about 25 minutes. To make sure that it is cooked, insert a thin bladed knife into the centre of the gingerbread loaf, the knife should come out clean. Leave the chocolate cake in the pan and let it cool down.

Raspberry glaze preparation

• In the meantime, place 500 g (4 cups) of raspberries and the sugar in a saucepan on medium heat.

• Let it cook slowly on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until raspberries get a purée-like consistency.

• Transfer the raspberry purée to a blender. Blend the mixture and strain it with a sieve.

• Transfer the strained raspberry purée back to the saucepan on medium high heat, add the agar agar, stir and bring to a boil.

• Pour the raspberry glaze over your chocolate cake.

• Let cool, and then chill in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight until completely set. Remove from the pan and decorate with additional raspberries. And voilà!

👩🏻‍🍳Top tips

• Instead of buying chocolate chips you can use chocolate bars that you chop yourself with a sharp knife, on a wooden board. This method is less expensive than buying chocolate chips that are ready to use.
• Never open the oven door before the end of the baking time (unless, of course, in case of a danger or problem with your oven). If you open the oven door during the baking time, just to "check how your chocolate cake looks", it will fall down or won't rise.

💬 Recipe FAQs

🍪 Other chocolate recipes you might like

📋 Recipe / Recette