Chocolate Cake With Maple & Coconut “Buttercream”
sin in black and white
Sinful is the only way to describe this rich moist cake. The chocolate is deep without being bitter and the texture is almost that of thick mouse but with tiny air pockets of sponge that give it just the right balance. And the buttercream will leave you moaning in delight while gently dissipating on your tongue without leaving a filmy sliver on the roof of your mouth. I swear it is all true. John turned 40 and I couldn’t think of a better cake to make for him. I looked through all my favorite books and chose a BabyCakes recipe to adapt for the cake. I didn’t want the regular chocolate frosting so I went for something that would give the cake an unexpected twist. The maple buttercream surely did it. It was a tour de force for Gabriel and I in our kitchen with white and black powder flying all over the place.
We actually made a double cake, which was beautiful but way too much for the three of us! Gabriel would disagree of course. The first photo of this post is just the bottom half of the original cake that we kept after distributing the top portion to our neighbors. You will see in the photos further down the festivity of cake massive!
While the cake was cooking Gabriel was licking the whisk. The batter was truly delicious and almost as good as the finished cake!
Let cake cook and whip frosting.
Put candles on cake…
What was his 40th birthday wish? Still don’t know but trying to find out.
Voila!
This cake won’t disappoint. Guaranteed.
- 1¾ cup garbanzo-fava bean flour
- ½ cup potato starch (not flour)
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- 1 tablespoon plus 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 cup coconut oil melted (plus more for greasing the pan)
- 1⅓ cups agave nectar
- ¾ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot coffee or 1 cup hot water
- 2½ cups coconut oil
- 1 cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1½ cups shredded coconut
- Preheat oven to 325 F. and line a 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper
- Grease sides of pan with coconut oil
- In medium bowl whisk together the flour, potato starch, cocoa powder, tapioca, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt
- Add oil, agave, applesauce, vanilla and hot coffee to the dry ingredients
- Stir until batter is smooth
- Pour batter into cake pan and bake on center rack for 20 minutes
- Rotate pan 180 degrees and bake another 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean
- Let cake cool in pan for 20 minutes
- Gently slice knife around the cake
- Place plate on top of cake and gently flip over
- Place rack on top of flipped over cake and super gently flip again
- Let cool completely before frosting
- In standing mixer or in large bowl with hand-held mixer combine coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract
- When mixture is fluffy, gradually add shredded coconut while continuing to mix
- Use right away
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Lovely photos, gorgeous family, delicious sounding recipe – wish I’d been there to taste it.
Wish you would have been here too! Will make the cake for you when you return!
Licking the cake batter is the best! Looks delicious.
I agree! Batter is all good stuff. Thanks for visiting Audrey!
This looks amazing. I would like to make it for my son, who is allergic to gluten and egg. He’s only 4, though, so I think the coffee would be unwise. ;-). Can you suggest a substitute? Thanks much!
Hi Sarah and thanks for visiting. Yes, you can definitely substitute 1 cup of hot water for the 1 cup of hot coffee. I hope your son will love the cake as much as mine did!
Hi. I don’t like coffee. Can it be eliminated and still be ok?
Hi Elaine. Yes, the coffee can be eliminated but you should substitute with 1 cup of hot water. The batter needs the liquid. You are the second comment on the coffee so I went ahead and updated my recipe for the substitution. Thanks for visiting the question and for visiting!
Hi, this looks so good I gotta make it! is there anything I can use in lieu of the tapioca starch? Thanks, Charlotte 🙂
Hi Charlotte. Yes, you can replace the same amount of tapioca starch for arrowroot. I wouldn’t mind using arrowroot on more recipes but it is getting more difficult to find these days. Thanks for visiting!
Looks delicious! But it seems like an awful lot of coconut oil. The frosting is for only one 9 inch cake? Also can I substitute the potato starch for something else? Couldn’t find it
Thanks!
Hi Yoli. Thanks for your questions. The frosting is actually for a two 9 inch layer cake and it is rich enough that could be used for even a 3 layer cake. It is meant to be a rich cake but not that rich! My fault and I will make a note at the beginning of the recipe. Although I have not tried it, you can try substituting the potato starch for cornstarch but you’d also have to substitute the tapioca starch for arrowroot. I find that tapioca starch is hard and I need the potato starch to make things softer. If you do use arrowroot then cornstarch could work but the cake would probably be a different texture. Let me know how it turns out.
Hi 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! It looks amazing! Well, I live in Portugal and there is no garbanzo fava bean flour over here so I was wondering if you could suggest me any other gluten-free flour that could have the same results 🙂 Thank you so much and keep up the great work 🙂
Hi Rita, and thanks for writing in from Portugal! I understand about the garbanzo fava bean flour not being available. Perhaps try substituting with the same measurement in rice flour. I haven’t tried it but the consistency of the two flours are close enough so hoping it will work out for you. Let me know though!
Hi 🙂 I tried this recipe with whole rice flour and it turned out absolutely amazing! 😀 Thank you so much for your suggestion, it really worked! Also I used coconut sugar instead of Agave and it was great 🙂 I really appreciate your recipes! Keep up the great work!
Hi Rita! I am so glad the cake turned out to your liking with the rice flour and with the coconut sugar. It warms my heart to hear it. Thank you for writing and letting me know!
I want to try this recipe because it is so similar to a regular flour recipe for chocolate cake my grandma always made. The coffee isn’t harmful to children and enhances the chocolate flavor – even if you don’t like coffee – you will never know! Thanks for providing a gluten-free version!