Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Earl Grey Cake

Chocolate cake is a forever cake. It’s indulgent, smooth, melts you into a puddle of cozy comfort food bliss, and is usually pretty easy to make so barrier to entry is pretty low. I know we have lots of different chocolate cakes on our blog, but this one is one I’m particularly proud of: a gluten free dark chocolate earl grey cake – filled with earl grey pastry cream, dark chocolate buttercream, and an earl grey chocolate ganache (SWOON). It bloomed out of a pure creative chance: two leftover chocolate cake layers and an afternoon free to just play! Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE planning and designing new cakes – especially custom ones friends request – we’ve had a lot of gorgeous cakes come out of those planning sessions (like this chocolate hazelnut birthday cake, or this strawberries n cream layer cake, or this giant strawberry lemonade cake), but sometimes the spur of the moment creative moments can flourish into something like this.

And thankfully, we have some incredible foodie friends who gave us a million ideas for what flavor to pair with those chance extra cake layers. Everything from chocolate orange to chocolate coconut (planning this one for later), chocolate peanut butter (I absolutely need to make a cake with this combo – can’t believe we don’t have one yet!), pistachio, pecan, macadamia caramel, the list goes on. All of which I plan to make at some point this year, but the winner of the day was a recommendation from two friends who said that earl grey and chocolate was a MUST try, and they were absolutely right. There’s something ethereal and impossibly decadent about this combo: the earl grey is smooth, sophisticated, cozy, with that hint of citrus through the bergamot, and paired with dark chocolate it positively stuns. I also love anything custard-based so including the earl grey in the center of each layer as a pastry cream was an absolute dream (I could eat pastry cream with a spoon for days, and DID with the extra from this cake). The cake itself is a 6-inch round cake – using only two cake layers which means less work – just slicing each in half to give you four ultra-moist, perfectly-sized chocolate discs to layer with as much buttercream, earl grey chocolate ganache, and earl grey pastry cream as you’d like.

If you want to see how we got these final edited photos, check out our live editing video here!:

I got super lucky with the grocery store flowers this time too – I was hoping to find something pale blue to highlight that earl grey vibe, and ended up finding these thistles and eucalyptus which just emanates British countryside (not the eucalyptus lol) and soft, dusty notes. It’s the perfect cake for an afternoon tea, a fancy at-home birthday celebration, or even a dinner party! If you’re a fan of earl grey, we also have these gorgeous lavender earl grey cupcakes (also perfect for all the aforementioned occasions), and if you’re looking for other chocolate cakes, we’ve got tons. This raspberry chocolate birthday cake (with chocolate cream cheese buttercream), this chocolate mousse cake, even this dark chocolate cherry cake with vanilla bean buttercream!

Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Gluten Free Dark Chocolate and Earl Grey Cake

This decadent gluten free cake is wrapped in dark chocolate and filled with earl grey pastry cream for the perfect high tea treat

Prep Time3 hours hrs

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Chilling time4 hours hrs

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: buttercream, chocolate cake, chocolate drip, dark chocolate, drip cake, earl grey, ganache, gluten free, layer cake, pastry cream

Servings: 10 people

Calories: 550kcal

Author: Amelia Farber

Equipment

• Two 6-inch round cake pans
• Electric mixer
• Piping bags and tips
• Palette knife/cake scraper
• Small saucepan
• Sieve

Ingredients

For the earl grey pastry cream:

• 2 Cups whole milk
• 2-3 earl grey tea bags or scoops of loose leaf tea
• 1 Cup heavy cream
• 1/2 Cup white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 Cup cornstarch
• 5 large egg yolks
• 4 Tbsp salted butter room temp

For the cake layers:

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 Cup sour cream
• 1/4 Cup plus 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 Cup plus 2 Tbsp white sugar
• 3/4 Cup gluten free 1-1 flour mix with xanthan gum added (if it doesn't have xanthan gum, add 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum)
• 1/4 Cup sweet rice flour
• 1/4 Cup plus 2 Tbsp dutched cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 tsp salt
• 1/2 Cup piping hot coffee

For the chocolate buttercream:

• 4 Cups salted butter room temp
• 3-4 Cups powdered sugar
• 1 Cup dutched cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 bag earl grey tea (finely ground, not loose leaf)

For the chocolate earl grey ganache:

• 1 Cup heavy cream
• 2 bags earl grey tea
• 2 Cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

To make the pastry cream:

• First, make your pastry cream – this will need to chill for 2-3 hours in the fridge. In a small saucepan, heat your whole milk until it just comes to a simmer, then turn off heat, add in the earl grey tea bags or loose leaf tea, and let this steep for 10-15 minutes. Then sieve the milk to remove the earl grey tea bags/loose leaf, pour it back into the saucepan, and add the heavy cream and 1/4 cup of the sugar and heat over medium low, stirring frequently, until it comes to a simmer again. While the milk mixture is heating, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, cornstarch, salt, and five egg yolks in a medium bowl until thick and smooth.
• Finally, once milk is simmering, remove from heat, and, whisking constantly, pour 1 cup of the mixture slowly into the egg yolk bowl to temper your egg yolks. Once tempered, put the saucepan back over low heat and whisk in the tempered egg mixture. Whisk constantly as the saucepan mixture continues to thicken over low heat. Once thick, remove from heat and whisk in the 4 Tbsp salted butter, then scoop the pastry cream into a bowl, place plastic wrap directly on top of the pastry cream, and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours (can make ahead if you'd like).

To make the cake layers:

• Preheat the oven to 300° F and grease two 6-inch round cake pans with either butter or cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry cake ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt).
• In a large bowl, whisk together the the eggs, sour cream, canola oil, and vanilla extract until fully blended and creamy. Once combined, add in the dry ingredients and use a spatula or wooden spoon to mix. Fun step! Poor in the piping hot coffee and stir until fully combined (it’ll take some working). Pour cake batter evenly into the two greased cake pans and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let cakes cool completely before constructing.

To make the frosting:

• While the cakes are cooling, make your chocolate buttercream. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy, at least 2-3 minutes. Add in the cocoa and blend, then add in the sifted powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until frosting is stiff enough to spread. Add in the salt, then contents of one earl grey tea bag (not loose leaf) and vanilla extract and beat to combine. If the frosting is too stiff, you can add a tbsp or two of cream. 

To make the ganache:

• Heat cream in a small saucepan until it's simmering, then turn off heat, add the earl grey tea bags or loose leaf tea and let steep for 10-15 minutes. Then sieve the milk to remove tea and pour cream into a heat proof bowl or large measuring cup and microwave for one minute, removing from microwave just as the cream begins to bubble up. Pour the chocolate chips into into the hot cream and let sit for one minute before stirring to combine (it'll take about a minute to get the smooth consistency you want). Once the drip is smooth, pour it into either a piping bag or a squeeze bottle.

To construct the cake:

• First, use a long, sharp knife to carefully slice off the bump on the top of the cake so that it's flat. Then slice your two cake layers in half so that you have four thinner cake layers. Place one of the cake layers on a plate or on a cake board. Then scoop some of the chocolate frosting into a piping bag with a 1/2 inch opening and pipe a ring of frosting around the edge of the top of the cake, and then fill in the center with a thin layer of frosting. Then spread 1/2-2/3 cup of your chilled pastry cream in the center of the cake, staying within the barrier ring of chocolate frosting. Finally, drizzle some of the earl grey chocolate ganache on top of the pastry cream. Add the second cake layer and repeat filling as you did the first layer until the final layer has been placed on top.
• Crumb coat the entire cake with more chocolate buttercream, then freeze for 30 minutes to an hour to set the cake. Remove and apply the final frosting layer using your palette knife or cake scraper, then freeze again for 15 minutes to set the frosting. Finally, carefully squeeze more of the chocolate earl grey ganache in a drip around the top edge of the cake, and freeze again for 10 minutes to set the drip. Scoop the remaining buttercream into a piping bag with your choice of piping tip and pipe decorations around the top edge of the cake. Finish with flowers if you have them, then slice and serve! Keep the cake in the fridge if you aren't eating immediately (pastry cream must be kept chilled), and remove from fridge at least 30 minutes before serving.

Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your cake!

Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber