Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Cherry Cake with Buttercream Frosting
Source: Sisters Sans Gluten
Servings: 14 slices
Calories: 390kcal
Equipment
- Two 9-inch round pans
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 Cups gluten free 1-1 flour mix (check out our post on recommended 1-1 flour mixes)
- 1 3/4 Cups white sugar
- 3/4 Cup cocoa powder I use Dutched cocoa powder
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Cup sour cream
- 3/4 Cup canola oil
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 Cup piping hot coffee
For the frosting:
- 2 sticks good quality salted butter at room temperature
- 2 8 oz packages cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup good quality cocoa powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
For the additional filling:
- 1/2 Cup cherry preserves
Instructions
- Take the cream cheese and butter out of the fridge and set on the counter to bring them to room temp. Preheat the oven to 300° F and grease two 9-inch round cake pans with either butter or cooking spray. In a medium bowl, sift together all of the dry cake ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt), and whisk to combine.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together 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 that cup of 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.
- Take a breather while the cakes are baking, and once out, put them aside to cool completely. While the cakes are cooling, take your now-room-temperature cream cheese and butter and blend them together using an electric mixer. The mixture should be light and fluffy, give it a couple of minutes. Add in the cocoa and blend, then add in the sugar 1/2 cup at a time and taste in between (you can cut the sugar if you like it less sweet). Add in the salt and vanilla extract and blend. If the frosting is too stiff, you can add a tbsp of milk or cream.
- To construct the cake, I cut the two rounds in half (see the photos of the cake) to create a total of 4 cake layers. In between two of the layers, I put the cherry preserves, and in between one layer and on top I spread the chocolate cream cheese buttercream. Totally up to you and your creativity for this part! You can skip the cake-slicing step if that's a bit daunting (I thought it was completely nerve-wracking but worth it), and just put cherry (or raspberry!) preserves in between the two layers and buttercream on top/on the sides.
- For a bit of extra pizazz, use a chefs or butcher knife to scrape a large bar of high-quality chocolate to create chocolate shavings to sprinkle on top!