A spectacular show-stopper Cinnamon Chocolate Cake! This cake has a deep cinnamon and chocolate flavor, and is free of dairy, gluten and even oil and yet holds shape beautifully! And has a special baking trick involving boiling water that you'll want to learn!
Cinnamon Chocolate Cake
When it comes to classic cakes, this cinnamon chocolate cake is right up there at the top of the list. And there is nothing more fun than veganizing a classic recipe and giving it a spicy spin.
So welcome to my simplest chocolate layer cake recipe to date! All you need is a pot, a bowl and two pans, and can be whipped up in 20 minutes or less, excluding baking.
I think you'll love in particular the flavor, texture and the interesting technique that achieves it.
Unusual Moisturizer in This Chocolate Layer Cake
I learned this trick from my mother, actually. She took a scientific approach to cooking.
Over the years, she has shared many tricks using temperature and moisture manipulation to, in unlikely ways, make ingredients do what she wanted. I myself went on to study biology and have graduate degrees in science, an interest I'm sure she ignited.
One of her useful tricks is featured in this recipe. The texture of the cake is quite moist, and is not due to the addition of oil, but in fact to a boiling water step you'll see in the method below. I also share a no-stick-to-the-pan method I love.
How to Make This Cinnamon Chocolate Cake
1. Start by preparing the pans. Butter them, then dust with cocoa powder. This is my secret trick to allow you to pop those layers out of the pan, but without white flour dust marks.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
3. Combine your dry ingredients, and make the flax eggs if using and set aside. You can also use 6 tablespoon of aquafaba, the liquid from a can of unsalted chickpeas, if you prefer that to making flaxseed eggs.
4. Melt the sugar by boiling a cup of water, turning off stove, pouring in the sugar and stirring until melted. To that, add the chocolate and butter, stirring until melted. And then add in the vanilla and flaxseed eggs. Stir again until combined.
5. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients, and blend with a hand-mixer until combined.
6. Fill pans, bake at 30 minutes at 350 F.
How to Make Cinnamon Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
1. Prepare your butter by either setting it out two hours ahead of baking or microwave each stick separately on a dish for 10 seconds to soften.
2. Melt the chocolate chips in a pyrex measuring cup for 1 minute.
3. Mix all ingredients with a hand-mixer. Frost cooled cake.
Another aspect of this recipe that I was pleased with is the frosting. I typically make buttercream frosting. This time I tried a different recipe, one that I have been using at home for quite a while and finally decided to share. I creates a smooth, shiny and swoopy texture.
If you want to keep this recipe, you can pin the image below!
I invite you to keep up with me on: Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | Food Gawker | Twitter
Don't miss a thing, subscribe here to get recipes delivered to your inbox!
Cinnamon Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
large bowl
- 3 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (or use all purpose if you don't need it to be gluten-free)
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoon cinnamon
medium pot
- 1 cup organic cane sugar
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 (3.5oz bar) unsweetened dark chocolate
- 6 tablespoon butter I used vegan Earthbalance. Or use ⅓ cup apple sauce to make this cake Oil-Free.
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 flax eggs 2 tablespoon flax seed + 5 tablespoon water
Vegan Frosting
- 3 cups vegan powdered sugar (vegan means no bone char)
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder (I use Valhrona)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoon dairy-free milk
- ¾ cup chocolate chips, melted (I use Enjoylife semi-sweet mini chips)
Instructions
Prep Work
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Prep two 8 inch round cake pans by greasing with vegan butter, then dusting with flour or - my new trick - cocoa powder.
- For the frosting prep, set two sticks of butter out to reach room temperature or microwave each separately on a dish for 10 seconds.
Make the Cake
- In the large bowl, stir flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt until well combined.
- Make the flax eggs and set aside (stir together 2 tablespoon ground flaxseed and 5 tablespoon water) or use 6 tablespoon of aquafaba, the liquid from a chickpea can.
- In the medium pot, boil the 1 cup of water, and stir in 1 cup of organic cane sugar, turn off stove and stir until the sugar is melted.Into the pot, add the chocolate and butter to this mixture and stir until melted. Then stir in vanilla and flax eggs (or aquafaba).
- Pour this mixture into large bowl and blend until creamy with a hand mixer. The batter should be a normal cake-batter texture.
- Pour the batter evenly into the pans, and bake 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
- Cool cakes for two minutes in pans, then remove and cool on a cake rack while you make the frosting.
Make Frosting
- Add the butter and sugar to a bowl, and hand-mix until combined.
- Add in the powdered sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, vinegar and milk. Mix again until combined.
- Melted the chocolate chips in a pyrex measuring cup in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir chips until melted. Pour melted chips into frosting and mix again until all combined.
- Once the cake is cool, frost the bottom layer, and put the second layer on top, then frost that...enjoy!
Jess
What a delicious cake Dee! Love the combination of chocolate and cinnamon!
Dee Dine
Thank you Jess!