This chocolate quinoa cake recipe is adapted from the Quinoa cookbook that I bought last year. I have not tried many recipes from the cookbook yet so I cannot give a full review, but so far I have enjoyed the book and the new ideas for adding quinoa to our diet.
Quinoa is one of the healthiest grains that you can eat. It is an ancient grain that has been around for centuries and is full of nutritunal value and I look forward to experimenting more with it.
I know quinoa in a cake sounds odd, but it really is good. My whole family loves this. And with quinoa as the grain in it, you feel you are eating at least a semi-healthy dessert.
Yield: 10 servings
Chocolate Quinoa Cake
A gluten free cake that is delicious.
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
45 minutes
Additional Time
10 minutes
Total Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup quinoa
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 1/3 cup milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 cup cocoa
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup gluten free chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a pan bring quinoa and water to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 12 minutes and then turn off heat and remove from burner, but let sit covered for 10 more minutes. Set aside.
- Line 2- 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper and lightly grease the parchment paper. Set aside.
- Combine milk, eggs, and vanilla in a blender. Add 2 cups of the cooked quinoa and blend until smooth. This take a little while, but you want to be sure it is blended well and very smooth.
- Pour quinoa mixture into a bowl and add remaining ingredients, but chocolate chips, and stir until well combined. And then stir in chocolate chips.
- Pour into cake pans dividing evenly.
- Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until cake is done and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for for 10 minutes and then remove from the pan to finish cooling.
- We like this plain or with powdered sugar sprinkled on top, but you also frost this cake.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 404Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 112mgSodium: 388mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 3gSugar: 40gProtein: 6g
Nutritional values are approximate and aren't always accurate.
Lynn, Do you think you could use quinoa flour in this? I happen to have some and thought it might save a few steps, but I wasn’t sure if it would change the consistency too much or how much to use.
I am not sure it would work. I think the quinoa is bulkier/thicker and since you cook it the flour might not work quite the same.
you do not mention that the chocolate chips are to be melted and I wouldn’t think the batter would be warm? Do the chips just melt during the cooking process? if so, I would expect there to be color variations in the cake?
You just stir the chocolate chips into the batter and they melt while cooking. It is a pretty dense fudgy cake, so you don’t really see the chocolate chips once it is cooked. I hope that helped answer your question.
Oven temperature?
It is 350. Sorry about that. The post is now fixed.
Lynn, I made this cake last weekend and the flavour was really good but the texture was a bit weird. I couldn’t get the quinoa mixture to puree to a totally smooth consistency. I cooked the quinoa as per the directions; it was still a bit chewy – like barley – should it be softer than that for making this cake? Would like to make it again but would like it to have a smoother texture!
I am sorry that the texture was not quite right on this for you. Was the quinoa all the way done? Mine always blends up fine, so I wonder if they quinoa may have not been cooked quite well enough if it would have changed the way it blended? You might also try adding just a little more milk while blending it to see if that helps. You wouldn’t want to add a lot more, but I think you could up the liquid a little to help it blend better and have it be fine. I hope that help.
Thanks Lynn. I will give it another go and cook the quinoa a bit longer! BTW, I have made a couple of other recipes from the Quinoa 365 book: the Double Chocolate Cookies, which were a big hit, and the Pumpkin Pancakes, which also turned out well, although I will change up the spice mixture in that one next time I make it – I think there is too much allspice and I would add some cloves and nutmeg. I made both recipes with 1/2 all purpose and 1/2 quinoa flour as we don’t have gluten issues here.
Just came back to say I made this again tonight and it came out much better this time. I made sure the quinoa was really good and tender and it pureed up easily. I added a bit of cinnamon to the mix and it really enhances the flavour. Will definitely be adding it to my regular rotation of desserts 🙂
Thanks for the update. I am glad that you got it to work for you!
Hi
I am looking for an alternative birthday cake recipe for my daughter who cannot tolerate wheat or rice, however she also cannot tolerate eggs or milk – do you think the cake would work with egg subsitute and coconut milk?
I have never made it without milk and eggs so I really don’t know. If you have used subs is other recipes and have them worked, I say give it a try and see.
this sounds amazing! will definitely share.
(great name)
Forgot to let you know I made it — with a few unintentional tweaks!
After I posted my question above, I decided to go ahead and try it at 350. It was rather late at night, and for that reason, I suppose, I didn’t realize until after everything was mostly combined that what I had was quinoa flakes, but the recipe calls for whole quinoa! Not knowing what else to do, and since all the ingredients were already in use, I added some rice flour mix to thicken it up a bit. Popped it in the oven in a 9×13 pan and cooked it for about 50 minutes.
It was rich and delicious — everything a cake should be, and better than most, gluten-free or not. I’m thinking about taking it to a potluck picnic in a couple of weeks — made strictly according to recipe, though.
Hi Lynn, I noticed that in the ingredients section of the recipe, it said to use “2/3 cup quinoa” but in the directions section, it tells us to “add 2 cups of the cooked quinoa.” Which measurement do we use? Thanks! P.S. the cake looks delicious! I personally would frost mine. 🙂
Hi, the 2/3 cup is the measurement of the quinoa before you cook it, so dry. When that cooks it gives you about 2 cups or a little more of quinoa, so the 2 cups is the amount after the quinoa is cooked. I hope that helps.
Just made this last night for friends and family and it was a huge hit! I followed the recipe exactly, except baked it in a 9×13 pan instead of 2 8×8 pans. So moist and delicious, nobody could believe there was quinoa in them. Next time I will try replacing some of the butter with applesauce.
I love hearing that no one could tell what was in it. Thanks for letting me know. I am so glad you enjoyed it.
This chocolate quinoa cake is absolutely amazing. I’m so thankful for a recipe that is spectacularly delicious and really cures the chocolate cravings!!! Wonderful! And you definately do not need frosting. The chocolate chips make it so moist and delicious. I am so happy for such a great gluten free recipe. I don’t feel like I’m “missing out” with this gluten free cake. WOW!!!! Thank you for sharing.
I am glad you enjoyed it!
Once the quinoa has been blended, should it be invisible to the naked eye, or simply quite small?
You can still see small pieces and the texture will be different than a regular cake batter would be.