Amazing Chocolate Quinoa Cake!

A crowd pleaser in our family when made with Lakanto (brand) Monkfruit sweetener instead of sugar. (1 cup of monkfruit = 1 cup of sugar). We are trying to prevent diabetes and dementia in our family (both worsened by sugar consumption) but still want to enjoy sweets on occasion. We made these into cupcakes and made a sugar-free german chocolate frosting. We will likely make this recipe again every holiday season!

This cake is extremely moist, light, and fluffy! I made exactly as indicated, except used a food processor instead of a blender to mix the wet ingredients. I checked the cake at 40 minutes and it was done. As someone who eats gluten free, I am so happy to have found this recipe! I’d suggest breaking up the nuts so they don’t sink to the bottom of the cake.

I’ve made this many times and its always a hit. However, for some reason the top splits somewhat but it doesn’t hurt the taste. My gluten free friend loves it.

Woah! I bake A LOT! Let me tell you something about this cake… it’s super tender, absolutely AWESOME! Because it is so wonderfully chocolate, it does need a touch of icing, if I can stop eating it long enough… I used brown sugar and coconut oil because that’s what I had on hand. This cake is equal to or even better than any chocolate cake I’ve E V E R made!!! Absolute wow!!!

Excellent. A huge hit with the family. Very rich and chocolaty.

This cake is the best cake. It is definitely a keeper. My gluten-free friends and my regular friends won’t have any idea that it is gluten-free. I pureed the quinoa in my Cuisinart and it came out so smooth. Then I added the rest of the dry ingredients right into the work bowl and finished mixing the cake. It couldn’t have been easier. I was really surprised that the cake batter was so thick. I was afraid that it would come out flat as a pancake, like other people had said theirs came out. I didn’t have to worry about that at all. The cupcakes came out nice and high. They only flattened a little bit after they cooled, but were still nice and high. I did make a couple of minor changes per recommendations from other cooks. I used just a pinch of salt instead of 1/2 t. and I used 2 t. of vanilla. I suggest that buttermilk be used instead of regular milk or nut milks. Buttermilk works best with chocolate, baking soda and baking powder. I baked them as cupcakes for 22 minutes and they came out perfect. They have a rich chocolate taste and it almost melts in your mouth. I didn’t use any nuts , chocolate chips or powder sugar as an icing. The cupcakes just didn’t need it and I wanted to cut down on calories. Next time I make this recipe, I am going to see if I can cut some of the calories without changing the taste of the recipe. I will use part butter and unsweetened applesauce. I will also see if I can use less sugar by using part Monk fruit or maybe Truvia.

Enjoyed this recipe, as I had made too much quinoa and wanted to use it differently. The cake turned out quite well, moist, and chocolaty, and I made the recipe as is. I would like to amp up some flavoring though, so next time I make it, I’ll add more almond flavoring or cinnamon, etc. I think this recipe has good potential for variations.

I searched for a gluten free dessert for Mother’s Day celebration as my husband has a bad gluten allergy and this recipe came up. It turned out beautiful and everyone enjoyed it ~ including my husband until an hour later. This lovely dish nearly put him in the hospital.

I would present this to people as a brownie, not a cake. It’s dense, moist, not too sweet, and chocolatey. Don’t leave out the chocolate chips and the pecans, because it tastes very boring without them. Very creative recipe and excellent as a gluten-free dessert. But if you can eat gluten, there are better chocolate cake and brownie recipes out there.

I made this cake for a small football playoff party, and I also ordered an $80 gluten free cake from Goldbelly as backup. (I love to cook but have never been much of a baker.) Everyone raved about this cake and agreed it blew the professionally made cake out of the water! Nobody could believe it was made with quinoa – genius! I am strict gluten free due to several autoimmune diseases, but those who don’t have sensitivities agreed that it was one of the best chocolate cakes they’d ever had. I didn’t make any changes to the actual recipe. I wanted a layered cake so doubled the recipe, baked in two 9” round cake pans for 45 minutes, filled with raspberry Polamer, and iced with chocolate buttercream frosting. Decadent and amazing!!

I was skeptical, but this is one of the best chocolate cake recipes I’ve made. It’s denser than other cakes, but it adds to the richness. It’s nutty and decadent. It’s on my list of favorites!

This recipe is delicious!

More like a brownie than cake. It would be good with a light whipped cream frosting. Very moist and chocolatey and good.

More like a brownie than cake. It would be good with a light whipped cream frosting. Very moist and chocolatey and good.

Wow! This is an amazing recipe. No changes made. I did leave out the nuts but it still had a nice bite to it. I tried the cake when it was warm, I didn’t really like it. I waited until it cooled off to try it again. I added Nutella on top. It’s a perfect midnight snack 🙂 Thank you for this recipe!!!!

Made it for two little girls that can’t have flour. They loved it

I made this just to try something different. I followed the recipe, except I used up some open chocolate chips I had. I ended up with about twice what was in the recipe, but no one complained. Go figure. I wish I would have made a chocolate sauce like the picture has, but otherwise this was great and very easy.

As moist as a cake mix except the flavour is homemade and amazing!! Incredibly easy to make. I have made it as a loaf, as a cake, and as cupcakes. Brilliant every time. Easily five stars ….and I have never given anything five stars. If you need to eat gluten free, try this recipe!

So delicious and ‘healthy’. I have made it several different ways and it’s always delicious. I have substituted flax or chia “eggs” for the eggs, used cooked brown rice instead of quinoa and used Truvia in place of the sugar. Always turns out moist and so fudgy.

I made it twice and got rave reviews both times.

Okay I was intrigued by the use of quinoa in a cake so I made it the first time as written. By the way, PLEASE include cake pan sizes – I have several rectangular pans and they are all different sizes. I used a standard 9 x 13 and the cake was only about 1 inch tall. The first time- although it tasted delicious- it was actually a bit ‘greasy’ from so much butter. Also, I guess I didn’t cook the quinoa long enough because I actually had some crunchy kernels in the cake. No one minded that however because flavor was great. The second time I used a 12.5 x 8 x 3 pan. I left out the choco chips and nuts and I took other reviewers advice and subbed some applesauce for half the butter. It was just as moist and didn’t affect the flavor. Cooked the quinoa a bit longer – but still had a few crunchies in the bottom of the cake. Both times, I lined my pan with parchment paper on the bottom and sprayed with cooking spray. Release was a breeze. Cake rose higher using less butter. Also, the second time I used buttermilk instead of milk, two real eggs and egg subs to make up the other two (I ran out of real eggs) and that probably also helped the rise. Overall the recipe is a success for flavor, but if I make it again, I will do so with the changes I used on the second try.