Almond Flour Vegan Chocolate Cake
By the Gracious Vegan
My cooking students always ask for gluten-free dessert recipes, and I developed this one for my Instant Pot class. There is nothing quite like the moment you remove your first cake from the Instant Pot. It drips with hot water, you take off the foil, and voila, a lovely chocolate cake lies below! This gluten-free cake with almond flour is a dense rather than light cake, but it’s not stodgy. I must admit I like the texture better when it’s baked in the oven as opposed to the Instant Pot, but it’s still good, and a godsend when the weather is hot and you don’t want to turn on your oven.
Makes one 6” round cake or small Bundt cake or 2-4 ramekins (multiply by 1.5 to get enough batter for a 9” round)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put parchment paper in the bottom of the round pan, or use spray-oil on the Bundt pan (if not non-stick).
Whisk together the following ingredients in a medium bowl.
4 teaspoons flaxseed meal
2 teaspoons Ener-G or 1 Tablespoon Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer powder
Gradually whisk in water and make sure no lumps form.
1/3 cup warm water
Add the following ingredients and whisk until well combined.
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
Add the cocoa powder and whisk until there are no lumps.
1/3 cup cocoa powder
Stir in almond flour with a wooden spoon or spatula until well combined.
1 cup + 3 Tablespoons almond flour (sifted if you see a lot of lumps)
Spread the batter in the pan. Bake for 20 minutes and check for doneness (toothpick comes out clean; edges pulling away from the sides). It may take a few minutes longer. (If you make 9” layers, they will take longer – probably around 30 minutes or more.)
Serve at room temperature or chilled. Serve with fruit and/or with Vegan Whipped Cream.
Instant Pot instructions. Prepare your pan in the manner outlined above (it must fit in the Instant Pot).
Insert your trivet. If the trivet has handles, you’re ready. If the trivet doesn’t have handles, you will need a folded strip of foil to put under the cake pan in order to be able to lift the cake out of the Instant Pot after the cooking is done. Tear off a long (about 2 feet) sheet of foil and fold it the long way a few times so it’s 3-4” wide, then insert it on top of the trivet with the “handles” going up the sides (it needs to stay on the inside when you put the lid on).
Add water to the Instant Pot.
1 cup water
Follow the above instructions about making the batter and spreading the batter in the pan. Then cover the pan with foil and seal tightly around the edges of the pan.
Cooking the cake. Gently lower the cake onto the trivet (and foil, if using). Close the Instant Pot lid. Set knob to “Sealing.” If your Instant Pot has a “Cake” setting, use that. If you don’t have a “Cake” setting, use “Pressure Cook,” “High,” or “Manual” and set for 40 minutes.
After the timer chimes that the pressure cooking is done, let the post-cook timer reach about 10 minutes, then release pressure by “Venting” and open the lid. Remove the cake, remove the foil (don’t let any water fall onto the cake), and let the pan cool on a cake rack. After about 10 minutes, turn the pan upside down on the rack, releasing the cake. Let the cake cool on the rack (either upside down or right-side up) until it’s at room temperature. It is ready to eat.