Hot Chocolate Quinoa Cake

Gluten-free, moist and decadent Quinoa Hot chocolate cake layered with chocolaty Hot chocolate Buttercream frosting and fluffy marshmallow filling. Its all the deliciousness of hot chocolate in cake form and that too Gluten-free! A definite winner!

Every new year, we celebrate with a cake. But ever since my little one started a gluten-free diet, I would feel really guilty making and eating cake without her. Of course there are gluten-free bakeries around, but its just not the same. This cake, however, is the best! Its moist, soft, decadent, in fact, its better than a regular APF cake. You have to TRUST ME!!!

This quinoa cake I created is perfect for holidays, keeping the hot chocolate theme and flavors in mind. It has a moist quinoa chocolate cake with decadent Hot chocolate buttercream frosting and a fluffy marshmallow filling. I generously topped the cake with mini marshmallows to imitate a cup of hot chocolate.. yum! You can try my Quinoa Black forest cake for a lighter summer cake.. its fruity, light and delicious!

How to make the Quinoa Hot Chocolate Cake?

This Quinoa hot chocolate cake has four parts:

1. Moist Quinoa Hot chocolate cake
2. Rich and decadent Hot chocolate Buttercream frosting
3. Fluffy Marshmallow creme filling
4. Mini marshmallows and cocoa powder dusting to top the cake (this is totally optional)

You can see the layers but I am messy at cutting the cake. Yeesh!

Let’s see each layer of Quinoa Hot chocolate Cake in detail:

Quinoa Hot Chocolate cake:

The whole batter can be made in one simple step and one blender, no sifting of flours, no beating of eggs, nothing!

• First, we need cooked quinoa to start with. I am using my Instant pot to cook my quinoa. In Instant pot, add 1/2 cup quinoa and 1 cup water and pressure cook/manual mode for 6 minutes, vent in sealing position. Let the pressure release naturally(NPR). You can do pot-in-pot as well.
• You can cook the quinoa on the stovetop too. Let the quinoa and water come to a boil, simmer it for 20 minutes or until the quinoa is completely cooked.
• Let the quinoa cool down completely(we don’t want to cook the eggs).
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit(350F).
• Add a cup of cooked quinoa to a blender. Add eggs, pure vanilla, milk and oil, blend it on low speed till the quinoa is well blended. Please make sure to blend the ingredients on low speed, we want to incorporate air into the batter.

• While the batter is slowly blending, prepare your cake pans. I am using 6 inch round cake pans for a small cake. This recipe makes a 3 layer 6 inch cake. Please look below for recommendations on other sized cake pans we can use for this recipe.
• Spray the pans with avocado oil spray and line them with parchment paper.
• Add sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, 1 packet Hot cocoa mix and a pinch of salt. Blend again on low speed until everything is just mixed through. Do not over blend your batter.
• Divide the batter into 3 pans equally. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Marshmallow Creme Filling:

• Cream room temperature Butter and powdered sugar till the butter is pale and fluffy.
• Add the entire tub of marshmallow creme in there and whip for a few seconds until the creme is well blended and fluffy. Do not beat too much, we need this to be smooth and like a filling.

Hot Chocolate Frosting:

This frosting has amazing flavors of hot cocoa and melted milk and dark chocolate blended into the frosting for a deeper chocolate flavor.

• Take some milk chocolate and dark chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and melt them in 30 second intervals. It takes about 1-2 minutes for the chocolate to melt completely. Keep it aside to cool down the chocolate.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat butter till its pale and smooth. Add powdered sugar, hot cocoa mix and whip together till everything is well combined.
• Add melted and cooled chocolate, heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract and beat them together till the frosting is smooth and creamy.

How to assemble the cake?

The key part of assembling any cake is to chill everything. I usually make cake the day before and make fresh frosting when I am ready to assemble. A good thing about this quinoa cake is, that it bakes pretty flat, there is no dome on top of the cake that needs to flattened. In case, you need to flatten your cake, use this cake leveler.

• Run a knife around the edges of the cake pan and gently remove the cake and the parchment paper stuck to it. Apply tiny amount of frosting on your cake board and place a layer of cake.
• Add a layer of hot chocolate frosting and spread it thin. Pipe a barrier or a moat(is that the right word???) around the outer edge of the cake and fill it with marshmallow creme filling. Repeat the process for the second layer as well.
• Apply hot chocolate frosting on the sides and all over the cake. Frost the entire cake, make sure you have a raised edge at the top to pour the final layer of marshmallow creme filling.
• Add mini marshmallows on the marshmallow creme filling and dust cocoa powder on top for a nice finish. This step is purely for decoration purposes, you can skip the marshmallows and cocoa powder dusting.

Now, the most important part, Chill your cake!!!! I cannot stress this enough. You can see the messed up dripping layers in my picture below, because I cut it as soon as I made it.. Ay Ay Ay!

Can we use Quinoa flour in the Quinoa Black Forest Cake?

Unfortunately, not in this cake. This hot chocolate cake is all about a moist cake and the quinoa flour will make the cake dry.

What equipment is used to make the cake?

• Three 6-inch Cake pans
• Vitamix blender or any blender
• Hand mixer
• Cake decorating set: Cake turntable, offset spatula, piping bags, tips, etc. This is a very inexpensive cake decorating set and you can do all your basic decorating easily with this, I love it!

Substitute cake pans and adjusted timings we can use for this recipe:

Don’t worry if you don’t have the 6-inch cake pans. Double the recipe as needed to make more layers. The same recipe measurements can be used to make:

Cake pan	Cook Time	Yields
Cupcake pan	12-18 minutes	10-12 cupcakes
9 inch round pan	18-25 minutes	1 cake layer
8 inch square pan	18-20 minutes	1 cake layer

Can I avoid Marshmallow filling in this cake?

A hot chocolate cake tastes so much better with marshmallow filling but, if you are not a fan of marshmallow, avoid them and top the cake with plain or chocolate whipped cream or buttercream frosting. It will taste amazing!

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