This Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle Cake is a mixture between my Chocolate Hazelnut Cake and Chocolate Truffle Cake!
This delicious cake consists of a fudgy, hazelnut-infused, deeply chocolatey sponge made extra indulgent by lashings of Sweet Potato Chocolate Buttercream.
The grain-free sponge is a simple affair made using ground hazelnuts for Nutella-like flavour, and is naturally sweetened with puréed dates.
It's a versatile recipe that works with any type of oil you want, such as olive, coconut or vegetable oil, but several readers have also had success substituting this with applesauce, so you could go down that route if you'd prefer to keep it oil-free.
It's not a fluffy sponge, but rather a fudgy, gooey one that really resembles the melt-in-your-mouth texture of a chocolate truffle!
The luxuriously smooth, rich and velvety chocolate buttercream frosting is a truly magical recipe made using a few simple ingredients, all thanks to the secret addition of the sweet potato that provides the perfect naturally sweet and creamy base.
Then you can decorate the cake with whatever you wish - I went for rose petals as I love how pretty and delicate they look. This cake is perfect for birthdays or special occasions, but also conveniently happens to be secretly healthy, so you could even eat it for breakfast if you like!
I hope you'll love this Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle Cake! For more chocolate cakes, check out my:
- Chocolate Torte
- Tahini Frosted Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Sponge Layer Cake
- Black Forest Cake
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch this 30-second video to see how to make the frosting:
Helpful tools to make this Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Cake:
For the cake:
food processor
blender
hand-held stick blender
glass mixing bowl
measuring jug
18 cm / 7 inch sandwich baking tin
baking paper
cooling rack
For the frosting:
food processor
blender
hand-held stick blender
palette knife for frosting
Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 130 g (¾ cup) pitted dates soaked overnight in cold water or for 10 minutes in boiling water
- 200 g (2 cups) ground hazelnuts
- 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 30 g (⅛ cup) coconut oil* (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 60 ml (¼ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- Optional: Salt, to taste
For the buttercream:
- 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes (about 400g/14oz in total)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Salt, to taste
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup to taste (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil*
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Drain away most of the water from soaking the dates, leaving behind a few tablespoons
- Use a food processor or blender (or hand-held blender) to blend the dates into a smooth purée (leaving a little water will make it much easier)
- Add the puréed dates into a bowl along with all the other ingredients and mix well
- Divide the mixture between two greased and lined round baking tins lined with baking paper (I used 18cm/7inch tins)
- Bake in oven for around 15 minutes
- Once out of the oven, transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely
For the buttercream:
- Cook sweet potatoes by boiling, steaming or roasting them until very soft and tender
- Discard any skins, and add to a food processor or blender (or hand-held blender) along with all other ingredients
- Whizz until completely smooth. Taste and adjust ingredients as necessary - add more maple syrup for sweetness, more salt for saltiness, more cocoa powder for chocolate flavour etc
- Leave to cool before using to frost the cake
To frost and decorate the cake:
- Place one half of the cake onto a plate and spread just less than half of the buttercream onto it
- Place the other half of the cake on top of that and use rest of buttercream to spread on top and around sides of cake
- Decorate with rose petals or whatever else you fancy!
- Keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days
Video
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you click through and purchase any of the products, a small percentage will come to me, with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
Jill
Are you sure that 1 cup of hazelnut flour is 200g? I am using Bob's Red Mill Hazelnut flour and it is about 25g/ 1/4 cup! That would make the ground hazelnuts 2 cups. Help!
Rhian Williams
Ah you're right it should be 2 cups, so sorry about the mistake!
Annie
Made this for my mum's birthday and it was great - tastes so good but it's still healthy!
Rhian Williams
Thank you!
Erin
The batter only produced enough for 10 cupcakes...which was an adjustment I made seeing that there definitely wasn't enough to put into two cake rounds. It didn't rise, of course, there was no grain flour. I don't understand gluten-free cooking, perhaps? The flavor was good, healthy. But will not make again. Sorry.
Rhian Williams
So sorry to hear that! What was the size of your baking tins? They were probably much bigger than the size I specified in the recipe. This cake isn't meant to rise, the texture is meant to be more like a brownie!
Babi
Made this for my husband’s birthday and se loved it. Had to replace walnuts for the hazelnuts and also added raspberries between the cakes. The tart of the fruit gave a nice kick to the overall sweetness.
Babi
Revising previous comment
Made this for my husband’s birthday and we loved it. Had to replace walnuts for the hazelnuts and also added raspberries between the cakes. The tart of the fruit gave a nice kick to the overall sweetness. Oh I also added coffee liquor to the frosting; cheers 🥂
I used the whole container of 1lb of dates minus the pits and however much went along trying to remove them after the boiling method. I found the recipe amount would come up short for two cakes and also my pans were 9in in diameter.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so glad you liked it! And thank you for sharing your substitutions, that's really helpful to know!