• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Rhian's Recipes

  • About
    • Contact
    • Work With Me
  • Recipes
  • Subscribe
  • Meal Plan
  • Cookbook
  • Blogging Tips
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Subscribe
  • Healthy Meal Plan
  • Cookbook
  • Blogging Tips
    • E-mail
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Recipes » Recipes » Baking & Desserts

    Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Truffle Cake

    Last updated - July 15, 2021; Published - April 2, 2017 By Rhian Williams 20 Comments

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Sinfully decadent yet unbelievably healthy, this Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Truffle Cake is guaranteed to be your new favourite dessert!

    Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Truffle Cake

    With Easter just round the corner, I thought it was the perfect time to post a recipe for an indulgent chocolate cake based on my latest obsession: truffles.

    Just like my chocolate truffles, this cake is beautifully rich and creamy, has that crucial melt-in-your-mouth quality, and is perfectly sweet.

    Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Truffle Cake

    The base for this Chocolate Truffle Cake is my Chocolate Torte, which is my go-to chocolate cake recipe because it's super fudgy, perfectly moist, and most importantly really easy to make!

    It also happens to be completely undetectably vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar free. AND it's oil-free optional (consult recipe notes below if you want to do this).

    I had the idea to create a chocolate truffle cake when I made my Gâteau au Chocolat for my work colleagues, and one of my co-workers said it tasted like a truffle.

    This got me thinking, maybe I could turn it into a layer cake with a luxuriously smooth chocolate buttercream frosting, call it a Chocolate Truffle Cake, then post it in time for Easter?

    Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Truffle Cake

    And so this was actually how my Sweet Potato Chocolate Buttercream recipe was born! As mentioned in that post, I wanted to make a rich and creamy cake frosting that wasn't coconut-based, nut-based, or god forbid, avocado-based, and so turned to sweet potatoes instead.

    And I'm so happy that I did! Using vegetables to make buttercream may sound crazy, but the creamy texture and sweetness of sweet potatoes works absolutely perfectly.

    And you know what, I've made this cake for several people now, and I've asked them all to guess what the buttercream is made from and nobody can tell, not even when I gave them the clue that it was a vegetable!

    Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Truffle Cake

    I decorated this cake with chopped pistachios and freeze-dried raspberries, but you know what...a few homemade chocolate truffles wouldn't be too out-of-place on top of this chocolate truffle cake either!

    Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Truffle Cake

    I hope you'll love this Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Truffle Cake! For more cakes, check out my:

    • Red Velvet Cake
    • Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
    • Tropical Carrot Cake
    • Lemon Blueberry Cake
    • Black Forest 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.

    Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Truffle Cake

    Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Truffle Cake

    Sinfully decadent yet unbelievably healthy, this Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Truffle Cake is guaranteed to be your new favourite dessert!
    4.38 from 16 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: European
    Keyword: gluten-free chocolate cake, paleo chocolate cake, vegan birthday cake, vegan chocolate cake
    Prep Time: 30 minutes
    Cook Time: 30 minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour
    Servings: 8
    Calories: 267kcal
    Author: Rhian Williams

    Ingredients

    For the cake:

    • 130 g (¾ cup) pitted dates soaked overnight in cold water or for 10 minutes in boiling water
    • 200 g (1 ¾ cups) ground almonds (almond meal)
    • 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
    • 4 tablespoons coconut oil* (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
    • ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
    • 60 ml (¼ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or sub any 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 (or 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 a little bit
    • Use a food processor or blender (or a hand-held stick 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 (I used 18cm/7inch tins)
    • Bake in oven for around 15 minutes
    • Once out of the oven, transfer 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 chopped pistachios and freeze-dried raspberries or whatever else you fancy!
    • Keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days

    Notes

    *Several readers have told me they made this cake oil-free by substituting the oil with applesauce, which seems to have worked well. So please do this if you're looking for an oil-free cake! 
    The coconut oil in the buttercream can be omitted, but the taste won't be quite as delicious!
    Nutrition Facts
    Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Truffle Cake
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 267
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
    Made the recipe?Tag @rhiansrecipes on instagram and use the hashtag #rhiansrecipes!

    Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these 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.

    More Baking & Dessert Recipes

    • Three vegan blueberry muffins with a bite taken out of one with a bowl of fresh blueberries in the background
      Vegan Blueberry Muffins (Gluten-Free)
    • Several gluten-free vegan churros on a plate with a pot of vegan chocolate sauce and one of them dipped in it
      Gluten-Free Vegan Churros (Baked!)
    • A collage of four vegan Thanksgiving dessert recipes photos
      35 Vegan Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes (Gluten-Free)
    • A slice of vegan baked pumpkin cheesecake topped with caramel sauce and salt with a fork taking a bite out of it
      Vegan Baked Pumpkin Cheesecake (Gluten-Free)
    • Share
    • Tweet

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




    1. Pam

      April 30, 2018 at 10:46 pm

      5 stars
      Can't believe this is healthy, it tastes too good!

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        April 30, 2018 at 10:49 pm

        Thank you!

    2. Mike

      May 11, 2018 at 7:24 pm

      Not sure what I did wrong as I followed the recipe to a T - just made a crumble. I had to add double the milk and 3 eggs only to be faced with a "chocolate Eaton mess".

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        May 11, 2018 at 8:57 pm

        Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear that! Was there a reason why you needed to add more milk and 3 eggs? Was it having trouble sticking together?

    3. Floranet

      February 14, 2020 at 6:14 am

      5 stars
      Now, that's what called Perfection. Keep up!!

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        February 14, 2020 at 2:17 pm

        Thank you so much!

    4. Joan Powers

      November 26, 2020 at 6:42 pm

      Confused, the picture shows one layer but the recipe calls for two pans. Doesn't look like enough batter for two pans

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        November 26, 2020 at 6:46 pm

        There are two layers in the cake in the picture!

    5. Somya

      December 06, 2020 at 5:31 pm

      Hey Rhian, can I substitute the Almond flour with All purpose flour?

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        December 08, 2020 at 1:23 am

        No sorry!

    « Older Comments

    Primary Sidebar

    • E-mail
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Photo of Rhian Williams from Rhian's Recipes

    Hi, I'm Rhian! I make easy, undetectably vegan + gluten-free recipes, including healthy comfort food and naturally sweetened desserts using plant-based ingredients.

    Learn more.

    Popular Recipes

    Three vegan blueberry muffins with a bite taken out of one with a bowl of fresh blueberries in the background

    Vegan Blueberry Muffins (Gluten-Free)

    A stack of oat flour pancakes topped with desiccated coconut and syrup on a blue plate

    Oat Flour Pancakes (Vegan + GF)

    A loaf of coconut flour bread topped with sunflower seeds and poppy seeds with two slices next to it

    Coconut Flour Bread (Vegan + Gluten-Free)

    A loaf of gluten-free rice bread topped with mixed seeds with two slices next to it against a sheet of brown baking paper

    Gluten-Free Rice Bread (Vegan)

    A loaf of gluten-free vegan oat bread topped with oats with two slices on the side

    Gluten-Free Vegan Oat Bread

    Five vegan coconut flour pancakes stacked in a pile decorated with fresh raspberries and coconut flakes on a green plate against a grey background

    Vegan Coconut Flour Pancakes (Gluten-Free)

    A loaf of oat flour bread with two slices

    Oat Flour Bread (Vegan + Gluten-Free)

    A sliced vegan baked cheesecake topped with wild strawberries and strawberry flowers

    Vegan Baked Cheesecake (Gluten-Free)

    Footer

    • E-mail
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About
    • Privacy Policy & Disclosure
    • Copyright Notice

    Newsletter

    • Subscribe for free updates

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Work With Me

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework ·