Have I got a treat for you — a recipe that yields two gluten-free chocolate tea cakes, perfect for special occasions or simply for Chocolate Monday!
If you’re hosting a ladies’ luncheon, bridal shower, or baby shower, these chocolate tea cakes are lovely to serve. They’re the ideal size for a tea-time treat and pair beautifully with coffee or tea.
These loaves are moist and tender, delicious on their own or enhanced with the glossy chocolate glaze. The cake itself is rich without being cloying; the glaze adds a concentrated chocolate finish that chocolate lovers will appreciate.
I didn’t have 8-inch loaf pans, so I baked mine in 9-inch pans. That made the loaves shorter than intended but still very tasty. You could also bake the entire batter in a single pan if you prefer, but two smaller cakes are convenient for gifting or freezing.
I added nuts to only one of the loaves as a special gift for my neighbor, who adores pecans. If you want to prepare one nut-free loaf, pour half the batter into the first prepared pan, then stir nuts into the remaining batter before filling the second pan. To avoid confusion with nut allergies, I arranged a line of chopped pecans down the center of the nutty loaf so it would be easy to identify.
Let the cakes cool completely before slicing. In gluten-free baking, cooling helps the crumb finish setting and makes the loaves less fragile when you cut them. Use a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion for neat slices.
The cakes are not overly sweet on their own, and the simple glaze brings just the right extra touch of decadence. My partner and I enjoyed a slice on a rainy afternoon, and I hope you’ll enjoy them too.
Gluten-Free Tips:
Use a reliable cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blend. You can use a homemade blend you trust or a commercial one that works well in baking. If you choose to add nuts to only one cake, coat the nuts lightly with a couple of tablespoons of the gluten-free flour to help them distribute evenly through the batter and prevent them from sinking.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Tea Cakes
Adapted from “Cook Like a Pro: Recipes and Tips for Home Cooks,” by Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter, 2018).
20 minutes
1 hour
30 minutes
1 hour 50 minutes
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 sticks (226 g; 16 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pans
- 1 tbsp gluten-free flour for each of the pans
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp boiling water
- 5 oz (142 g) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 2 tbsp (11 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups (240 g) + 2 tbsp gluten-free flour blend
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1-1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup (113 g) coarsely chopped pecans, walnuts, or other nut, optional
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (180 g) loosely packed dark brown sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Glaze
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp corn syrup
- 2 oz (57 g) semisweet chocolate, chopped
Instructions
Set a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter and flour (use gluten-free flour) two 8-1/2 by 4-1/2-inch loaf pans. If your pans are not non-stick, line the bottoms with parchment for easy removal.
Prepare the Cakes: Pour the boiling water into a glass measuring cup and add the chopped bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder. Let sit for a minute, then whisk until smooth. Allow the mixture to cool while you prepare the dry ingredients.
Sift together the 2 cups of gluten-free flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, toss the nuts (if using) with the remaining 2 tablespoons of gluten-free flour so they are evenly coated. If you’re not using nuts, add those 2 tablespoons of flour to the main dry ingredients.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and both sugars on medium speed until creamy and lighter in color, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, scraping the bowl as needed.
Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the chocolate mixture to the butter-sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients: add one-third of the flour mixture and mix, then half of the chocolate mixture and beat in. Repeat with another third of the dry ingredients, the remaining chocolate mixture, and finish with the final third of dry ingredients. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then fold in the nuts by hand if using.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The tops may dome and crack — that’s normal. Cool the cakes in the pans for 30 minutes, then loosen the edges with a small knife and turn the loaves out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Slice with a serrated knife when cooled, or wrap tightly in plastic to store or freeze.
Make the Glaze: Heat the heavy cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan until it just begins to simmer. Remove from the heat, add the semisweet chocolate, and whisk until smooth and glossy. Let the glaze cool slightly until it thickens, then drizzle over slices of cake and serve.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Ina Garten’s “Cook Like a Pro: Recipes and Tips for Home Cooks.” Store one loaf wrapped tightly at room temperature for a couple of days, refrigerate for longer storage, or freeze a wrapped loaf for future enjoyment.
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