Description
This recipe for Harry Potter's Sticky Chocolate Birthday Cake is the perfect homage to the magic and whimsy that J.K. Rowling offered the muggle world with her books with a gluten-free twist.
Ingredients
For the cake layers:
- 3 cups almond flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, liquid
- 1 (13.5oz) can coconut milk
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tbsp raw honey
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
For the creamy chocolate whipped cream filling:
- 1 (13.5oz) can coconut cream, refrigerated for atleast 12 hours
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
For the buttercream frosting:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (or palm shortening for Paleo), softened
- 1/2 cup raw honey
- food coloring dyes (omit for Paleo)
*See alternative easy frosting options in the notes below
Instructions
For the cake layers:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (177 C). Grease 3, 7-inch cake pans with coconut oil and line with parchment paper and set to the side.
- Add the almond, coconut, and arrowroot flours, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, baking soda, and salt to a large mixing bowl. Whisk dry ingredients together and then set to the side.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the coconut oil, coconut milk, eggs, honey, vanilla, and vinegar. Whisk ingredients together until well-combined and then transfer the wet ingredients into the large bowl of dry ingredients using a spatula.
- Transfer the cake batter evenly to the three prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 24-26 minutes, or until it passes the clean toothpick test.
- Allow each layer to cool completely before frosting and assembling.
For the creamy chocolate whipped cream filling:
- Add the coconut cream, cocoa powder, and coconut sugar to a food processor or stand mixer and mix on medium-high until fluffy and well-blended. It's extremely important that your coconut cream is fully cold, otherwise it will not whip up properly.
- Store in the refrigerator until ready to use, then separate half of the mixture onto the top of the bottom cake layer and the other half onto the top of the middle cake layer.
For the buttercream frosting:
- Cream butter and honey in your food processor, a stand mixer, or a mixing bowl with a hand mixer on medium-high until the mixture lightens in color and becomes creamy.
- Separate the frosting into 2 portions: one for the cake body and one for the cake lettering. Add food coloring dye to your preferred shade of red and green in each frosting portion.
- Once the cake portions are assembled, frost the top of the cake in the red frosting and pipe the birthday message onto the cake with the green frosting. Because this is such an intentionally messy cake design, I don't even bother filling the frosting into a proper pastry bag. I add it to a ziplock and snip the tip to pipe the letters.
Notes
Nutritional information on Whip & Wander is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
The actual cake layers on Harry Potter's Sticky Chocolate Birthday Cake are gluten-free, grain-free, refined sugar-free, and friendly for Paleo diets. However, you'll want to pay attention to the frosting adjustment if you want the entire dessert to stay completely Paleo. I use two different frostings in this: a fluffy chocolate coconut whipped cream filling that is completely Paleo friendly and a creamy, whipped frosting on top that utilizes honey and butter. Because butter is not strictly Paleo, you can easily make a swap for palm shortening instead if you prefer. Alternatively, if you are not following a paleo diet and want to make this extra easy, there are many great pre-made frosting options. I recently remade this cake in order to update the photos and utilized Simple Mills gluten-free vanilla frosting and chocolate frosting instead.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 555
- Sugar: 33 g
- Sodium: 572 mg
- Fat: 42 g
- Saturated Fat: 30 g
- Carbohydrates: 47 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 7 g
- Cholesterol: 98 mg