Photo by: NPA

Chocolate Birthday Cake with Whipped Chocolate Frosting

Photo by: NPA

Cooking for Isaiah is a love story of Silvana Nardone’s journey to develop great-tasting meals for her son, Isaiah, after he was diagnosed with food intolerances to gluten and dairy.

If you overwhip the chocolate frosting, just add water, a drizzle at a time, to make it glossy and smooth again.

SERVES 12
PREP TIME 30 minutes (plus cooling)
COOK TIME 30 minutes

Cake

  • 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • ½ cup cold water
  • 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 cups gluten-free flour
  • ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Frosting

  • 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1½ cups water

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch (22.5-cm) round cake pans with cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment paper and grease the paper. To make the cake, in a small bowl, whisk together the espresso powder and boiling water; let cool slightly. Whisk in the cold water, vanilla, oil and eggs.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk the egg mixture into the flour mixture until just combined; divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake until springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool completely in the pans set on a wire rack.

3. To make the frosting, in a large microwavable bowl, melt together the chocolate chips and water on high power, about 2 minutes; stir until smooth, and let cool to room temperature. With a handheld electric mixer, beat the chocolate mixture on medium-high speed until light and whipped, about 12 minutes.

4. Run a knife around the edges of the pans to release the layers. Invert one cake layer onto a cake plate, flat side facing up. Using an offset spatula or butter knife, spread about 2 cups of the whipped chocolate frosting evenly on top. Invert the remaining cake layer, rounded side up, onto the frosting. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes before slicing.

Silvana Nardone, author of Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes for Easy, Delicious Meals is the founding editor in chief of Every Day with Rachel Ray magazine, where she is also the ‘No-Recipe Zone’ and ‘Sweet Spot’ columnist. A writer, editor, cooking instructor and food consultant, Silvana is the coauthor of Saveur Cooks Authentic Italian. Previously, Silvana was an editor at Food & Wine magazine before opening her Italian bakery, Fanciulla. She has appeared on many national television shows. She has also been featured in the New York Times and in New York magazine. Silvana lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, Stephen, and their two children, Isaiah, 13, and Chiara, 4.

Editor’s note: Leave your comments below and you could be a lucky winner of Silvana’s book Cooking for Isaiah!

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36 Comments

Hi,
sounds great, but can you be more specific about WHICH flours you use? There are SO many gluten free flours out there, and I know they all taste different...but thanks for the recipe and for the info about the book!
I am allergic to gluten and dairy, and also must watch my sugars due to hypoglycemia, I'll need to figure out that substitution!

So excited about this!! I have a little boy who has celiac and he has a birthday coming up. He loves chocolate, but asked for a chocolate cake last year and it was a total flop. I'm going to try this one!!! Thank you from one momma of a celiac boy to another.

Cooking for a family that is trying to eat healthy to prevent diabetic problems I was facinated by this. I am a cook by trade and will use this at a party I am going to that has 3 people that have to eat glutton free. I am just learning about all of this for tier sake.
I really appreciated the information that Shoshana gave...

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My friend has become allergic to gluten and dairy, so I made sure to send this along to her. I'm sure she'll reference it from her gluten/dairy free blog!

Thank you for this. I am still learning about gluten free and find most things use xanthum gum and taste rebbery. I love to bake and look forward to trying this. Wish I had it seen it a few weeks ago though, we did our September birthdays and while everyone ate cake, I just skipped it. Next year there will be birthday cake for me too.

It's amazing how many children have food allergies. Right now, we're determining whether our son had to have his appendix out because of an intolerance to certain foods, especially milk and possibly gluten. I loved getting this recipe to try out because so many allergy-free products lack taste and often leave the eater wanting to eat "normal" foods.

What's also evident is that when a child has a food allergy, so does the family...

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