This Chocolate Quinoa Cake is easy to make, light and fluffy, and very similar in taste to a traditional cake. It is sugar free and sweetened only with fruit. We love it with my (sweet potato) Healthy Chocolate Frosting.
Contents
A Delicious Fudgy Gluten Free Cake
This chocolate quinoa cake was a happy mistake. A very, very happy mistake.
It was developed trying to use quinoa in a brownie recipe. My tests kept coming out too cake-like, until I decided to embrace the fudgy-cake texture and frost it!
It’s a great way to have your cake and eat it too. Had to throw that in there.
If it sounds a bit weird to you, just think about the subtle nuttiness of quinoa, and the delicious “poppy” texture it has. Blend that with a rich chocolate and it makes a slightly dense (in a good way!), moist, incredible cake.
If you’ve never cooked quinoa before, it’s similar to cooking rice. Use this post on how to cook quinoa and you’ll be ready to go!
How to Make a Chocolate Quinoa Cake
This healthier gluten free cake is made from whole ingredients – quinoa and dates, rather than flours or starches.
If that’s appealing to you, definitely check out my Healthy Chocolate Frosting (the first ingredients are NOT sugar and butter!).
Ingredients in Chocolate Quinoa Cake
- Quinoa, cooked to package directions. I find the white quinoa has the most mild “quinoa” flavor, so works best in this recipe. If your quinoa isn’t pre rinsed, be sure to rinse it prior to cooking it! In fact, rinse it anyway, because we don’t want the bitter flavor quinoa can have to come through in this cake. This article is a great resource for why and how to rinse quinoa, and how to cook quinoa.
- Medjool Dates, which are the only sweetener used in this cake. These dates keep the cake sweet and fudgy, and just sweet enough. Medjool dates are available in most produce sections of grocery stores.
- Cocoa Powder – use a high quality cocoa powder!
- Eggs
- Coconut Oil, or feel free to sub another oil good for baking, like avocado oil.
- Arrowroot, to give it a softer and more cakey texture.
- The usuals – vanilla, salt and baking soda.
Easy Steps to Make a Perfect Quinoa Cake
- First, soak medjool dates in hot water. This allows them to soften so they blend up well into the cake batter.
- Second, add soaked (and well drained) dates into a food processor bowl, along with quinoa. Process the quinoa and dates together until the two form a sticky mixture. The quinoa will still have texture, but the dates should be more of a gel texture covering the quinoa.
- Add the eggs, vanilla, sea salt and baking soda, and mix the wet ingredients together by pulsing a few times in the food processor.
- Remove the food processor bowl from the machine, and take out the blade. Add the arrowroot and cocoa powders to the bowl, and use a spatula to mix into the dry ingredients. Stir until no dry ingredients remain.
- Add the thick, sticky batter to a cake pan lined with parchment paper, which will help it easily come out of the pan. Alternatively, use coconut oil spray to heavily grease pan before pouring in batter.
- The batter is thick, so it needs to be spread into an even layer. This is a bit difficult because gravity will not help “balance” the batter in your pan.
- Bake the cake for about 28 minutes.
- Fully cool the cake before slicing. Frost if you’d like, or enjoy it as a snack cake!
Once your cake has cooled, feel free to frost it! Use your favorite chocolate frosting recipe, or keep the whole thing low in sugar by using my Chocolate Sweet Potato Frosting. I’ve gotten rave reviews on this healthier frosting!
Tips for Chocolate Quinoa Cake
- This cake is meant to have some of the quinoa texture, so don’t worry if your batter still has pieces of quinoa– these give the cake an interesting texture, but really aren’t very noticeable.
- Make it Gluten Free: Quinoa, arrowroot, and cocoa powder are naturally gluten free, so this cake is a great option.
- Make it Ahead: This cake makes amazing, firm slices– nothing crumbly here! It freezes perfectly. Just wrap it up tightly in wrap or a freezer bag, and then defrost and store in the refrigerator when ready to use.
Other Sugar Free Dessert Recipes:
- 3 Ingredient Cherry Coconut Sorbet, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Double Chocolate Muffins, by Sunkissed Ktichen
- Blissful Blueberry Breakfast Bars, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Gluten Free Date Bars, by Sunkissed Kitchen
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Chocolate Quinoa Cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups quinoa cooked (about 1/2 cup raw quinoa)
- 8 1/2 ounces dates*
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup arrowroot powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
- Line an 8×8 pan with baking paper and set aside.
- Pit dates, and then pour boiling hot water over the dates and allow to sit for 1-2 minutes to soften.
- Drain dates well, and then add to a food processor with cooked quinoa.
- Process for 1-2 minutes until the dates are broken up.
- Add coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla, and process for another 1-2 minutes, until the dates are broken up, but there is still some texture to the quinoa. This can also be done in a high speed blender, but the goal isn’t to have a completely smooth batter, so don’t over process.
- Add cocoa powder, arrowroot, sea salt and baking soda, and then pulse to combine (use a spoon to stir in any dry ingredients after pulsing 5-6 times).
- Pour batter into prepared baking dish, and use a spoon to smooth over the top.
- Bake for 28-32 minutes.
- Allow to cool at least 15 minutes before cutting. I fully cool, frost, cut into bars, and keep in the refrigerator.
- Refrigerate for 4-5 days, or freeze for up to a couple of months in a well sealed container.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
O yummo! Love the real quinoa in there!
Can we substitute the eggs with something else?
I never have, but my feeling is that it would be totally fine in this cake, since it already has the sticky texture from the dates. I would just try flax eggs or your favorite egg replacer!
Quinoa cake? Sweet potato frosting? You’re an absolute GENIUS! I’m super excited to try this cake, I bet it tastes just as amazing as it looks!
It really is amazing. I have had to make this for several friends to validate my feelings towards this cake because I often eat strange things– but this is all around amazing!
I’m a huge fan of quinoa but still haven’t tried baking with this. This cake looks so rich and indulgent!
OMG that frosting!!! I am pinning these as I will be making them VERT soon!
Jane x
Thanks Jane! The frosting is amazing. So is the cake. These are my favorite recipes in a while! Thanks for the pin.
This looks absolutely delicious – moist and flavorful! Thanks for those tips at the end…so very helpful!
I’ve never seen quinoa in cake. This looks absolutely delicious! So moist!
Yes, this cakes stays really most because of the whole dates in it! We are loving it.
May I know if the dates are pitted?
Yes, you need to either buy pitted dates or pit your dates prior to using them.
i have made cookies with cooked quinoa and loved it..im very interested to try this cake now..love love your photos.
Cookies? I’m going to have to try to find a good recipe for those– do you recommend one? And thanks for the sweet comment about my photos. I’ve been working hard to make them better and make the food look more appealing 🙂
Nifty idea! Now we can get out sweets and protein in one dish. LOL. Seriously, these look so moist and yummy and it’s a really great way to get the kids to ingest extra protein!
Yes! I love making treats like this for my family. I took this cake into my husband’s office, and they couldn’t believe I was letting my 19 month old have chocolate cake– but the main ingredients are quinoa, sweet potatoes, and dates! So I am more than okay with it. He also thinks “ice cream” is frozen processed bananas, and I will keep it that way for as long as possible.
Never tried Quinoa cake…but this looks so moist and yumm!
I actually got the idea from Starbucks, of all places! Here in Asia they are making gluten free brownies out of whole quinoa and I thought it was a great idea.
Quinoa in cake?! Who knew this was a thing! That is really awesome!
Michelle, you are just awesome.
I am new here, cheers from Brazil 🙂 just found out your Instagram yesterday (yeah, I know. My bad!)
Quinoa and cocoa, that’s just brilliant. I’ve read all the comments about the cake, and I am wondering why no one is talking about that beautiful topping. Have you posted this recipe before?
We don’t have arrowrot in Brazil (I guess… or maybe it is not common and neither easy to find). Can I replace it with green banana biomass?
Thanks
Wow, we don’t have green banana biomass — so I am not sure. Arrowroot is the same thing (essentially) as tapioca. If you can’t get tapioca, you can try glutinous rice flour (sweet rice flour). And if none of those are options, corn starch! The frosting on here is amazing– we have it in our fridge all the time now, because my husband likes to top his yogurt with it 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and letting me know you found my blog!
Is Arrowroot the same as tapioca?! Google prankled me. Tapioca is a brazilian thing, now it is very common among Gluten free diets but it is not healthy at all, it is as refined as sugar, it has no vitamins, minerals or anything else. Tapioca is only a high glycemic index carbohydrate.
You definitely need to know the green banana biomass, it’s going to change your life and it’s not a joke. I’ve found some websites in English explaining what it is and how to do it, it’s very simple, cheap and can be used to replace any flour. Here’s a link https://renatarea.com/2014/10/21/green-banana-biomass/
Arrowroot is sometimes used in Tapioca, and tapioca is a blend of different roots of the same type. It’s actually not as processed as it seems! I stayed away from it for a long time because of its appearance, but then I kept coming across information about it and realized it’s actually very good as far as starches go. The “processing” is minimal and natural, and the result has a lot of vitamins and minerals, and is even high in protein for a starch. Is it as healthy as the quinoa? No. But as a secondary ingredient, it’s a great choice– read about it in my Raspberry Pear Coffee Cake Post, or here. It’s getting easier and easier to come across– if you get Bob’s Red Mill products where you live, you can probably find arrowroot.
I am sure I can buy Green Banana biomass in the States, but right now I am in Malaysia! I will make a note to order some when I am back in the States in a month or so. I’d really love to find something like that to use in my baking– high in resistant starches! I saw you signed up for my mailing list– great! So you will see when I start experimenting with it!
And yes– the frosting recipe is posted! It’s linked in this post, or search desserts and it’s a pretty recent post.
Namaste from India .Request you to kindly let me if I can use aquafaba instead of eggs and if yes please share the quantity. Thank you so much
Hello Mita! Wonderful to hear from you. I have never used aquafaba, so I really don’t know. I am sure with the stickiness of the dates, you could use an egg sub. The egg sub I use when I do vegan baking is flax or chia seeds and water (1 tablespoon of seeds to 2-3 tablespoons of water). I imagine using a sub will make the cake a little more dense, but equally as delicious! Please let me know if you try a substitute and how it went!
I dont normally comment but i had to come back for this one.
This is the BEST Healthiest chocolate cake…EVER! Tastes beaitiful. Guilt free. Texture is enhoyable. I didnt make the icing though.
People this recipe IS WORTH Saving and trying. You shouldn’t be disappointed.
As we all do, i know a handful of friends and family who have intolerances and are on diets. And not to mention the health conscious – THIS RECIPE WILL IMPRESS!
Thank you for sharing. So much 🙂
Oh Maria, this is such a kind comment, and I really appreciate you coming back to let me know! I really love this cake. I need to make it again soon. My son and husband are chocolate lovers and I like knowing they are getting something healthy when they are having dessert every night!
Could you use quinoa flakes for this instead of quinoa?
Hi Sarah, Sorry for the late reply — been traveling! I wouldn’t try subbing quinoa flakes. It’s much different. I am sure you could come up with a good recipe using the flakes, but I have a feeling it wouldn’t work as a direct sub. Other ingredients would have to be changed as well.
Are the dates used in the recipe raw whole dates? I can only find dried dates (pitted) in the grocery stores nearby.
I use dried dates! If you buy small dates, you’ll need to soak them in hot water for a few minutes so they easily break up when you process them. Make sure all the pits are removed — I had “pitted” dates and used them in a recipe last week and ended up with a couple pits that broke apart in my batter 🙁 Good luck! Love this cake.
Michelle, do you have any suggestions if I would like to make chocolate quinoa muffins? Do I need to alter the recipe a bit? Thanks in advance!
Waw its looking So Yummy
Thanks for sharing This yummy Chocolate Quinoa Cake
OOh, I do love this cake!
Quinoa in cake? I’m so intrigued! It certainly looks delicious!
Ooh, it is so delicious! Gives is a subtly earthy flavor and then a little “pop” texture. We love this cake.
Hi Michelle! I just found this recipe and I am dying to try it out! It sounds so delicious. Do you have any tips for making these into cupcakes? Thank you!
You will love this cake Clara! I haven’t tried baking it into cupcakes — I am sure it is fine. I would just watch them baking carefully because I am sure they won’t take as long as baking it in a cake pan. Maybe even pull them out right before you think they look done to keep them from drying out. Enjoy!
Can you taste the quinoa? I’m hoping that it’s picky eater friendly. 🙂
You can’t really taste it! It gives it a little extra texture, which I know my 4 year old picky eater would not enjoy — but for the average adult, I think it’s fine! I gave this cake to a friend who doesn’t really eat healthy foods, and she said it just tasted like chocolate cake and she loved it!
Hello Michelle,
You mention almond flour in the description but its not in the recipe. I just wanted to check if I am missing it in the details, please let me know. Thank you.
Kavitha
Hi Kavitha! I am pretty sure that’s a typo in my description, and not in the recipe. However, it’s been a couple of years since I made this cake! I adore it and I have all the ingredients — so I am going to make a video for it this week and then I will confirm the recipe with you!
Never imagined there was a way to make such a beautiful cake with quinoa! What a great idea and it looks amazing!!!!
Love that this is sugar free and the sweetness comes naturally from the fruits. Perfect for anyone who loves sweets and chocolate!
What a tremendous way to add some extra protein to a delicious chocolate dessert. I can’t wait to bite into a slice (or two!) of this tasty cake!
I made this for my MIL, because she could eat it! Luckily, I grabbed her a piece before my son gobbled it all up, but it was a close call! Delicious recipe!
Fudgy cakes are my most favorite, but with the addition of all that icing makes this recipe mind blowing!! Delish!
This was such a genius idea! The taste of the cake was amazing too! The whole family loved it!
what can I use besides the dates to sweeten the cake? I don’t like dates.
Hi Heidi — I am sure that you could substitute a liquid sweetener, like maple syrup or honey. I haven’t tried this – if you do, please let me know how it works out!
Can I use quinoa flour instead of cooked quinoa?
Hello Rawan – I don’t think it would work to sub quinoa flour! My best guess is that the cake would turn out too dense. If you try it, let me know!
I made this cake yesterday, reduced the amount of dates to 135 gr (simply didn’t have more), added a bit of coconut cream (50 gr). I guess any type of milk would work as well. The cake turned out absolutely fantastic, not too dense, not too moist. All the guests were delighted. Will definitely make it for my kids’ birthdays (with two layers and mascarpone frosting). Thank you so much for this recipe!
P.S. By the way, this cake is no way to be found on your desktop version of the website. I also loved raspberry-pear coffee cake and apple cake but could not find them on the website either (just on the mobile version).
Thank you so much for this review! I adore this cake as well and have served it to friends who weren’t in to “healthy” baking who loved it too.
I have had others tell me that certain recipes weren’t on my site also — but when I look, they are there. I am going to ask my developer to check in to this because it’s very strange that it happens! All 3 of those when I check, are there.
The cake and the healthy sweet potato frosting are both absolutely amazing! Thank you so much for such an awesome recipe. The whole family enjoyed it and I will definitely be making it again. In fact, when I tasted the frosting and had enough of all the ingredients, I immediately made a second batch to freeze. Have you tried to make cupcakes with this recipe? If so please let me know how long you baked them for. Thanks so much
I haven’t ever used it for cupcakes — I would take 10-15 minutes off the total baking time. Definitely take a photo and share it with me if you make them like that! how fun.
Whenever I really need a special cake moment this is the one, the only one. A few variations I’ve come to love- I bake it in 2 8” round cake pans and make it a double layer cake with your delicious sweet potato frosting between the layers.
Tonight I added a table spoon of espresso ground coffee to the cake batter and my eyes are rolling back eating this cake. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for letting me know Laurel! I love this cake and haven’t made it in a while — I am going to have to try it as a layer cake, maybe for Christmas! I don’t see why not 🙂
Hi! I was wondering if you could use anything instead of the dates. I can’t get a hold of them at our grocery store! Thank you!
This recipe was developed with dates — I imagine you could sub maple syrup! Probably 1/2-3/4 of a cup.
This turned out pretty good. The texture is a bit different, but overall very good cake. I have tried other quinoa cakes recipes, but keep on coming back to this one. Thank you for sharing.
What a healthy version of cake.
Have I missed something…where is the icing recipe? This cake comes with icing in the picture. Thanks
There is the icing recipe linked! I will make sure it’s linked in the recipe card as well 🙂 It’s https://sunkissedkitchen.com/healthy-chocolate-frosting-recipe/
The cake is awesome! Hope you enjoyed.