Three decadent layers of blackberry cardamom chocolate cake, frosted with a deliciously smooth maple sugar chocolate ganache and filled with tangy homemade blackberry chia jam. It’s the perfect balance between rich, sweet and tart. Garnish with beautiful roses and you’ve got yourself the perfect Valentine’s treat.
This post is sponsored by Raaka Chocolate but all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Delight Fuel possible!
What’s your favorite Valentine’s gift? Flowers, chocolates, or both? If I am being honest, I was never really too taken with flowers…I’ll always choose chocolate over roses.
My husband and I don’t typically do too much for this holiday, but it is our tradition to have a really nice dinner together. This year we’ll be dining at one of our favorite restaurants in Williamsburg, so I am really excited about that! Aside from that, we have this amazing blackberry cardamom chocolate cake to indulge in.
This incredible gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free cake is pure chocolate & blackberry heaven. The cake base is fluffy, moist, and packed with lots of chocolate flavor. What goes best with chocolate? Blackberries! Therefore I prepared my favorite blackberry chia jam to add some sweet tanginess in between those layers.
What better way to frost this yummy cake than with a fudgey dairy-free maple chocolate ganache. It’s the perfect way to round up a decadent chocolate cake. This vegan frosting is super easy to prepare, requires only two ingredients and tastes heavenly without being overly sweet.
For this frosting I used Raaka’s Maple Dark Baking Chocolate. It is incredibly rich, bursts with raw cacao flavor and what I like most: it is sweetened with maple sugar instead of cane sugar.
How to prepare this amazing Chocolate Ganache Frosting
In a medium sized bowl add Raaka Maple Dark Baking Chocolate. To ensure even melting I chopped the chocolate chips into smaller pieces.
In a small saucepan, heat coconut milk. Make sure to use full-fat coconut milk but not coconut cream as it will change the consistency of the frosting/ganache. If you are not dairy-free, heavy whipping cream should work as well.
Pour hot coconut milk over chocolate chips and stir until no lumps remain. Let cool in the fridge for 60-90 minutes until the mixture has thickened a bit.
To whip it into a traditional frosting use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer. This will take 1-2 minutes. You want the frosting to be light, fluffy and spreadable. I whipped half of the frosting this way to spread in-between the layers.
For the outside of the cake I left the other half of the cooled ganache untouched and coated the full cake.
It is safe to say this ganache is my favorite frosting for anything dessert related 🙂
If you are a huge chocolate fan like me, try these tasty limited edition flavors by Raaka: NYBG Collection
For more delicious chocolate desserts, check out my:
Paleo Praline Chocolate Fudge
Chocolate Frosted Zucchini Bread Cupcakes
Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake & Berry Tart
Salted Chocolate Avocado Truffles
Paleo Red Wine Chocolate Cake
As always, if you happen to make this incredible Blackberry Cardamom Chocolate Cake, please let me know! I’d love to see how they turn out and don’t forget to tag @delight.fuel or simply comment below.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. I only recommend products that I trust and have used myself.
Blackberry Cardamom Chocolate Cake
Three decadent layers of blackberry cardamom chocolate cake, frosted with a deliciously smooth maple sugar chocolate ganache and filled with tangy homemade blackberry chia jam. It’s the perfect balance between rich, sweet and tart.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cardamom Cake
- 2 ¼ cups almond flour
- ¾ cup tapioca flour
- 1 ½ cups coconut sugar
- 3 tbsp coconut flour
- 1 cup 2 tbsp raw cacao powder
- 1 ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tbsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup 2 tbsp full-fat coconut milk
- ¾ cup cashew milk (sub with any plant-based milk)
- ¼ cup 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 3 organic whole eggs
- ¾ tbsp apple cider vinegar
Blackberry Chia Jam
- 2 cups blackberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2-3 tbsp white chia seeds (sub with black chia seeds)
Chocolate Ganache Frosting
- 2 cups (280 grams) Raaka Maple Dark Baking Chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease 3 6 inch or 2 8 inch cake pans with coconut oil.
2. Add dry ingredients into a large bowl and combine.
3. In a separate bowl add wet ingredients and mix until combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix carefully until just combined.
4. Divide batter equally between the cake pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool for about 30 minutes to an hour before assembling.
5. Meanwhile prepare chocolate frosting. In a medium sized bowl add Raaka Maple Chocolate Chips. In a small saucepan, heat coconut milk. Pour hot milk over chocolate chips and stir until no lumps remain. Let cool in the fridge for 60-90 minutes until the mixture has thickened a bit.
6. In a small saucepan add blackberries, maple syrup and water. Simmer over low heat for about 5-10 minutes until the blackberries are soft.
7. Transfer into a bowl and mix into a puree with a hand mixer. Fold in chia seeds and mix well. Let cool in the refrigerator.
8. Remove the chilled ganache from the refrigerator and using an electric mixer (you could also transfer it to a stand mixer), beat half* of the ganache until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.
9. To assemble the cake evenly spread ½ cup of whipped ganache frosting on top of your first cake layer. Add 2-3 tbsp of blackberry chia jam on top and spread out evenly.
10. Place the second layer of cake on top and press down gently. Repeat step 10.
11. Place the last layer of cake on top and press down gently.
Add 1 cup of the remaining ganache and frost the entire 3 layered cake, filling remaining gaps in between layers.
12. Garnish with fresh berries and enjoy.
13. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Notes: *The other half of the ganache doesn’t need to be whipped with a hand mixer. It will cover the outside of the cake.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
