Chocolate Blueberry Cake

5 from 6 votes

This Chocolate Blueberry Cake is made up of a rich chocolate cake, oozing with chocolate chips, surrounded by a gorgeous blueberry frosting. It is then topped with a decadent ganache, more frosting, chocolate chips and blueberries! It's the perfect combination of rich and sweet; the flavors will be dancing on your tongue! Best yet, it's gluten free, nut free, eggless and can easily be made vegan!

Prep Time30

Cook Time50

Assembly Time45

Total Time2 5

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan

Servings: Slices

Calories: 734kcal

Author: Lee

Ingredients

For The Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake

1.5 cups multipurpose gluten free flour (I use a gluten free multipurpose flour with xanthan gum already in it)
1.5 cups granulated sugar
¾ cup cocoa powder I use ½ cup Dutch cocoa and ¼ cup dark
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
4 rounded tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 6 tablespoons of water
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 cup warm water
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1.5 cups chocolate chips

For The Blueberry Frosting

2 cups frozen blueberries
1 cup unsalted butter or vegan baking stick, room temperature
8 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons water

For The Chocolate Ganache

6 oz chocolate chips
½ cup heavy cream

For Decorating

1-2 tablespoons chocolate chips
1 Handful of fresh blueberries

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For the Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8 inch round cake pans with vegetable oil, line bottoms with parchment paper and then lightly grease the parchment paper with vegetable oil as well.
Measure out 1 cup of milk into a measuring cup. Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar into the mix and stir with a spoon. Let it sit for 5-10 min and stir again. It should look slightly chunky; that's normal. Set aside.
Whisk the 1.5 cups of gluten free flour, the 1.5 cups granulated sugar, ¾ cup cocoa powder, 1.5 baking soda, ¾ teaspoon baking powder and ¾ teaspoon salt in a large bowl until combined and lump free.
In a separate small bowl, combine the 4 rounded tablespoons of cornstarch and 6 tablespoons of water and mix together with a spoon until thin and watery. It will be thick and tacky at first. Set aside.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the cornstarch water mixture, milk and vinegar mixture, 1 cup warm water, 4 tablespoons vegetable oil and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. If it starts to get too thick, use a spatula to mix the rest.
Add in 1.5 cups of chocolate chips using a spatula to combine.
Divide the batter evenly between the two greased cake pans and smooth the tops with a butter knife.
Bake the cakes for about 47-50 min in the center rack of the 350 degree oven or until the cakes spring back at you when carefully touched.
Remove cakes from the oven and let them cool in the cake pans.
Once the cakes have cooled completely, take them out of the pans. If the tops of your cakes have domes, you can very carefully slice them off to make the tops flat.
Then, slice both cakes in half horizontally. Now you have 4 thin layers of cake.

Make The Blueberry Frosting

In a medium microwave safe bowl, heat 2 cups frozen blueberries in 20 second increments, stirring after each time, until they are soft, liquidy and jammy.
Set aside to cool. They will thicken more as they cool.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer or using a hand held mixer, beat the 1 cup unsalted butter or vegan baking stick until smooth and creamy. About 2 minutes.
Slowly add the 8 cups confectioners’ sugar, 4 tablespoons of the blueberry jam and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. Beat until combined; it will be thick.
Slowly beat in the ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons water a little at a time until you get the desired consistency. You may not need to use it all.
If the blueberry jam solidified a bit prior to using, that’s ok. Just use a spatula to scrape it into your mixing bowl.

Assembling the Cake

Separate the frosting into 5 equal sections.
Place one layer of cake on a cake plate/stand. Scoop ⅕ (about 1 cup) of frosting on top of the layer and use an icing spatula to spread it around.
Place another layer of cake on top; repeat this same process. Do this with 3 layers of cake.
Once you get to the top layer of cake, place it bottom (or flat) side up so the top of the cake is nice and flat.
Use an icing spatula to frost the top and a thin layer on the sides of the cake. You should only use ⅕th of the frosting on the top and sides combined.
Pop the entire cake in the fridge uncovered for 15-20 minutes. This will make it more stable to work with.

Make the Chocolate Ganache and Decorate

Place 6 ounces chocolate chips in a heat safe bowl. Set aside.
Pour the ½ cup heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly. Once it begins to simmer around the edges, immediately pour the cream over the chocolate chips. Do not mix!
Cover with plastic and let sit 1.5 minutes. Then remove plastic and whisk until smooth.
Immediately take the cake out of the fridge. Spoon almost all the liquid ganache on top of the cake.
Take an icing spatula and push the ganache around to the edges of the cake so it drips down the sides.
Work quickly because the cold cake will quickly stop the ganache from dripping too much.
Take the last ⅕th of buttercream and put it into a piping bag. Create swirls going all the way around the top rim of the cake.
Sprinkle some more chocolate chips and fresh washed blueberries on top of the frosting swirl.
If you have frosting leftover, save it in a bowl covered in plastic wrap in the fridge for a few days.

Video

Notes

Vegan: Use a dairy-free gluten free flour, vegan sugar, vegan baking sticks, non-dairy milk, vegan heavy cream and vegan chocolate chips.

If you can't find a vegan heavy cream, check my section entitled "substitutions and variations" for how to make a vegan white chocolate ganache with vegan baking sticks.

All Purpose Flour: I cannot test this due to celiac disease, but use 1 ½ cups packed AP flour (252 grams) and ¾ packed cup of cocoa powder (87 grams).

Storing: Store extra slices wrapped in foil in the fridge for up to 2 days. Warm in the microwave for 5-10 seconds if desired. Be careful not to burn your mouth.

Freezing: Freeze extra slices (without the raw blueberry decoration) wrapped in foil in a zip top bag for up to 30 days. Place in fridge overnight to thaw and then microwave for 5-10 seconds. Or leave on the counter for 1-2 hrs until soft.

Nutrition: The info below is a generated estimate and is not guaranteed to be accurate.

Nutrition