Gluten Free Chocolate Cake with Mint Strawberry Cream

A chocolate genoese sponge cake filled with mint infused strawberries and cream. It’s a summer special gluten free chocolate cake made with buckwheat and it’s as light as a feather. The recipe is easy to make, but it takes time for the mint syrup and strawberries to infuse.

What’s a Genoese?

A genoese is a type of sponge cake. It’s exactly the same as a genoise cake. You make it by whipping eggs and sugar together until they’ve massively increased in volume. You then add flour and sometimes melted butter, but no baking powder.

It makes for a very light and airy sponge, but also quite a stable one. This makes it perfect for layer cakes.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

As soon as I heard that Victoria had chosen mint as this month’s We Should Cocoa ingredient, I knew immediately I wanted to use fresh mint. We have an abundance of both spearmint and peppermint growing down at the plot and it seemed criminal not to use some of it for this challenge.

That’s as far as I got for a while, but then along came the Cornish strawberries. Warmed by the sun (we did get a few days of it), I couldn’t resist the scent of an enticing tray of them as I passed by our local greengrocers. The decision to incorporate strawberries marinaded in mint syrup was made.

The next leap was simple, Kate had set layer cakes as this month’s Tea Time Treats challenge, so that is what I planned to do. The last piece of the jigsaw came from Janine who chose cocktails for her Baking with Spirit challenge.

Woohoo, last year I came up with the cocktail Chocadoodledoo, using vodka, chocolate, mint and cream, so all I had to do was use some of my mint schnapps and add cream.

So really this cake is a chocadoodledoo cake.

So, maybe the strawberries don’t quite fit in. It is June though, for goodness sake and it’s meant to be summer. I based my Genoese on Pam Corbin’s recipe in Cakes, but I used duck eggs and buckwheat flour to make it gluten free.

The cake is as light as a feather and it disappeared rather too quickly. The mint gives a subtle cooling quality which is refreshing and the slight alcoholic kick adds a frisson of sophistication. The strawberries and cream do exactly what’s required of them.

The rain may have poured down, but it felt like summer in our house as we gorged on this delicious minted strawberry and cream chocolate cake.

Other Summer Cakes You Might Like

• Blackcurrant brownies
• Gooseberry upside down cake with honey
• Raspberry cream sponge cake with lemon verbena
• Raspberry rose friands
• Red gooseberry cakes
• Strawberry cream picnic cakes

Keep in Touch

Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this gluten-free chocolate genoese sponge cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.

For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard or Pinterest. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?

If you’d like more layer cake recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.

Choclette x

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5 from 5 votes

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake with Mint, Strawberries and Cream

A chocolate genoese sponge cake filled with mint infused strawberries and cream. It's a summer special gluten free cake made with buckwheat and it's as light as a feather. The recipe is easy to make, but it takes time for the mint syrup and strawberries to infuse.

Cook ModeToggle to keep screen awake

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Infusing Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 50 minutes mins

Course: Afternoon Tea, Dessert

Cuisine: British

Keyword: cake, chocolate cake, cocoa, cream, mint, sponge, sponge cake, strawberries, summer

Servings: 10 slices

Calories: 271kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

Mint Syrup

• 100 g golden caster sugar
• 100 ml water
• 1 handful fresh mint leaves (I used spearmint)
• 1 tbsp mint liqueur (optional) (I used homemade mint schnapps

Chocolate Genoese Sponge

• 75 g unsalted butter
• 125 g golden caster sugar
• 1 pinch salt (I used Himalayan pink rock salt)
• 4 large eggs (I used duck eggs)
• 100 g buckwheat flour
• 25 g cocoa powder
• icing sugar for dusting

Cream Filling

• 250 g strawberries
• 150 ml whipping cream

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

Mint Syrup

• Heat the sugar with the water in a pan and simmer for a couple of minutes or until the sugar has dissolved. Add the mint, cover the pan and simmer for a further five minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to infuse for an hour.
  100 g golden caster sugar, 100 ml water, 1 handful fresh mint leaves
• Stir in the mint liqueur, if using.
  1 tbsp mint liqueur

Chocolate Genoese Sponge

• Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan over low heat.
  75 g unsalted butter
• Using electric beaters, beat the sugar, salt and eggs for about 10 minutes on high speed. The mixture should be thick, pale and have quadrupled in volume.
  125 g golden caster sugar, 1 pinch salt, 4 large eggs
• Sift in the flour and cocoa powder in two batches. Fold each batch into the eggs as gently as possible, trying not to lose any air.
  100 g buckwheat flour, 25 g cocoa powder
• Pour the cooled butter down the side of the bowl and fold in – again as gently as possible.
• Divide between two 20 cm (8 inch) round silicone cake moulds or lined tins. Then bake in a preheated oven at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) for 20 to 25 minutes or when the tops are firm and a cake tester comes out clean.

Cream Filling

• Meanwhile hull and roughly chop the strawberries. Pour over two tablespoons of the mint syrup. Stir and leave to infuse.
  250 g strawberries
• Whisk the cream until soft peaks form.
  150 ml whipping cream
• As soon as the cakes came out of the oven pour the remaining syrup over the tops, then leave for 15 minutes.
• Turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
• Spoon the strawberries and juice over one cake, then cover with the cream.
• Place the remaining cake on top and dust with icing sugar.
  icing sugar for dusting

Notes

Please note: calories are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories: 271kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 102mg | Sodium: 38mg | Potassium: 174mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 523IU | Vitamin C: 15mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

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Sharing

Victoria of A Kick at the Pantry Door is hosting this month’s We Should Cocoa and she has chosen mint as the ingredient to accompany chocolate.

Kate of What Kate Baked has chosen layer cakes for this month’s Tea Time Treats: a tea time table which is always groaning with goodies.

Janine of Cake of the Week has given us cocktails for this month’s Baking with Spirit, so I am contributing my Chocadoodledoo cake based on my Chocadoodledoo cocktail.

I’m also entering this gluten free chocolate cake to Karen’s Cooking with Herbs as both the cake and strawberries are infused with fresh mint.

Whilst I’m at it, I may as well enter it into Ren’s Simple and in Season as it features both mint and strawberries.

Weekend Herb Blogging is a weekly challenge with a long vintage; Cook almost Anything started it back in 2008. Marta of mangiare e un po’ come viaggiare is hosting this week.

And of course I mustn’t forget Made with Love Mondays on Javelin Warrior’s Cookin w/Luv.

And finally, I think, I’m linking my chocolate genoese up to Recipe of the Week with Emily of A Mummy Too. It does what it says on the tin.