Are you looking for a chocolate cake free of eggs, nuts, dairy, and gluten?
How about a cake made without refined sugar or flour?
This rich, fudge-y cake is just the recipe you’ve been looking for! And, from melting chocolate to baking the cake — everything can be done right in the Instant Pot! No extra dishes to wash, and no need to turn on the oven.
Many of you asked for an egg-free variation of our Best-Ever Chocolate Cake, and after several different trials I succeeded in producing a cake very close to the original in flavor and texture.
And the secret ingredient is…..
Pureed pumpkin! It’s a rich source of Vitamin A and beta-carotene, provides a smooth texture, and it’s good for you, too!
Can’t tolerate pumpkin? You can substitute pureed avocado — although I personally like the texture of pumpkin best.
This sweet cake is very rich, so a little goes a long way. If you enjoy the slight bitterness of dark chocolate, use the smaller amount of honey. If you prefer a sweeter cake, use the full amount.
Finally, if you don’t have an Instant Pot or pressure cooker, this cake can be baked in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
Allergy-Friendly Chocolate Cake In The Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
- 1/2 cup coconut oil or butter
- 2 cups pumpkin pureed OR 2 pureed avocados
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3/4 to 1 cup raw honey or maple syrup
Instructions
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Place a small heatproof bowl into the insert pot of pressure cooker*.
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Pour water into pot until it reaches about halfway up the outside sides of the bowl, being careful not to splash water into the bowl itself.
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Place chocolate and coconut oil into the bowl.
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If you are using an electric pressure cooker, set to the Keep Warm setting.
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If using a stovetop cooker, put on a burner over low heat.
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Let chocolate and oil melt, stirring occasionally.
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Meanwhile, in a larger bowl, stir together pumpkin, vanilla, salt, cocoa powder, and honey until smooth.
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Grease a 7-inch springform pan.
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If you do not want to serve cake on bottom of the pan, cut a 7-inch circle of parchment paper.
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Place it on bottom of pan to ensure easy removal of cake after baking.
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Once chocolate and oil have melted, remove bowl from pressure cooker.
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Stir chocolate mixture into the pumpkin mixture until well combined.
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Pour cake mixture into prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.
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Pour out water from insert pot of pressure cooker.
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Add trivet, and add 1 cup of water.
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Using a foil sling, carefully lower chocolate cake into pressure cooker.
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Put on lid, checking that the seals and all components are in good shape, including being in the sealing position.
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If using an electric pressure cooker, set to high pressure for 38 minutes.
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If using a stovetop pressure cooker, bring to high pressure and maintain pressure for a cook time of 38 minutes.
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Once cycle is complete, if using an electric pressure cooker, press Cancel.
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If using a stovetop pressure cooker, remove from heat.
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Let pressure naturally release for 10 minutes.
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Then release any remaining pressure.
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Carefully open lid, swinging it to the side so no water drips on the cake. Quickly soak up any droplets that do fall with a paper towel or clean cloth.
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Carefully remove cake from pressure cooker using foil sling.
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Set on a wire rack to cool.
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Do not remove from the springform pan, as the cake needs to be completely cold in order to hold its shape.
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Once cool, cover and place in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
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Once completely chilled, remove the cake from pan.
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Finally, slice and serve! Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- *If you don't have an Instant Pot or pressure cooker, this cake can be baked in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
Have you ever tried making a cake in your pressure cooker? Will you try this Allergy-Friendly Chocolate Cake in the Instant Pot?
This post was featured in 22 Real Food Instant Pot Desserts.
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Why do you use Norpro non-stick? Is that a new healthy non-stick? I had never seen non-stick recommended before here? Thanks.
Hi Sol — Unfortunately we don’t know of any springform cake pans that aren’t nonstick. But if you aren’t comfortable with that, feel free to use something like a porcelain souffle dish instead (both this one and this one fit in the 6-quart Instant Pot). You may have to pressure cook for longer since the porcelain takes longer to heat up. 🙂 Hope this helps!
Hello Haniya! I have a couple of suitable white dishes that look like the ones you linked to. I have a question about the timing though – could you give an estimation of how much longer the cook time should be in the Instant Pot? “Longer” could mean anything – 2 min to 20 min or whatever…so I am hoping you can clarify. 🙂 Also, in a porcelain dish I am guessing the cake could not be turned out whole, but would have to be sliced in the dish and removed slice-by-slice…is this correct? I want to make this cake today so I hope you will see my questions and have time to answer – thanks in advance for your help!
Hi Haniya, I hope this is not a repeat – I attempted to comment once and it looked like my comment posted, but I don’t see it now and I haven’t received an answer to my question. I am planning to use a porcelain souffle dish as you described, and I need to know how much more Instant Pot cook time you are indicating when you say “longer”. It could be 2 minutes or 10 minutes longer or more so I am hoping you can clarify for me. I would like to make this cake today so we can eat it on Sunday. 🙂 I’m wondering how I would know if it’s not quite done as it sounds like it won’t firm up till it is completely cooled. Thank you in advance for your help!
Hi Sandra! No problem on the repeat comment. 🙂
I’m not sure if you’ve tried making the cake yet or not, but if I were to estimate how much extra cooking time the cake would need, possibly 10 to 20 minutes? You could give 10 minutes a try and see. 🙂 The cake will hold its shape when cool, yes, but it should still look “set” when done pressure cooking. It will be a bit damp from the moisture of pressure cooking but it shouldn’t be wet through. Hopefully that helps! If you try it, we’d love to know what ends up working for you!
And yes, either remove the cake slice by slice from the porcelain dish, or you could line your dish with parchment paper if you’d like to try to remove the cake whole. 🙂
Thanks very much! One more question – if I just bake it in the oven, what temp & how much time do you suggest?
We haven’t tried baking this particular cake in the oven, but the original was, so Andrea recommends following the baking instructions written here and keeping an eye on things. The cake should still be done when the top looks set. And chill completely before slicing and serving.
Have you tested it with less honey? Even 3/4 seems like a lot to me.
I haven’t tried less. The cake is predominately made up of unsweetened chocolate, which is very bitter. I have made versions of the cake with semi-sweet chocolate that requires a lot less honey, but then the chocolate itself is sweetened, so it probably works out about the same. We definitely eat this cake as a treat – and small pieces at that. My husband still finds the cake slightly bitter with 3/4 cup honey, so I know I can’t cut it further or he won’t eat it. You could always try cutting the honey and see how you like it. If your family doesn’t mind slightly bitter chocolate, it might work for you!
Hi this recipe looks amazing but I don’t own a pressure cooker?. Can it be done in the oven like normal. Thanks
We haven’t tried baking this particular cake in the oven, but the original was, so Andrea recommends following the baking instructions written here and keeping an eye on things. The cake should still be done when the top looks set. And chill completely before slicing and serving. Hope that helps! 🙂
This sounds wonderful! Is there a way to make this without the pressure cookers? Can I just put it in the oven? Maybe covered but with water in another pan for moisture? I am anxious to give it a try.
We haven’t tried baking this particular cake in the oven, but the original was, so Andrea recommends following the baking instructions written here and keeping an eye on things. The cake should still be done when the top looks set. And chill completely before slicing and serving. Hope that helps! 🙂
If you don’t have an instant pot or pressure cooker, can this be baked in the oven? Sounds delicious!
We haven’t tried baking this particular cake in the oven, but the original was, so Andrea recommends following the baking instructions written here and keeping an eye on things. The cake should still be done when the top looks set. And chill completely before slicing and serving. Hope that helps! 🙂
This looks delicious but I don’t have any type of pressure cooker or plan to in the foreseeable future…. is it possible to bake it in the oven?
I haven’t tried this particular variation in the oven, however, the original version was baked in the oven: https://traditionalcookingschool.com/2016/02/10/grain-free-dairy-free-chocolate-cake-with-just-6-ingredients/?_ga=1.6422194.1859896223.1447809189 I would follow the baking directions in that version and just keep an eye on it. It’s done when the top looks set, and I still think it should be chilled completely before removing from the pan and slicing. Hope that helps!
Thank you! Looking forward to trying it!
Here in the UK it isn’t as easy to find pumpkin purée and I cannot tolerate avocados. Would it be possible to substitute homemade sweet potato purée? If so, would the purée need to be concentrated so as to hold together i.e. not very watery?
Thank you
Also, in case the information is useful to others, I thought I’d mention that I am going to try this with a Lekue springform cake tin which has silicone sides (platinum grade) and a ceramic base. (Fingers crossed).
Thanks
Hi Jo, I don’t see why sweet potato wouldn’t work, the consistency is similar. Please let us know how it turns out!
Chocolate pumpkin cake??
I know….but you really don’t taste the pumpkin. It tastes like chocolate. 🙂
I have some butternut squash needing to be eaten and I am wondering butternut squash can be used if pumpkin ? Seems like the texture is similar (even though the taste may be a bit different as an individual food) in a cake it might be okay? Thanks for Sharing.
Hi Beth, I can’t think of any reason why it wouldn’t work. I would say, go for it!
Do you have al ink to the unsweetened chocolate? Can you use cocoa powder instead? Thanks!
Hi Paula, I just use unsweetened baking chocolate as it is readily available in the baking aisle at the grocery store. You can’t use cocoa powder alone as a substitute, as it won’t have the same consistency. I have read that you can substitute 3 tbsp cocoa powder + 1 tbsp butter for every ounce of unsweetened chocolate called for in a recipe, but I haven’t tested this out myself.
It depends. I made some hot fudge sauce n it was just not right with the cocoa powder, etc. Its excellent with the baking chocolate.
Ive made other stuff tho was ok with the cocoa powder.
Thanks for your input, Hélène!
I had problems with mine. I cooked as instructed and when I opened my IP the cake was very wet. I put it on again for three minutes and then a third time for an additional 5 minutes. The texture ended up being more like a mousse than cake. Is this right? The only possible thing I can think of was that my pumpkin came in those cardboard box type container and may have had more moisture than canned pumpkin. I would love to hear your thoughts. TIA
So sorry to hear you had problems with yours! Did you refrigerate it before eating? The cake is very moist when you remove from the IP, but should solidify once it has cooled and been refrigerated. If you eat it warm, it definitely has a more mousse-like consistency – good, but not cake.
Amazing dessert. Very rich and perfect dark chocolate flavor. I followed the recipe exactly- using canned pumpkin, maple syrup, and butter. I only had a 6 inch springform pan, so I increased the time to 41 mins. Turned out wonderful! It looked wet when it first came out, but was totally set up after refrigerating for several hours. Will definitely make again. Thank you for the recipe!!
Hi, Larissa,
We’re thrilled you loved the recipe and how it turned out 🙂 Well done with adjusting the time according to what you’re baking in. Thank you for sharing this!
~ Millie, TCS Customer Success Team
Update: I tried making this again without an instant pot. I baked it at 375 degrees in a parchment lined loaf pan (9″x5″) for 30 mins. Turned out amazing! I followed the recipe exactly other than cooking method. I used 3/4 cup maple syrup and it has a nice dark chocolate taste. This is one of my new favorite desserts. Goes perfectly with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 🙂 Thanks again!
I am trying to follow a keto diet. Do you think Lakanto maple syrup would work? Or another liquid sweetener? Is the honey or maple syrup critical for thy he texture as well as sweetness?
Hi Marcy,
We think it work but we have not tried it so we can’t say for sure. 🙂
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
Is the honey there for texture, or just for sweetness? That will help me figure out how to proceed. Thank you!
Hi Marcy,
It’s a little of both. But since Lakanto is a liquid sweetener it should work fine.
~ Vicki, TCS Customer Success Team
Delicious! I’ve made this twice in the past 2 weeks. My 8 year old loves it. I does NOT taste like pumpkin. I made a quick coulis with mixed frozen berries and honey to drizzle over top. Crazy good, and oh so easy. Thanks for the amazing recipe!
So glad you’re enjoying this recipe! And your topping sounds yummy!
~ Vicki, TCS Customer Success Team