Make all your sweet dreams come true with this mouth-watering and guilt-free Healthy Chocolate Cake Recipe! This blender Bundt cake contains fiber and all the goodness of chocolate, banana, spinach in a moist, flavorful cake plus it's enriched with antioxidants!
Try my healthy Chocolate Zucchini Cake and these Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes next.
Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 35-40 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: About 45 minutes, plus 10 minutes to cool
- 🍽️ Serving: 12 slices
- ⚡ Calories: 235kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Rich dark chocolate, extra moist from ripe banana, with melty mini chocolate chips
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy blender cake, and gorgeous topped with my dairy-free chocolate ganache
Quick Answer
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour a 10-inch fluted tube pan with unsweetened cocoa powder. Blend the egg (or chia egg), coconut milk, vanilla, ripe bananas, spinach and maple syrup until smooth. Mix the gluten-free flour, almond meal, oat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl, add the wet mixture, combine well and fold in the chocolate chips. Bake 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean, cool 10 minutes, then remove from the pan.
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This bundt cake is one of the best healthy chocolate cake recipes because it will satisfy your sweet tooth without sacrificing nutrition. Perfect for afternoon tea time, or anytime when you fancy something sweet and healthy. Enjoy the indulgent flavor of this healthy bundt cake without any of the guilt!
Eat it plain or topped with Dairy-Free Ganache or Homemade Buttercream Icing!
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- The blender makes the spinach invisible. Blending the wet ingredients until completely smooth means the spinach disappears into the batter, leaving only its nutrients behind.
- Ripe bananas do double duty. They sweeten the cake naturally and keep the crumb moist without extra oil.
- Dutch processed cocoa hides the green. It is more rich and flavorful than regular cocoa powder, and its deep color covers any hint of spinach.
- Maple syrup means no refined sugar. Together with the bananas it sweetens the whole cake naturally.
- Cocoa-flouring the pan keeps it pretty. Greasing and flouring the fluted pan with cocoa powder instead of flour means no white streaks on the finished chocolate cake.
- Tapioca flour stands in for powdered sugar. The white dusting on top is tapioca flour, so even the garnish skips the refined sugar.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- This dessert is super nourishing, made with vegetables and fruit! The dark chocolate and spinach work together to provide antioxidants and other important vitamins and minerals.
- Made in a blender then baked in about 40 minutes with 10 minutes to cool. It would also be perfect served with a scoop of ice cream on the side!
- Made without refined sugars! I use maple syrup and banana to sweeten this chocolate cake. The white on top is tapioca flour in place of powdered sugar.
Key Ingredients
- Gluten-free flour, almond meal, and oat flour - the wholesome flour trio. You can grind oats to make your own oat flour.
- Unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder - more rich and flavorful than regular cocoa powder.
- Ripe bananas and spinach - the secret produce! Bananas sweeten and moisten, and the spinach blends in completely undetected.
- Egg - or for vegan, 1 tablespoon chia seeds soaked in 2 tablespoons of lukewarm water for 2 hours.
- Coconut or almond milk, vanilla, and maple syrup - the wet team, with no refined sugar.
- Mini semi sweet chocolate chips - we use dairy-free.
- Optional toppings - fresh fruit, tapioca flour, chocolate ganache, glaze, or cream cheese buttercream frosting.
Full quantities are in the recipe card below.
Substitutions and Variations
- Make it vegan. Swap the egg for 1 tablespoon of chia seeds soaked in 2 tablespoons of lukewarm water for 2 hours.
- Bake it in cake pans. Use two 8-inch round cake pans at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes, until the top is set and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Dress it up. Top with fresh fruit and a tapioca flour dusting, a drizzle of ganache, a glaze, or buttercream, or serve slices with a scoop of ice cream.
How to Make Healthy Chocolate Cake
As always, be sure to see the full recipe card below for the details. This healthy chocolate cake recipe is great for a diet!
1Prep the pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch fluted tube pan (Bundt pan) with unsweetened cocoa powder. Set aside.
2Blend the wet ingredients. In a blender or food processor, mix the egg (or chia seed egg substitute), coconut milk, vanilla, bananas, spinach and maple syrup until smooth.
3Combine. In a large mixing bowl, mix the gluten-free flour, almond meal, oat flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, combine well, then fold in the chocolate chips.
4Bake. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake at 350 F for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with tapioca flour and serve with fresh fruit.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Flour the pan with cocoa powder. It keeps the fluted edges release-ready with no white streaks on your chocolate cake.
- Blend until completely smooth. The spinach should fully disappear into the wet mixture so no one ever knows it is there.
- Use very ripe bananas. The riper the bananas, the sweeter and more moist the cake.
- Do the toothpick test. The cake is done at 35-40 minutes when a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes, no more, no less. That is the sweet spot for removing the cake from the fluted pan cleanly before finishing it on a wire rack.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
This Healthy Chocolate Bundt Cake is bursting with moist chocolaty flavor and is absolutely perfect shared with a friend over afternoon tea. Dust it with tapioca flour and fill the center with fresh fruit for a beautiful presentation, or drizzle slices with warm dairy-free chocolate ganache.
Serve it with a scoop of vegan banana ice cream for a double-banana dessert night, and keep the healthy baking streak going with my oatmeal no-bake cookies and healthy peanut butter oatmeal cookies. Cake lovers, my gluten-free lemon yogurt cake and cashew cheesecake should be next on your baking list.
Healthy Chocolate Cake FAQs
Cakes that are made without refined white sugars and white flour are the healthiest cakes. Alternative and wholesome sugars that are healthier are coconut sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave, monk fruit, and Xylitol. In addition, cakes with fiber, fruits, and vegetables in them add a bonus of nutrition!
Bundt pans have fluted edges which add elegant design to a finished cake, and make it easy to slice. Bundt cakes can be a healthier option too since they do not need a lot of icing on top, because you want the pretty edges to show through. They usually just have a glaze, fresh fruit, or powdered sugar on top.
Yes! You can bake this healthy chocolate cake recipe in a regular pan. Bake it in two 8-inch round cake pans at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. Just check on it during baking and it is done when the top is set and a toothpick comes out clean.
No! The spinach blends completely smooth into the wet ingredients, and the rich Dutch processed cocoa covers both its flavor and its color. You get the antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals without a hint of green.
Yes. The cake is sweetened with maple syrup and ripe bananas, and the white dusting on top is tapioca flour in place of powdered sugar.
Swap the egg for a chia egg: 1 tablespoon of chia seeds soaked in 2 tablespoons of lukewarm water for 2 hours. Use dairy-free mini chocolate chips and your favorite plant milk, like coconut or almond.
More Wholesome Gluten-Free Cakes
I hope you enjoy this healthy chocolate cake recipe! Tried it? I'd love to see your creations! Follow along with me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for a feature and more recipe inspiration! And don't forget to rate the recipe in the recipe area and leave a comment below.
Healthy Chocolate Cake Recipe
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Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten-free flour blend
- ½ cup almond meal
- ¼ cup oat flour gluten-free
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg or vegan: 1 tablespoon chia seeds soaked in 2 tablespoons of lukewarm water for 2 hours
- 1 cup plain coconut milk or almond milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 medium ripe bananas mashed
- 1 cup chopped spinach packed
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ¾ cups mini semi sweet chocolate chips
- optional garnish: fruit and tapioca flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350 F. Grease and flour with unsweetened cocoa powder a 10 inch fluted tube pan. Set aside.
- In a blender or food processor, mix egg (or chia seed egg substitute), coconut milk, vanilla, bananas, spinach and maple syrup until smooth.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix gluten-free flour, almond meal, oat flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add wet mixture to dry mixture. Combine well then fold in the chocolate chips.
- Transfer to the greased and floured fluted tube pan. Bake 350 F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with tapioca flour and serve with fresh fruit.
CC says
Wow! This is my kind of chocolate cake! Very chocolatey, but not too rich or sweet. It's almost like eating a chocolate muffin. I am new to all this "healthy" cooking and eating, as I just found out my digestive issues are due to allergies and intolerances. Your site has become my FAVORITE "go to" website for recipes! I have tried and thrown out sooo many other recipes. It has been very discouraging, as the ingredients are so much more costly. I had pretty much figured I had to give up flavor to follow this new way of eating. Your recipes are proving that theory wrong! Even the rest of my family is enjoying them! Thank you for all your time and effort you have put into this and for sharing your recipes with all of us. ????
Danielle @ Delightful Mom Food says
Thank you so much for commenting and I am thrilled you and your family are enjoying my recipes!
Profi says
Looks like an amazing cake!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says
Well you get a big gluten-free-vegan hug from me! Now I need to just buy a bundt pan 😉
Danielle @DelightfulMomFood says
Thanks for the hug Rebecca! Tag me on Instagram at #delightfulmomfood when you make it!