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Home » Blog » Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake with Easy Whipped Cream Frosting

Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake with Easy Whipped Cream Frosting

 Updated: March 24, 2017    Lisa Leake    248 Comments

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This whole wheat chocolate cake recipe is the perfect solution for anyone who wants to make a cake from scratch without spending days in the kitchen or Whole-Wheat Chocolate Cake Recipe from 100 Days of Real Foodhaving the end result look like it was decorated by a 4-year-old. Earlier this year my daughter asked me if I could “write” Happy Birthday on top of her homemade cake, and I practically laughed out loud at the thought of what that would look like.  So cake-decorating skills or not…absolutely anyone can make this “tie dye” cake turn out beautifully. And don’t be afraid to switch up the colors. I used peaches and raspberries in the pictured version, but if you want it to be more “boyish” blueberries would add some great color as well.

Before we switched to “real food” I used to make birthday cakes out of a box topped with frosting from a tub mixed with food coloring from little squeeze bottles. I’ve always loved to bake, but I never used to make cakes from scratch because I didn’t have a good “go-to” recipe and I also didn’t know any better! Now that we’ve cut all highly processed food from our diets I prefer a cake made from scratch with only a few simple ingredients when it comes time for those special celebrations. No matter how much we say junk food is okay in moderation I almost never want the highly processed, factory-made, artificial version anymore. So as I mentioned in my previous whole-wheat chocolate chip cookie recipe, this cake “breaks the real food rules” a little, but I would much rather you make this for your next celebration instead of relying on Betty Crocker (or worse – your grocery store bakery)! Feel free to check out the ingredient list for those options if you don’t believe me that this is a much better choice. :)

 

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Cake
4.7 from 33 votes

Course: Desserts
Cuisine: American
Keyword: birthday cake, bread
Dietary Restriction: Peanut/Tree-Nut Free, Vegetarian
Category: Freezer Friendly

Active Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Total Time: 28 minutes
Servings (Adjust to suit): 14 slices
Calories: 242 kcal
Recipe Adapted from Williams-Sonoma

Print


Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole-wheat flour, organic pastry or white winter wheat recommended
  • 1 cup all purpose flour, (or cake flour) organic recommended, or can sub whole-wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, I recommend Hershey's Special Dark
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 ¼ cups sugar, organic recommended
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ cups water
  • 2 eggs, organic recommended
  • 2/3 cup coconut oil, or melted butter (1:1)
  • 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
  • butter, for greasing pans

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Generously grease two 9-inch round cake pans or other sized baking dish.
  2. In a large bowl whisk together dry ingredients including flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar and salt.
  3. Make a well (hole) in the middle of the dry ingredients and drop in the water, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Mix by hand with whisk until well blended.
  4. Distribute batter evenly into the two cake 9-inch pans and bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes clean. Let cool before adding frosting.

Recipe Notes

Nutrition Facts

Nutrition Facts
Whole-Wheat Chocolate Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 242 Calories from Fat 108
% Daily Value*
Fat 12g18%
Saturated Fat 9g56%
Cholesterol 23mg8%
Sodium 54mg2%
Potassium 193mg6%
Carbohydrates 33g11%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 18g20%
Protein 3g6%
Vitamin A 35IU1%
Calcium 65mg7%
Iron 1.2mg7%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

 

Whipped Cream Frosting and Berry Sauce
4.7 from 33 votes

Course: Desserts
Cuisine: American
Keyword: healthy desserts
Dietary Restriction: Peanut/Tree-Nut Free, Vegetarian
Category: Freezer Friendly

Active Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings (Adjust to suit): 3 cups
Calories: 869 kcal

Whipped Cream Frosting and Berry Sauce

Print

Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake Recipe from 100 Days of Real Food

Ingredients

  • 3 cups heavy whipping cream, organic recommended
  • 3 tablespoons sugar, organic recommended, to taste
  • 1 ½ recipe berry sauce, with water, reduced in half (subbing either frozen or fresh organic fruit for desired topping color for e.g. raspberries = bright red, peach or mango = orange, blueberries = blue, cherries = dark red). See link below.

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, whip cream and sugar together using an electric mixer.

  2. Meanwhile prepare berry sauce(s) with desired fruit for topping. Let sauce(s) cool.
  3. Turn out one of the cooled cake rounds onto serving platter. Cover the top (that used to be the bottom) with whipped cream frosting. Lay second round cake layer directly on top of first frosted cake layer. Now cover the entire exposed cake with frosting including sides.
  4. Put berry sauce into a squeeze bottle or alternatively you can try to drizzle sauce onto cake with a spoon. I used a “ketchup-style” squeeze bottle with the tip cut off to make the opening at the top a little wider.
  5. Make colored circles on top of cake using berry sauce (pictured).

    Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake Recipe from 100 Days of Real Food
  6. Using toothpicks start in the center of the cake and drag through the sauce to the edge. Repeat until desired look is achieved.

  7. For best results serve within a few hours. Keep leftovers refrigerated.

Recipe Notes

Tools needed: squeeze bottle or spoon, and toothpicks.

We recommend organic ingredients when feasible.

Nutrition Facts

Nutrition Facts
Whipped Cream Frosting and Berry Sauce
Amount Per Serving
Calories 869 Calories from Fat 792
% Daily Value*
Fat 88g135%
Saturated Fat 55g344%
Cholesterol 326mg109%
Sodium 91mg4%
Potassium 179mg5%
Carbohydrates 19g6%
Sugar 12g13%
Protein 5g10%
Vitamin A 3500IU70%
Vitamin C 1.4mg2%
Calcium 155mg16%
Iron 0.1mg1%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

 

Related Posts: Whole-Wheat Chocolate Cookies

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About Lisa Leake

Lisa is a wife, mother, foodie, blogger, and New York Times Best-selling author who is on a mission to cut out processed food.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Heather

    October 14, 2019 at 3:05 pm

    I think I can use these colors to make my son an Elmo cake for his 2nd birthday! So thankful for you!!

    Reply
  2. Judith Judd

    February 3, 2018 at 2:26 pm

    The oven temperature is wrong on this cake! What should it be??

    Reply
  3. Jacqueline McIlmoyl

    March 18, 2017 at 2:20 pm

    This cake is delicious. There is no way to tell that it is mostly whole grain! We ate it without the whipped cream on top and it was fantastic. Obviously, the whipped cream would be amazing, but we couldn’t wait that long! :) It was a lovely texture and is nice and moist throughout. We baked it in one 9×11 rectangle pan for 22 minutes.

    Reply
  4. Shibani Chhabria

    March 7, 2017 at 5:16 am

    Made it.. loved it!
    Used olive oil and even added 2 heaped tablespoons of ground flaxseed. Kids loved it and no complaints on the flaxseed.
    Thank you!

    Reply
  5. teressa

    February 2, 2017 at 3:09 am

    What could I use as a sugar substitute? 1.25 cups seems like a lot. I am wanting to make my son’s first birthday cake. Could I use sweet potato or? Any other ideas?

    Reply
    • Kasie

      December 1, 2017 at 2:53 pm

      I am going to attempt to make it with coconut sugar – which is lower on the glycemic scale – and I am going to drop it to 3/4 cups. I always use half the amount of sugar suggested.
      I will let you know how it turns out.

      Reply
    • Amy Taylor (comment moderator)

      March 13, 2017 at 4:22 pm

      Hi. We’ve not tried adapting this recipe.

      Reply
  6. Sarah Dickison

    October 12, 2016 at 11:58 pm

    So wonderful ! Used brown sugar instead, my 14 year old daughter made the cake, the whipped cream frosting and a cherry berry sauce. All 12 kids and 4 adults loved it for Daddy’s birthday !

    Reply
  7. Laura

    June 19, 2016 at 9:58 pm

    Yup – it’s a keeper!!! It even worked great in our bunny shaped cake pan! Thanks for a great recipe!! :-D

    Reply
  8. Jaime

    February 5, 2016 at 10:46 pm

    We absolutely love this cake! I would love to use this recipe for cupcakes – can you give me an idea on baking time? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Caryn

      May 23, 2016 at 12:28 pm

      I made cupcakes and I cooked them for 20 minutes.

      Reply
      • Michelle

        May 16, 2017 at 5:02 pm

        How many cupcakes came out of one batch of cake?

        Reply
  9. sarah oconnell

    November 25, 2015 at 8:23 am

    How can i make the frosting into chocolate frosting? Just add some cocoa powder?

    Reply
    • Amy Taylor (comment moderator)

      November 30, 2015 at 9:16 am

      Hi Sarah. We’ve not tried that. Let us know if you give it a go.

      Reply
  10. michelle

    November 20, 2015 at 8:04 pm

    Does the cake recipe really call for 2 tablespoons of vanilla? Just wondering if it should be teaspoons?? I hope you can answer this question fast…am making it right now! : )

    Reply
    • Amy Taylor (comment moderator)

      November 23, 2015 at 6:11 pm

      Hi. Sorry, we can rarely answer in real time. The 2 T is correct.

      Reply
  11. Cara

    November 17, 2015 at 12:43 pm

    Do you know if this recipe would need to have any high altitude adjustments?

    Reply
    • Amy Taylor (comment moderator)

      November 19, 2015 at 2:07 pm

      Hi Cara. Not sure but this might help: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html.

      Reply
  12. Anna

    September 28, 2015 at 12:43 am

    Great recipe, thanks!

    Right now I’m on whole wheat, no sugar diet. This is the only recipe for chocolate cake that I was able to find that used any whole wheat flour! Do you have any idea how this would taste fully whole wheat and with a sugar substitute?

    Reply
    • Amy Taylor (comment moderator)

      September 30, 2015 at 7:15 am

      Hi Anna. Sorry, we have not tried any substitutes for sugar in this recipe.

      Reply
  13. Meghan Libert

    August 3, 2015 at 10:41 am

    Can I cut this recipie in half for a smaller cake?

    Reply
    • Amy Taylor (comment moderator)

      August 17, 2015 at 9:01 am

      Hi Meghan. We have not tried but some cake recipes might need a bit of adjustment when cut in half. There are numerous threads on various baking/cooking forums. This might help: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/440559.

      Reply
  14. Cara

    July 30, 2015 at 7:44 pm

    I’m not a baker but want to use this recipe for cup cakes for my daughter’s 2nd birthday next week. Can I frost the cup cakes the day before, will the frosting he up?

    Reply
    • Amy Taylor (comment moderator)

      August 4, 2015 at 11:15 am

      Hi Cara. I would wait until the day of to frost them.

      Reply
  15. Jenny

    June 12, 2015 at 9:34 am

    Can I use 1 c of white whole wheat instead of 1 c whole wheat flour?

    Reply
    • Maria

      October 7, 2015 at 10:27 am

      Hi Jenny,

      What I do when I don’t want to use white instead of wholemeal flour is add 20% ground oats or 10% ground flax. That way I’m replacing the good I’m losing from the wholemeal with something as good or better.

      Oats do change the texture though, and generally make something denser. Flax generally keeps things light.

      Reply
    • Amy Taylor (comment moderator)

      June 15, 2015 at 10:11 am

      Hi Jenny. Sure. :)

      Reply
  16. Neal

    May 29, 2015 at 8:37 am

    Any recommendations for a good egg substitute for this recipe? Flax is our go-to usually. Will that work?

    Reply
    • Amy Taylor (comment moderator)

      June 15, 2015 at 11:06 am

      Hi Neal. Other readers have used flax in this recipe.

      Reply

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