Fudgey and decadent, this is my (extremely) easy flourless chocolate cake made using almond flour. No beating egg whites – I find it works better to use a touch of baking powder instead. The surface of the cake stays level rather than rising then collapsing into a crater, and the inside has a tender crumb instead of being dense. And the added bonus is that it’s ridiculously fast to make!
Flourless Chocolate Cake
This recipe is how I make flourless chocolate cake which is not the usual way but I think it yields better results with the bonus that it’s easier to make. That’s a double win in my books!
Usually, flourless chocolate cake is made by beating egg whites then folding it through the batter to make it rise. However, I almost always found that the cake would rise while baking, but then collapse into a crater while cooling. Or, if it didn’t collapse while cooling, I would tip toe around it with fear that the slightest floor vibration would make it collapse, and scold Dozer if he dared to trot through the house with his heavy footed paws.
Even if it held up while cooling, with the first cut, it would definitely collapse. And forget decorations! OR – use the decorations to hide the crater.
You get my drift. I like flourless chocolate cake – and one of my best friends’ is gluten free. The crater surface annoyed me.
So I fixed it. 🙂 A simple “dump and mix” version made with the aid of a bit of baking powder which makes the same fudge flourless chocolate cake that is much more stable.
It took a few goes to get it right. I was interested to find that almond flour / almond meal is highly sensitive to baking powder. Normally, the flour to baking powder ratio is 1 cup : 2 teaspoons, so I tried this with almond flour. The lift this gave the cake while baking was astonishing – it almost overflowed.
Then when I took it out of the oven, it collapsed.
Again – a crater. Humph!
So I tried again, drastically cutting down the baking powder to 1/4 tsp to 1 cup of almond flour. And was amazed that it worked – perfectly. Enough lift to give this cake a crumb like a cake, rather than being brownie-fudgey, but not so much that the surface rises then collapses into a carter surface.
No more craters! No more craters!
It is really hard to capture the texture of this cake in photos. It’s fudgey, but not dense fudgey like brownies. It’s got more of a cake-like texture, but it is much fudgier than normal cakes. Fudgier than my Chocolate Fudge Cake.
It looks like it’s going to crumble but it doesn’t because it’s so moist. It’s intensely chocolatey with beautiful almond undertones, and the surface has a fine crackly layer – like brownies.
It’s really, really good. I’ve made it multiple times since I created it and have no intentions of ever reverting back to the “normal” way of making flourless chocolate cakes i.e. beating egg whites. It’s not just easier. I truly think this is better.
And…you know…..NO CRATER SURFACE!!!! 😉 – Nagi xx
PS. I’ve also finally shared my Whole Orange Cake, which is also flourless and child’s play to make! It’s the cake I made at a wedding I’ve spoken about previously which was held on a remote river. I made a tiered wedding cake from scratch without an oven. Curious…???
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe video! Best way to see the texture of the cake i.e. moist, tender crumb but fudgey, not dense and mud cake like. It was difficult to capture in photos. 🙂
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Flourless Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (Note 1)
- 120g / 1 stick unsalted butter , melted
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3 large eggs at room temperature (60g/2oz each+) (Note 2)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder , sfited (preferably Dutch processed i.e. the more expensive stuff)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups almond meal / almond flour (or hazelnut flour)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (160°C fan).
- Butter and line a 20cm / 8" spring form pan.
- Melt chocolate and butter in microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between until smooth.
- Whisk in sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, whisking well until combined,
- Switch to wooden spoon. Add cocoa powder, baking powder and almond meal, fold through until just combined.
- Pour batter into pan, bake 45 min until top has thin crust and skewer comes out clean, not smeared with batter.
- Cool cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove sides. Cool completely on rack before carefully removing base.
- Dust with cocoa powder then serve. I served mine with strawberries and dollop cream, but it doesn’t need it!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Dozer only has 5 modes: #1 Sleeping #2 Eating #3 Hoping to eat #4 Playing #5 Hoping to play.
This is #5. (And you’ll see #3 in the video).
This cake was outstanding! I followed the recipe with just two minor changes: I added 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract, and an additional 2 T of sugar (my chocolate was 60% and the batter was tasting a bit bitter). I took it out of the oven at 40″ and it was perfect.
Excellent- you need to monitor the cooking closely – under cooked is better than over
This came out very disappointing. Didn’t rise at all, and has a hard crust on the outside. I followed recipe to a T, so not sure what happened.
OH MY , SOOO GOOD
PLEASE TRY IT. 😋😎😘
Can you use milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate? Thanks Joanne
LOVE this cake.. it was delicious. So so good. I made a dark chocolate ganache a put in to top.. Dare I say it’s better than a chocolate cake with wheat flour..
I have made this excellent recipe many times now, and it has become my favorite for a simple elegant dessert. Thanks, Nagi, for putting in the hard work to perfect this recipe for us.
Made this with monkfruit sweetener instead of sugar and it was amazing and only 7g of carbs per serving
This is the first time I’ve made this recipe using milk chocolate chip as I’d ordered the wrong ones. It was still amazing. My hubby who is GF loves this cake so it’s on speed dial. However he preferred it with the milk chocolate as he’s not a big fan of dark chocolate. Amazing thanks Nagi.
My family love it when I bring this cake for lunch. With raspberries and cream it’s divine and very easy. Thanks for a great recipe!
Can I use locanto sugar or brown sugar for this recipe? If not can you explain why?
Thanks
Best flourless chocolate cake I have ever tasted👌🏼 Highly recommend
Hi, can I use Milk Chocolate in this recipe, in place of Dark Chocolate? I have no Dark Chocolate on hand.
You can use milk chocolate! I always do 50/50 milk and dark so it isn’t as rich.
Made this for a friend’s birthday who is gluten free & it was amazing, better than normal cake. It is rather flat so it looks a bit underwhelming but it makes up for it in taste and texture.
So easy and the house smells so good when it’s cooking!
It’s my go to chocolate cake now – I do like it with the strawberries/ any berries to cut through the richness
I made the flourless chocolate cake this afternoon it turned out perfectly. I think I’ll serve it with strawberries and cream as suggested. Looking forward to tasting it tomorrow.
Thanks Nagi for all your amazing recipes.
Make this and took it to work – it was a hit! I think I over baked it (was in a small tin, so had to keep in oven for longer), and this morning I could knock on it and it sounded like wood… but was so fudgey and delicious! Will make again (in a different tin).
This was brilliant. I’m not much of a cook but wanted to bake my wife a birthday cake, and this turned out amazingly well- I certainly surprised myself! Easy to follow instructions for a delicious birthday treat. Wife was very happy with the result!
I don’t know why but when I use the fan forced temp and timing I always need to add another 20-30 mins !
This is the easiest bit also the best GF chocolate cake recipe. As a Pastry Chef I used to make one at work that was the normal meringue based GF cake but it always used to sink and look so ugly when presenting it. This one is amazing and is so moist and pretty. All it needs is a good dollop of cream and/or ice
cream