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!
GREETINGS FROM CANADA! 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 Land of maple syrup and ice hockey – and a few other things I’m told. 😉 I’m here visiting my friend Jo from Jo Cooks in Calgary. At the time this post goes live, I will have just landed so I will have nothing to report other than being bleary eyed and jet lagged after 18 hours of travel. But stay tuned for updates – especially reports from the Calgary event of the year – CALGARY STAMPEDE!!!!
Getting back to regular foodie chat – this Flourless Chocolate Cake. Usually, it’s made by beating egg whites then folding it through the batter to make it rise. Mine is a “dump and mix” version made using baking powder.
I absolutely swear to you, the way I make this isn’t even about taking the easy way out i.e. avoiding pulling out my stand mixer to beat the egg whites.
This recipe came about because I just didn’t like the way flourless cakes made using egg whites 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 (not by choice). The crater surface annoyed me.
So I fixed it. 🙂 And as it so happens, my fixed version is literally a dump-and-mix job (see video below!).
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 Remind me to share my Flourless Orange Cake one of these days! 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…???
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Flourless Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 200 g / 1 ½ cups dark chocolate (Note 1)
- 120 g / 1 stick melted butter
- ¾ cup / 165g white sugar
- 3 large eggs at room temperature (60g/2oz each+) (Note 2)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¼ cup / 17g cocoa powder (preferably Dutch processed i.e. the more expensive stuff)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 cups / 190g almond meal / almond flour (or hazelnut flour)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (standard) or 160C/320F (fan forced / convection).
- 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:
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. 🙂
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).
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Hi Nagi,,
Im catering for my hubby’s birthday and wonder if your flourless chocolate cake freezes ok? Would make it much easier if it does???
Hi Chris, this should freeze fine – N x
So… the wedding cake story…?
Thank you for sharing this recipe! It’s the perfect consistency – so dense and rich. I made it for my mum’s birthday (she’s coeliac) and topped it with chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries. My partner declared it ‘better than a gluten cake’ which is the highest of praise 😂
Woah that’s great Gemma!!
It was amazing! The whole family loved it! And so easy. Thank you
That’s great to hear Howard!
Hi Nagi, another question, do you think I could add chopped walnuts to this? Would I need to add more liquid?
Hi Linda, walnuts would be great, just fold through at the end!
Hi Nagi, this is a fantastic cake! Crusty edge and super fugey in the inside, kind of like a brownie, but lighter. So I want to make 1.5 x the recipe as have some guests over, but that gives me 4.5 eggs. Assume rounding up to 5 is okay? Also, I’ll use a 9 inch pan. Do I just need to bake a little longer and test using toothpick? Thanks!
Hi Linda, yes use 5 eggs, you’ll need to cook longer so just keep an eye on it – N x
I’ve baked flourless choc cake using different recipe that involved creaming butter/sugar sugar and whipping meringue. Your recipe is simpler, faster and with significantly less washing. I don’t even have to take out my mixer! The results from both recipes are very similar (a tad difference in texture). Yours is a definite winner!
You’re converted Yoona!! – N x
This is the very best cake of its kind! Unbelievably easy! I made it for my brother’s birthday and he thought that I had purchased it from an expensive patisserie! I have baked it in a normal oven and a Weber Q kettle with equal success.
Woah that’s great Ross!
Hi Nagi, can we replace the sugar with stevia or xylitol to make it sugar-free. Would it change the taste or consistency? Thanks.
Hi Mia, it would definitely change the texture & taste, but I haven’t tried it so I can’t give you accurate feedback on whether it would work – N x
I’m so excited I found your recipe Nagi, it is so easy to make and just divine! I’ve made it twice already! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad you love it Anna, thanks for letting me know!
Delicious! The crumb of the cake is very luxurious.
I baked cakes over the Wednesday and Thursday and stored some in foil and clingwrap because I didn’t have enough airtight containers and they were still moist on the Saturday. I stacked two cakes, using dark chocolate ganache in the middle and the sides. Worked wonderfully. Thank you!
Sounds like you nailed it Julia!
Hi Nagi!! I’m so excited to try this. Can I sub the butter for oil? My family is dairy free/ gluten free
Hi Lillie, I haven’t tried to be honest!
I looked at a lot of recipes and liked the simplicity of making this. I made it 4 days ago w a slog of rum and shot expresso and it was nice but I knew from the batter it wasn’t great. This time I added a good pinch of salt flakes, aged port, 2 shots expresso and caramel latte powder which lifted flavour substantially.
Tip. I put a circle of baking paper a bit bigger than my tin on the bottom snap on the sides, spray w non stick oil, dust w cocoa. Let cool and transport in pan (run knife around the edge after 10 mins out of oven ) then paper peels off perfectly.
I didn’t love strawberries & normal whipped cream with this suggest chantilly or quenelles of 35% w raspberries
Hi Nagi. Making this now in 20 cm lined cake tin as didn’t have correct sized springform pan. Not sure how long to cool it in the tin before removing, as no sides to remove etc. Thank you
Magnificent cake!! Super fudgy and delicious. Gets better each day. Amazing! Thank you
That’s great to hear Kellie – sounds like your self control is much better than mine 😂🙊