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 is really quick and easy to make. It’s also moist and fudgey without being too sweet. As an added bonus, it’s also gluten free!
Will definitely make this again. Needed a quick gf work cake, but short on ingredients. Made 2/3 of the recipe and it was perfectly delicious and very well received!
Hi Nagi and all,
I’ve made this cake in the past and it was very well received. I was wondering if you or anyone else can let me know if you’ve made this vegan? If so what are you substitutions?
Thank you in advance!
Mel x
I made this a couple of times and it was super dry, I can’t work out why it wasn’t working for me, just made it again with only one cup of almond flour but the batter looks much better.
Oops, forgot to give it a star rating.. Definitely 5/5!
Best chocolate cake ever!! I’ve made this so may times. I’m wondering if it can be frozen?
So good! Made this twice in 2 weeks as our guests loved the first one I made and took some leftovers home for the next day. The texture is like a mix between a brownie and mud cake. Thanks for the recipe Nagi.
To all the kind people who answered my query about the measure of chocolate, thank you so much!!
Yummy this turned our better then expected as I bite into this warm cake that I couldn’t wait to cool down.
I didn’t have enough Almond meal flour so substituted with hazelnut meal and it was about half and half.
Then I didn’t have dark or milk chocolate enough either i just had 100g of milk chocolate and 100g of white chocolate buttons and that worked out too.
Gave the tiniest pinch of salt as I find the hazelnut meal a bit too sweet when I tried the batter and wow im surprised it came together nicely!
So grateful for you Nagi. To think 6 months ago I was only tradinf your recipes and then I started making heaps of things and I’m starting to think I can cook. 🙂
Can I use semi sweet chocolate chips in place of feel chocolate??
Hi Nagi.
Would you have any idea about how to work with real dark chocolate (not baking one) in this recipe, as I know someone with severe dairy allergy. Anyone who tried with 80% dark cocoa chocolate please let me know.
Made this with my son for father’s Day and eventhough my husband isn’t too much of a fan of chocolate cake he couldn’t stop raving about this cake. It was exactly how described in the recipe and will be be my now go to chocolate cake. Note: I did substitute the vanilla essence for tiramisu essence instead, added 2 heaped table spoons of decisicated coconut and only used 1/4 cup sugar as we don’t like overly sweet cakes. Delicious!
Wow this cake is amazing. I’m not gluten free but my sister is and I’d choose this any day it’s the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. I also did it with the fresh strawberries and cream. I also had some strawberries that I didn’t think would last much longer so I found your recipe for strawberry cheesecake and made the strawberry sauce to have with this cake and wow it was the most decadent dessert just so delicious!!!
I had a craving for chocolate cake at 10pm on a Saturday night and this cake did not disappoint. The ingredients are very similar to what is in an Italian torta caprese. I’m OBSESSED. Can’t wait to make it for my nonna.
Crackly on the outside and very moist in the inside. My new go-to chocolate cake. Thank you for the wonderful recipe. It’s so easy to put it together
Hi Nagi, but confused.😁
If you use slab chocolate you say to weigh it but I can’t see how much? I know I’ve already said that but the answer I got from Linda was to click the conversion button at the top of the recipe- well I can’t find any conversion button either🥴
Hi Nagi, but confused.😁
If you use slab chocolate you say to weigh it but I can’t see how much?
At top of Ingredients List, you need to click for ‘metric’ instead of ‘cups.’
Almost teared up once I had a bite, exactly what I was looking for in a chocolate cake! The almond flour gives it the dense nutty texture I love while it being not too sweet. I added silvered almonds on top before baking for an added crunch.
Thank you Nagi!
Made this for a “do” with a few needing Gluten Free options. I had to cut some slices and hide them for those that had no other choices. This was because everyone just loved it. A friend is a caterer and was raving about it and she’s normally cynical about others baking. It was absolutely delicious whether you’re GF or not.
Made this recipe but poured the batter into cupcake cups instead and they came out great!
Hi I love your flourless chocolate cake recipe. Can I substitute oil for the butter to make it dairy free?