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 was truly a cinch to make.
If you like Japanese level sweetness, you can probably cut the sugar by half. I found it a bit overly sweet. Also, I learned that if you use a larger cake pan than the one asked for, it’s important to reduce the baking time. Mine came out a tad hard and dry in the edges.
Hello Nagi,
Is this cake all good to freeze, and how long?
Thanks in advance!
Hello is this ok to freeze ?
I just started to go gluten free so your chocolate cake recipe comes at the perfect time. By the way I love Dozer, he’s gorgeous
Nagi, I love love love all your recipe but I’m afraid this one didn’t work for me. No idea what I did wrong but it didn’t rise whatsoever and I followed the recipe to the tee. It’s turned out like a really nice smelling brick. I wonder if the baking powder didn’t distribute properly?
Thank you so much for the recipe.
I’ve been making my own almond meal and cocoa powder and needed a way to use it.
This cake is perfect!
i have a block of Trader Joe’s dark chocolate, which i assume is an eating chocolate, and a bag of callebaut milk chocolate baking discs. is either of these usable for the flourless chocolate cake?
Love this recipe…
Flavour is beautiful.
Worked with Cadbury Old Gold Chocolate.
Thanks Nagi, for this great recipe. I have baked it several times now, I substitute the sugar with stevia. So its guilt free too! Chocolatety Delicious.
Yum
Worked out really well- a bit like a brownie :))
Thankyou
So good and so easy! This recipe is a treasure. The whole family loved this and begged me to make again.
Best cake ever.
I used low quality choc & cocoa, as that was all I had available, and still turned out delicious (imagine what it would be like with the good stuff!).
So easy I made it with one hand as was holding a baby with the other (few eggshells never hurt).
Then my oven turned itself off half way through, and I had to guess when it was done- turned out perfectly. Thanks for the fool proof recipe!!
Beautiful….so easy to make…
Made it as a birthday cake and everyone loved it. Served it with a dollop cream.
I made this cake a few days ago and it was fantastic. Really quick to make and tasted great with no sinking
I made this and took it out at 55 minutes. After about 10 minutes it sunk on one side. Just wondering what may have gone wrong. Tastes great, moist and lovely. Just looks average.
It will most likely be your oven. I baked mine for 45 mins, checked and gave it another 5 mins. I used 170º fan forced and it was perfect. I find the the -20º for fan forced doesn’t work for my Miele oven
Hi Nagi, does this cake freeze well?
I made this yesterday and it is DELICIOUS! And I keep telling everyone it’s flourless and so therefore fat free and guilt free 😄 no one is buying it but everyone loves it anyway.
Came out fantastic and i used the cheap chocolate chips. Really nice heated with icecream.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Jessica!! N x
180C makes the top all burnt. Even 160C! Like black. Surely it is not my oven. What can I do?
Hi Sharon! Are you sure you had the fan element only on and not the top grilling element? And what brand of baking chocolate did you use? N x
I love it! Finally a recipe that won’t sink in in the middle. I baked it in the airfryer. 30min on 160 degrees. It came out perfect