Flourless Chocolate Cake

This flourless chocolate cake with a chocolate cream topping is almost souffle like, intentionally cracking and caving in the middle to create the perfect home for the chocolate cream topping! It’s wonderfully delightful! Leavened only with egg whites, it’s naturally gluten free. 

I generally love chocolate cake it all its forms.  Whether it’s double layer and frosted with buttercream, or dense and fudgy, more closely resembling a torte. I truly believe there’s a chocolate cake for every occasion! 

Flourless chocolate cakes are great to make when you first start baking gluten free, as they are naturally gluten free, and require no special ingredients.  They can quickly and easily reassure the newly gluten free, that living gluten free does not mean living without chocolate cake!

Depending on the technique used, especially when it comes to the eggs, flourless cakes can have very different appearances and textures. This one is almost souffle like, intentionally caving in the middle to create the perfect home for all that chocolaty whipped creamy goodness! It’s truly indulgent, but doesn’t feel as dense as some other flourless cakes can. 

This cake is adapted from Richard Sax’s classic Chocolate Cloud Cake. 

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Top Tips for Perfect Flourless Chocolate Cake
• Substitutions
• Storage
• Recipe Card

Ingredients

• chopped chocolate or chocolate chips, semi-sweet
• butter
• cocoa powder
• instant espresso powder
• vanilla
• eggs
• granulated sugar

Chocolate Cream Topping

• whipping cream
• icing sugar
• cocoa powder

See recipe card for quantities.

Ingredient Notes

Butter:  I use regular salted butter, but if you use unsalted butter, add ¼ teaspoon of salt.

Chocolate:  I find the combination of semi-sweet chocolate and the additional cocoa powder creates the right level of chocolate intensity, but you can use darker or lighter chocolate based on your preference. 

Cocoa powder:  I use dutch-processed cocoa powder for this recipe. 

Espresso powder:  You don’t taste any coffee flavour in the finished cake itself, the espresso powder just intensifies the chocolate taste, but you can leave out if you prefer. 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).  Grease an 8” springform pan and line the bottom with parchment.  In a large, microwave-safe bowl, add the chocolate and butter.  Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave, using 20 second intervals, stirring between each.  Generally, 40 seconds total is sufficient.

2. Sift the cocoa powder and espresso powder into the melted chocolate mixture.  Add the vanilla.  Stir until mixture is smooth. 

3. In another bowl, whisk the 4 egg yolks and 2 whole eggs with a ¼ cup of the sugar. 

4. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg yolk mixture and gently stir until combined. 

5. Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat until foamy, then gradually add ½ cup of the sugar and beat until firm peaks (the whites are holding their shape, but not too stiff, the tip of the peak curls over itself when the beater is lifted). 

6. Add a third of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture and stir until combined.  

7. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites.  Pour the mixture into the prepared springform pan. 

8. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cake is risen and cracked and the centre doesn’t jiggle. 

9. Allow the cake to cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 1 hour. The cake will sink in the middle as it cools.  Carefully release the sides of the pan and slide the cake onto a flat serving plate or cake stand. 

10. To make the chocolate cream, add the whipping cream to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip the cream until soft and then sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder.  Continue whisking until the cream is firm but not stiff. 

11. Top the cake with the cream; drop the cream onto the sunken part of the cake and gently spread it out towards the edges of the cake. Lightly dust with cocoa powder. 

Substitutions

Make it FODMAP friendly: use lactose-free whipping cream for the chocolate cream topping.  The amount of lactose in the chocolate and butter in the cake should be within acceptable limits per serving size, but of course will depend on personal tolerance. 

Storage

The cake is best eaten the day it is made.  You can make the cake earlier in the day and store at room temperature, but make the cream topping just before serving.  Store any leftovers in the fridge. 

Recipe Card