Flour-less Chocolate Cake Recipe

I love chocolate, and if it’s in the form of a cake, even better. You can never go wrong, and I think in this COVID era, it’s important to enjoy little pleasures where possible. This flour-less chocolate cake is taken from my ski season days and is a well reviewed dessert that needs to be shared. The recipe is simple, quick to make and without the need for flour, it’s gluten-free – so semi healthy, right? 

The ingredients and method below outline the basic process for making this flour-less chocolate cake as it is. The result, a thick and dense chocolatey cake that’s incredibly moorish. But, if you’d like to add an additional flavour to the basic recipe, here are two complimentary alternatives to vary the taste and add a bit of panache.

If you’re a chocoholic, like me, why not try this easy chocolate cake with sprinkles recipe.

For a minty flavour: 

*Instead of 300g dark chocolate (as the recipe below states), add 250g dark chocolate with 50g mint flavoured chocolate, eg. After Eights. Serve with crème fraîche and a sprig of mint. 

For an orange flavour:

*Instead of 300g dark chocolate (as the recipe below states), add 250g dark chocolate with 50g orange flavoured chocolate, eg Terry’s Chocolate Orange and the zest of 1 orange. Serve with crème fraîche and a sprinkling of any remaining orange zest. 

Anyway, here’s what you really want; the full recipe on how to make this scrummy flour-less chocolate cake.

Flour-less chocolate cake recipe

Serves 12
Prep time: 20-30 mins
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes 

Ingredients

300g / 10.5 oz dark chocolate (70%+) *
50g / 1.7 oz butter (plus a little extra for greasing)
6 eggs, separated
50g / 1.7 oz caster sugar

Serve with

1 heaped table spoon Greek yogurt or crème fraîche
Fresh berries

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a round baking tin with parchment, covering the base and sides. To make the parchment stick to the tin, smooth a teaspoon (tsp) of butter all over and then place the baking sheets into position. Set aside. 

TIP: Below is a guide on how to turn a sheet of baking parchment into a circle to cover the base of your tin. When tearing the parchment, make sure you have a sheet a few centimetres wider than the width of the tin. To line the inner sides of the tin, simply tear two long strips (the length of your baking parchment roll), stick to the circumference of the tin and remove any excess.

Place the chocolate and butter into a heatproof bowl and sit it over a small saucepan half filled with simmering water. Make sure the base of the bowl isn’t touching the hot water as you don’t want it to burn the ingredients or boil over. Stir the mixture occasionally until it has melted and remove from the heat.

Using two large, clean mixing bowls, one by one, separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs.

How to separate eggs

Do this by carefully cracking an egg horizontally on a surface and hovering over one of the bowls. Gently separate the shell as equally as you can with the yolk intact, so you have half an upturned egg cup in each hand.

Gently pass the yolk from one egg shell to the other by tipping it slowly and allowing the whites of the egg to fall into the bowl below.

Repeat until you have allowed as much of the white to fall and place the yolk into the second bowl. Continue with all the eggs until you have one bowl of egg whites and another bowl of yolks.

Don’t worry if some of the white gets into the yolk bowl, however try not to get any yolk in the whites bowl as this will hinder the next step in whisking them!

TIP: If the yolk gets into the whites bowl, try to remove as much as you can by using the empty shell to scoop any yolk out.

Place 2 tablespoons of the caster sugar into the yolk bowl and set aside. Whisk the egg whites (preferably with an electric whisk – you’ll thank me later) and slowly add the remaining sugar bit by bit until it’s all combined and stiff peaks are formed. If done correctly, you should be able to tip the bowl of stiffened egg whites over your head and it shouldn’t fall out – (Good luck)! Set aside.

Next, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until the mixture is pale and thick. This can take 3-5 minutes and you’re looking for ribbons to form on top when the mixture is drizzled over itself. 

Pour the cooled melted chocolate and butter mixture into the yolky sugar and combine with a rubber spatula until smooth.

Next, add a third of the whisked egg whites into the chocolate mixture and stir. This will help loosen the mixture. 

Add the remaining egg whites into the chocolate bowl and gently fold them until the mixture is fully combined. Use large, slow movements as you don’t want to knock out any of the air you’ve whisked into the whites. Don’t overmix either! If there are any large white blobs, gently break them up to combine.

Slowly pour into the lined tin, carefully guiding the mixture out with the spatula.

Place into the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and slightly firm on top. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool fully before serving. Don’t panic though as it will sink! 

To serve

Once cooled, serve with yogurt or crème fraîche and fresh berries for a delicious combination. 

This flour-less chocolate cake is any chocolate lover’s heaven. You don’t need much as it’s intense in flavour, but the light freshness of the yogurt and berries helps balance out the thick chocolate taste. 

It’s also a great dinner party dessert as it can be easily made in the morning, left until needed and then quickly put together just before serving.

Hope this recipe helps you get through the next bout of lockdown life!

To watch how I create this cake, follow my baking Instagram page: @theardentbakery.

For more recipes, head to my baking section.

Els x