Flourless Chocolate Cake

Looking for an rich, indulgent, airy chocolate cake made without gluten-free flours. Then this is the perfect chocolate cake for you. It uses plenty of whipped egg whites to creature an airy texture. While combined with rich dark chocolate, Amaretto, and ground almond leading to an exceptional cake to please any crowd at the end of a dinner party. Or even just a weekend treat for family.

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Ingredients you'll need

I always recommend using the best quality ingredients and sustainably sourced when possible. Also, if this is your first time cooking gluten-free for someone with Coeliac disease, I always recommend checking the ingredients label before using because Gluten can sneak into recipes when you least expect it. Below is each ingredient you will need:

• Neutral oil - Any neutral oil will work in this recipe, I tend to use for vegetable or sunflower oil but canola, grape seed, and peanut oil will also work. However, some of these oils can be more expensive in the UK. As the majority of the flavour comes from the chocolate and amaretto, it's best to use a cheap neutral oil.

• 60-70% cocoa chocolate - When I make this recipe, I tend to use a 70% cocoa dark chocolate for a more rich bitter flavour. You could use a little chocolate but this will increase the sugar content making a sweet flourless chocolate cake. It's also wise to check the labels for gluten or dairy if you making this recipe for those with an intolerance.

• Egg - I only cook with organic free-range eggs. However, I am conscious that cooking gluten-free is already very expensive, so any quality egg will do. The egg quality won't change the flavour of this flourless chocolate cake especially as the chocolate and amaretto have such a strong flavour profile.

• Vanilla extract - Use a high quality vanilla extra. Avoid vanilla flavouring or essence the synthetic flavour can be more potent while lacking the complex notes of a natural extra.

• Almond flour - Okay technical this flourless chocolate cake has flour but almond flour isn't your typical refined white all purpose flour. It's ground almond that are naturally gluten-free, full of proteins and fat, and helps give this cake some additional support. Plus, additional baking tip for your left over almond flour, swapping out 40g of plain flour for almond flour creates rich moister gluten-free cakes and muffins.

• Cocoa powder - I only ever cook with natural cocoa powder. You could experiment with using Dutch-processed cocoa powder. However, the overall finished cookies might differ from this recipe.

• Salt - Table salt is all you need. Don't be afraid of adding salt to your baked goods, as salt helps enhance flavours.

• Demerara sugar - This will create the beautiful molten texture and appearance of the finalised cookies. You can use white granulated sugar as this will also create a similar effect.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a question you want to ask that isn't in this section, please feel free to send me a direct message or drop a comment at the bottom of the recipe. I aim to answer every question, ensuring you create perfect recipes every time.

Do I have to use a double boiler? Can't I just use the microwave?

The double boiler is your best friend when it comes to melting chocolate, it give you more control and melts from the outside in. While technically you can use the microwave, due to it melting inside out and the bowl being hidden from easy sight its more likely to over melt and burn. If you do use a microwave check the chocolate every few seconds until glossy and smooth. Then mix in the oil, water, and amaretto.

Can I leave the amaretto out?

Yes, just swap the amaretto out for 3 tbsp of water to get the water ratio correct. If you still want the almond flavour, you can add 1/2 tsp of almond extract with the vanilla extract.

Can I make this flourless chocolate cake recipe gluten-free?

This chocolate cake is 100% gluten-free thanks to the use of almond flour and whipped egg whites. Plus, as someone who can't eat gluten all my recipes are 100% gluten-free, meaning you don't have to worry about adapting this recipes to suite your dietary needs.

Can I make this chocolate cake recipe dairy-free?

Most of my recipes are dairy-free due to feeling better not eating dairy. Plus, my partner is lactose intolerant. So, I like to ensure my recipes are dairy-free for him too! This recipe achieves this by using vegan block butter as its source of fat. Whereas in a typical cookie recipe, dairy butter would be used. Some dairy-free recipes call for using oil as its fat source, but I would advise against this for this cookie recipe. As it will prevent the cookie batter from hardening when cool. As with all allergens, if you are cooking for someone with an allergy or intolerance, be cautious of cross-contamination.

Can I make this flourless chocolate cake vegan?

At the moment, I don't have a good solution for turning this cake vegan as it uses egg whites for the man structure. It's best to search online for an alternative vegan flourless chocolate cake.

How do I store this flourless chocolate cake?

To keep it fresh, I recommend storing the cake in an air-tight container for up to three days in the fridge. Due to it's high egg content the cake is best not left out for long period of time as it can spoil quickly and often becomes soggy. For best flavour, I recommend eating this the day of baking or within 24 hours.

Can I freeze this glute-free chocolate cake?

Its so delicious and such a crowd pleaser that it's never been around long enough for me to test this. But if you do want to keep some in the freezer for a rainy day. I recommend sealing in an airtight container and using within three months of freezing. When you want to eat the cake, it's best to leave thaw at room temperature for 4 hours.

Recipe

Here's my recipe for a flourless chocolate cake that's 100% gluten and dairy-free!

Serving: 8-12 slices

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 30-35 minutes

Special Equipment

• Stand mixer with a whisk attachment or an electric hand whisk

• Sauce pan and glass bowl for the double boiler

• 8 inch springform tin

Ingredients

• 180g Neutral oil such as vegetable oil

• 280g 70% dark chocolate

• 3 tbsp amaretto

• 1/4 cup water

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 3 egg yolks

• 60g almond flour

• 3 eggs whites

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 125g white sugar

• 2 tbsp Demerara sugar (or white sugar)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 175°c and lightly oil the 8inch springform pan. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of Demerara or white sugar around the pan, gentle tapping to ensure it covers the pan.

2. Create a double boiler by placing a saucepan half full of water with a bowl on top. Ensure the bowl doesn't touch the water.

3. Bring the water to the boil then allow to simmer.

4. Melt the 70% cocoa chocolate, neutral oil, amaretto, and water. Stirring until it glossy then remove of the heat, allowing to cool down and set aside.

5. Whisk the egg whites with salt on low. Once it's starts to create a white gloss increase to high. You want to whisk the egg whites until it turns to stiff peaks when you hold the whisk up straight, the egg should stay in place.

6. Go back to the cooled melted chocolate. Stir in the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and almond flour, it might start to look a little separated but this is okay.

7. Fold in chocolate mixture into the egg whites. It's best to do this in three separate batches, reducing the rate of stirring towards to the third batch to ensure you don't beat out the air from the egg whites.

8. Pour into the 8inch springform pan and sprinkle with the remaining tbsp of sugar.

9. Place in the center of the oven for 30-35 minutes, until a cocktail stick or cake tester comes clean.

10. Allow to cool before taking out of the pan and serving with vanilla soya ice cream. The ice cream is optional.

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For more gluten and dairy-free cake recipes, visit proudlyglutenfree.com