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Fudgy Flourless Chocolate Cake

3.6

(96)

Image may contain Food Dessert Confectionery Sweets Ice Cream Creme and Cream
Photo by Chelsie Craig, Food Styling by Rhoda Boone

This (gluten-free!) flourless chocolate cake is decadent, rich, and easy to make as long as you pay attention to some key steps. First, you must have an oven thermometer to gauge the exact temperature in your oven. You also need to have patience when you're beating the sugar and eggs together—in the end, they should be light, airy, and have tripled in volume. If you follow these tips, the result is a delicate cake that wants nothing more than a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream and a sprinkling of crunchy toasted hazelnuts for contrast.

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What you’ll need

Recipe information

  • Yield

    8–10 servings

Ingredients

¾

cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pan

12

oz. good-quality bittersweet chocolate

6

large eggs

1¼

cups granulated sugar

1

tsp. kosher salt

1

tsp. vanilla extract

½

cup raw hazelnuts

1

cup cold heavy cream

Powdered sugar (for serving)

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 325°. Using your fingertips, generously butter bottom and sides of a 9" round cake pan (make sure pan is at least 2" deep). Line bottom of pan with parchment paper, smoothing to eliminate air bubbles. (It may sound fancy, but making a parchment circle is easy! Place pan on a piece of parchment, trace circumference with a pencil, then cut it out.)

    Step 2

    Coarsely chop 12 oz. good-quality bittersweet chocolate into ½" pieces. Transfer to a medium saucepan.

    Step 3

    Add ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter to saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally with a heatproof spatula, until butter and chocolate are melted, about 8 minutes. (Alternatively, microwave chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl in short bursts, stirring in between, until melted and homogenous.)

    Step 4

    Remove pan from heat and let cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes. (You can encourage chocolate mixture to cool faster by occasionally stirring it.)

    Step 5

    Meanwhile, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat 6 large eggs, 1¼ cups granulated sugar, 1 tsp. kosher salt, and 1 tsp. vanilla in a large bowl until pale yellow and fluffy, 8–11 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when the egg mixture has almost tripled in volume, the beaters start to create a ribboning effect, and when you lift the beaters, the mixture should leave a trail as it falls back on itself.

    Step 6

    Pour in chocolate mixture. Gently fold two mixtures together with a rubber spatula by scooping underneath, then cutting through the middle with the side of the spatula. Continue to work in this motion juuuuust until batter is well combined and homogenous—take care not to overmix!

    Step 7

    Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until a thin, dry crust has formed on the surface, and cake has risen and is firmed up but still wobbles ever-so-slightly in the center underneath the crust, 30–40 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan about 10 minutes.

    Step 8

    While cake cools, roast ½ cup raw hazelnuts on a small rimmed baking sheet until lightly browned, 10–12 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board. Let cool, then coarsely chop.

    Step 9

    Place a flat cutting board or large plate over pan. Using a towel to protect your hands, swiftly invert plate and pan; cake should release on its own. Lift pan off, then peel off parchment.

    Step 10

    Gently place a flat platter or cake stand onto cake and invert again. Be careful because this cake is very delicate! It’s okay if there are some cracks along the top; the beauty is in the imperfection. Let cake cool to room temperature.

    Step 11

    Vigorously whisk 1 cup cold heavy cream in a medium bowl until medium peaks form.

    Step 12

    Sift powdered sugar over cooled cake.

    Step 13

    Serve cake with whipped cream and hazelnuts alongside.

    Step 14

    Do Ahead: Cake (without powdered sugar) can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic and store at room temperature.

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Reviews (96)

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  • Love this recipe! I've made it three times now and it's a huge hit. However I have found that it needs quite a bit more than 30-40 minutes bake time. Like other reviewers, it needed about 60 minutes of bake time in my oven. I recommend being prepared to test the done-ness periodically. I used a bamboo skewer and that worked really well because this cake gets quite tall. The cracks that form in the top are an ideal spot for inconspicuous testing.

    • Dack Jonaghy

    • San Francisco

    • 1/13/2024

  • I just served this cake I made yesterday. Delicious!!! While timing the egg beating to the recipe recommended 8 to 11 minutes, the mixture wasn't light and fluffy and didn't triple in volume. 20 minutes worked. The eggs were cold but I tried room temperature too and there was a difference; cold beat up faster. Also, cooking time at 40 to 50 minutes was producing a very uncooked middle. 1 hour at 325 convection worked perfectly. Whipped cream and toasted nuts on the side with a sprinkling of powdered sugar at cake serving time was pretty and delicious. I'll make this again for holidays and form gluten free guests

    • E J

    • Katonah, New York

    • 10/31/2022

  • Taste was great but collapsed in the middle. I think maybe I underbaked it? I always find baking times are a bit different in the UK. They shouldn’t be-should be a direct conversion but somehow I never get baking recipes quite right here

    • Megan S

    • London, UK

    • 4/16/2022

  • I would like to make this in a 6 inch pan. How would I convert the ingredients? Thank you.

    • Shari

    • New Jersey

    • 1/29/2022

  • I made this last night on a whim because I had everything needed minus hazelnuts. This turned out great! I used other reviewers suggestions and baked it 45 minutes. I was terrified when it came out thinking that I had overbaked it. But it still came out great.

    • Adrienne M

    • Houston, Texas

    • 12/30/2021

  • I liked your old flourless chocolate cake better. It called for eggs to be separated. Recipe at this point is the same BUT don’t put egg whites in yet. You whipped eggs whites separately until fluffy and peaks. Folded that in after your chocolate mix. Cake comes out less wobbly and doesn’t sink. And it was one flip out of springform pan. Not 2. So bottom became top. Please bring back your old recipe out of the magazine.

    • Jan G

    • California

    • 12/22/2021

  • This cake is a great recipe for impressing a crowd (it's a very rich cake and will last quite a few days after making since it's all moisture - i would store this in a dry space - not a fridge, otherwise it's impossible to cut cleanly). When you're tipping in the melted butter/choc mixture, stir a little bit of the Sabayon (the whipped egg) to the chocolate - this helps the hot mix emulsify better with the egg without knocking the air out. You also need to whip the sabayon for about 20 mins, as a rough guide, to get really a great airy mix. We make this with a melted white chocolate drizzle, lime zest and a little sprinkling of chilli powder for a zesty serving - with chocolate soil (a mix of sugar or glucose, water and chocolate) if you want to be extra fancy!

    • Harriet

    • Bristol, UK

    • 9/13/2021