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Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache is made with only four ingredients plus berries to create an easy yet impressive dessert. This cake is naturally gluten free and contains no added sugar but is subtly sweet and delicious!
Flourless chocolate cake is rich, fudgy, and delicious. Add chocolate ganache and it’s a chocolate lovers dream. This impressive dessert requires only four ingredients – chocolate, butter, eggs and heavy cream. Add some fresh berries and it’s a beautiful dessert worth sharing.
Make this cake for a birthday, Valentine’s Day or even a dinner party. It comes together relatively easily and creates a delectable dessert that everyone loves.
It tastes like a giant chocolate truffle! Serve it with an impressive dinner like Steak and Lobster Surf and Turf!
Ingredients You Need
It is not recommended to substitute any ingredients in this cake. The ingredients for this recipe work well to create a simple chocolate cake made without flour. Each ingredient helps yield the best texture and flavor.
Raspberries make the best garnish for this cake, but you can also use sliced strawberries or blueberries.
Steps to Make Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Step 1: Whisk the eggs. It is best to do this with an electric mixer.
- Step 2: Beat until the eggs foam.
- Step 3: Prepare a double boiler with the chocolate and butter. You can use a heatproof bowl set over a pan of water.
- Step 4: Stir until smooth and warm.
- Step 5: Fold the eggs into the chocolate in three additions.
- Step 6: Prepare a springform pan.
- Step 8: Pour the batter into the pan and bake.
- Step 9: Prepare the chocolate for the ganache.
- Step 10: Heat the heavy cream.
- Step 11: Mix together the heavy cream and chocolate.
- Step 12: Let the ganache sit to thicken slightly.
Once the cake is baked and the ganache is ready, pour the ganache over the top of your cake.
Garnish the cake with fresh raspberries and enjoy!
Storage
Store the cake at room temperature for up to 2 days or 5 days in the refrigerator.
Expert Tips
- Use a good quality chocolate. Ghirardelli or Guittard are two good brands to use. Hu Chocolate and Lilys Baking Chocolate are also good refined sugar free brands.
- Bittersweet chocolate will result in a richer flavor, while semisweet chocolate is more sweet.
- The longer you allow the ganache to sit at room temperature, the more it will thicken. Allow it to sit for 10 to 15 minutes for the perfect pouring consistency. It should spread easily over the cake.
- You can prep this cake up to 12 hours in advance of serving.
Cake without Ganache: You can serve this cake without the ganache. Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar and whipped cream or on its own.
This flourless chocolate cake is rich, fudgy and completely irresistible. Gather a few ingredients, make it and let us know what you think!
Easy Chocolate Desserts
Did you make this flourless chocolate cake recipe? Leave a recipe rating and review below!
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 8 large eggs, cold
- 1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter,, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
For the chocolate ganache:
- 8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
- 1 cup heavy cream
- raspberries, for garnish
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cut out a 8-inch round piece of parchment paper and place it in the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan. Butter the parchment and sides of the pan. Cover pan underneath and along sides with sheet of heavy-duty foil and set in large roasting pan. Bring a kettle of water to boil.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat eggs at medium-high speed until volume doubles, about 5 minutes. (At this point eggs will start to be slightly foamy)
- Meanwhile, melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl set over pan of simmering water, until smooth and very warm (about 115 degrees on an instant-read thermometer), stirring once or twice.
- Fold 1/3 of egg foam into chocolate mixture using large rubber spatula until only a few streaks of egg are visible; fold in half of remaining foam, then last of remaining foam, until mixture is combined.
- Pour batter into prepared springform pan and smooth surface with rubber spatula. Set roasting pan on oven rack and pour enough boiling water to come about halfway up side of springform pan. Bake until cake has risen slightly, edges are just beginning to set, a thin glazed crust (like a brownie) has formed on surface, and an instant read thermometer inserted halfway through center of cake registers 140 degrees, 22 to 25 minutes.
- Remove cake pan from water bath and set on wire rack; cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Remove springform pan sides, invert cake on a sheet of wax paper, remove parchment liner and turn cake right side up on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet.
To make the ganache:
- Add the chocolate chips to a small heatproof bowl; set aside. In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate chips. Let sit undisturbed for 8 minutes.
- Stir the chocolate chips together with the heavy cream until smooth. Let ganache sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes until it reaches a good consistency for pouring over the cake (it should be a little thicker but still pourable).
- Pour ganache over the top of your cake. Garnish with raspberries, as desired. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post originally published in 2014. It was updated with new photos and tips in February 2021.
Hi Ashley! I absolutely love this recipe. The last couple of times I’ve made it, my cake has cracked and then sunk as it’s cooling so that the ganache doesn’t look quite as pretty as yours. Any tips for avoiding cracking and sinking?
Hi Adelyn! It is totally fine is the cake cracks and sinks a little. I just try to smooth out the ganache as much as possible. However, when you stir the egg foam into the chocolate mixture, I would try to make sure to only mix until just incorporated. You don’t want to do too much additional mixing as this will introduce air bubbles and cause more cracking. You just want to stir in the foamy eggs until it’s incorporated. I hope that helps!
Have made this a few times and get tons of compliments, especially from my gluten free friends!
Should I freeze leftover cake or refrigerate?
I recommend storing this cake in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Enjoy!
I just made the cake and put a little bit of sweetener in the ganasche and some rum aroma. I can’t wait to try it tomorrow! Thank a lot for the recipe!
Loved the cake, could only eat a small slice very rich.
In searching for a new cake recipe, both online and in my cookbooks, I couldn’t help but notice the cake part of this recipe is the same as the one in my 2004 Cook’s Illustrated The New Best Recipe cookbook (with verbatim instructions).
Hi, Marie! That’s correct. This recipe was originally published on my site in 2014, before I was publishing all original recipes. It is noted in the recipe and further down the page when the original recipe was published and that the cake recipe (besides the ganache) is Cook’s Illustrated. I note on all of my recipes, especially older ones, where I found the recipe. If you ever find a recipe without a note, please let me know as I will always credit the original source. Thanks!
This cake was so rich and decadent! I made it for my mom who is gluten intolerant. It was a hit!
This is one of my family’s favorite desserts. I can’t wait to try your version of it!
First time making a flourless cake and this was WONDERFUL! The raspberries made such a beautiful garnish, I can’t wait to make this for a girls night!
I love this cake, I’ve made it a few times and it always turns out great. So flavorful, but without any added sugar!
One question…I’d like to make this ahead of time for a lunchtime party, but I’m wondering if the ganache would work well that way. Any advice on how to prep ahead so I can reduce cooking time the morning of? Thanks!
Hi Hannah! I’m so glad to hear you love this cake. It’s definitely a favorite. Thanks so much for your feedback!
You can definitely make it at least 12 hours in advance. I think the ganache would hold up well. However, if you want to prepare the ganache in the morning and save time, I would make the cake in advance and prepare the ganache the morning of the party. The cake itself (no ganache) can be prepped up to 2 days in advance. Enjoy!