Decadent, chocolatey, fudgey cake! And that’s no typo…completely flourless!

For full recipe see below!

Okay some of you may be wondering why bother making a cake without flour, right? I will admit I was highly skeptical at first too! Recently there has been a growing number of people who have stopped eating gluten for health reasons. Gluten is a protein found in most grains and therefore (most importantly for baking purposes) FLOUR! Going gluten-free has sort of become a trend, but many people have medical gluten allergies. You may have seen a lot of restaurants carrying Flourless Chocolate Brownies or Cakes as a way to give gluten-free people a dessert option.

This cake is super chocolatey and delicious! It also happens to be just 5 ingredients that are most likely in your pantry! You’ll be eating flourless chocolatey-ness in no time!

My mom happens to be one of the unfortunate souls that has a gluten allergy, so her diet consists basically of fruits and veggies! It’s sort of ironic that someone who can’t eat anything baked got stuck with a daughter who can’t stop baking! Let’s just say that my mom gets to take a ton of treats to work so that I can still fit through the door!

So why all of a sudden the Flourless Chocolate Cake? BECAUSE IT’S MY MOM’S BIRTHDAY!!!! Wahoo! Happy Birthday Mommy! My mom is amazing for so many reasons….she is constantly editing my posts so I don’t embarrass myself with horrible grammar, she puts up with the kitchen being an absolute disaster 99% of the time, she is constantly buying groceries, and the list could go on and on! So here’s your favorite gluten-free treat, Mom!

So to start off you are going to need a 9-inch round springform pan. You may have used this pan to make cheesecake before. A springform pan is different from a regular cake pan because there is a latch on the side that releases the sides from the bottom of the pan. This makes it possible to unmold your cake without it resembling a giant  pile of massacred cake chunks. For this recipe, if you don’t have a springform pan, you could probably get away with lining a cake pan completely with parchment paper to lift it out, but do not attempt to ever make cheesecake without a springform pan.

So spray the bottom of your spring form pan and cut out a parchment paper circle to put in the bottom. Now spray the sides and the bottom again. The batter. Melt your butter and chocolate chips for 1 minute and then stir. If the chocolate isn’t completely melted microwave again in 20 seconds intervals and stir after each increment. Cover bowl to keep it warm.

In another bowl, beat 1/2 cup sugar and egg yolks together. Add in your vanilla.

Next you’re going to temper the eggs.

What is tempering? Since the chocolate mixture is still warm your eggs would curdle if you added the chocolate all at once, and you would have chunks of scrambled egg in your batter…bleh! So what you’re going to do is add just a little of the egg mixture to the chocolate and stir until combined. Now that you’ve tempered the eggs you can add all of the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and stir with a spatula.

Set aside the chocolate bowl and grab a completely clean bowl. In the clean bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed in an electric mixer until you have soft peaks.

Now that you have soft peaks start adding the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until you have stiff peaks.

How do you tell a soft from a stiff peak? Use this simple test to know what stage your egg whites are at. With your beater sitting in the egg whites, pull the beater straight up out of the batter and flip it over. If the egg whites flop over, it’s a soft peak. If the egg whites hold their shape, it’s a stiff peak. If the egg whites drip back into your bowl, you haven’t even entered the world of peaks so keep beating!

Add a little of the egg white mixture to the chocolate and egg yolk mixture and stir until combined (images 2 and 3). Now take all of the chocolate mixture and add it to the egg whites (image 4). Fold the egg whites in very gently with a rubber spatula being careful not to deflate your batter (images 5 and 6). This cake doesn’t have any leavening agents (baking soda, baking powder), so the air from the egg whites is the only thing helping the cake not be super dense. This will be tedious and a little nerve-wracking because it will feel like you’re sucking all the air out of the batter but keep folding until it’s consistent (image 7). Now pour the batter into the prepared pan (image 8).

Bake at 375°F for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake looks kind of inflated when you take it out of the oven (image 1) but it is going to fall after a few minutes (image 2). Let it cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Then unlatch the latch on the side of the springform pan (image 3). Invert the cake onto a plate and remove the bottom piece of the pan (image 4) and then remove the parchment paper (image 5). Now invert it onto a serving platter (image 6).

To Decorate. You could make a frosting to put on this cake or dust it with powdered sugar but make sure you get powdered sugar that is gluten-free if you are making it for someone who has a gluten allergy. You don’t want to have put all that work into making a gluten-free cake just to top it with a bunch of gluten! Also beware that a lot of people with gluten allergies also have dairy allergies (my mom being one of them) so watch whether your frosting has milk, cream, or cream cheese in it! To play it safe you could slice some strawberries to put on top or a birthday candle! 

Happy Birthday Mom!

…and voilà!

Source: Cherry Cheesecake Murder by Johanna Fluke