This high altitude flourless chocolate cake is rich and decadent, and so easy to make. Imagine a cake that looks like a fudge brownie, with a crackly meringue crust on top, and an incredibly soft, moist and creamy texture underneath. It’s naturally gluten free, grain free and nut free, and only requires a few simple staple ingredients to make the cake batter. Serve it plain, or top each slice with lightly sweetened whipped cream for a truly incredible dessert.
You might also love these high altitude gluten free recipes for flourless almond cake, almond flour chocolate torte, and amaretti cookies.
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Why You’ll Love This Cake
Double Chocolate. A combination of melted semi sweet chocolate and Dutch-processed cocoa powder gives this cake a rich, deep, intensely chocolatey flavor and wonderful texture.
Gluten Free. With no flour or grain-based ingredients, this cake is naturally gluten free.
Easy and Simple. This is a very easy cake to make, with just a few simple ingredients and an uncomplicated method for mixing the batter and baking the cake. The rustic, crackled look of the cake is unfussy, and is just wonderful topped with whipped cream, ice cream or caramel sauce.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Chocolate. A good-quality chocolate will give your flourless chocolate cake the best flavor. I recommend choosing a dark chocolate between 55-65% cacao. Semi sweet chocolate chips work just as well as chopped chocolate, and I used Kirkland semi sweet chocolate chips for today’s recipe, which I buy at my local Costco.
- Unsalted Butter. Adds fat, richness and flavor, and a moist, creamy texture.
- Eggs. Gives the cake structure, and leavens the batter as it bakes, so the cake puffs up a bit like a souffle, with a crackly, meringue crust on top.
- Granulated Sugar. Adds sweetness and moisture.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Cocoa Powder. The cocoa powder takes the place of the flour, and gives the cake structure. Use an unsweetened, Dutch-processed cocoa powder for your cake.
- Espresso Powder. Deepens and enhances the flavor of the chocolate, but does not make the cake taste like coffee. Feel free to leave it out, though.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray an 8-inch springform pan with a removable bottom with non-stick baking spray, and line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment paper.
- Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter, then stir together until smooth. You can also do this in a saucepan, over low heat, stirring frequently.
- Meanwhile, combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat the egg mixture on medium speed for 5 minutes. It will become thicker and increase in volume, with a ribbony consistency.
- Whisk the melted butter and chocolate into the whipped egg mixture until smooth.
- Sift the cocoa powder and espresso powder over the batter and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into the pan.
- Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes. The cake will puff up quite a bit, with a crackly surface on top. Set the pan on a cooling rack. Immediately run a knife around the side to loosen the cake from the pan, but leave the cake in the pan.
- As the cake cools, it will settle back down with a crackled appearance on top, and will not look nearly as puffed as when you first took it out of the oven. This is completely normal, so don’t panic when this happens.
- Cool for 2-3 hours before serving so the cake can set up in the middle, or serve it slightly warm while the center is soft and molten.
- This cake is wonderful on its own, or served with ice cream or whipped cream. Other serving ideas are to dust it with cocoa powder, decorate it with raspberries and a dusting of powdered sugar, or drizzle it with ganache.
Topping Ideas
- Berries. Flourless chocolate cake is fantastic with any type of berry. It looks beautiful decorated with fresh raspberries and dusted with powdered sugar.
- Salted Caramel Sauce. For a truly decadent treat, drizzle slices of the cake with salted caramel sauce, or toffee butter bourbon sauce.
- Whipped Cream. Homemade vanilla whipped cream makes a light and dreamy topping.
- Ice Cream. Vanilla or salted caramel ice cream is fantastic with this cake.
- Chocolate Ganache. Add even more chocolate flavor and a beautiful finish to the cake with a layer of rich ganache, made from equal parts (by weight) chocolate and heavy whipping cream.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use either chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. Choose a semi sweet chocolate between 55-65% cacao.
A dark, unsweetened, Dutch-processed cocoa powder is best, such as Rodelle, Drost or Cacao Barry Extra Brute.
No, I wouldn’t recommend it, as the cake won’t bake properly.
Yes, it’s completely normal and expected for a flourless chocolate cake to deflate. The whipped eggs cause the cake to puff up quite a bit as the cake bakes, and then deflate as it cools.
It is necessary to use a springform pan, which has a base attached to removable sides, so you can easily unmold the cake. This cake is very fragile, and might fall apart if you try to turn it out of a standard cake pan.
It is very brownie like, with a rich, fudgy texture, although it is more moist and not quite as dense as brownies.
This cake does not need to be refrigerated. Cover it tightly with plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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High Altitude Flourless Chocolate Cake (GF)
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)
- 8-inch Springform Pan with Removable Bottom
Ingredients
- 8 oz good-quality chocolate, about 55-65% cacao, chopped (or 1 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips)
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup unsweetened, Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 2 tsp instant espresso powder or instant coffee, optional (not regular ground coffee)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray an 8-inch springform pan with a removable bottom with non-stick baking spray, and line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment paper.
- Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter, then stir together until smooth. You can also do this in a saucepan, over low heat, stirring frequently.
- Meanwhile, combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat the egg mixture on medium speed for 5 minutes. It will become thicker and increase in volume, with a ribbony consistency.
- Whisk the melted butter and chocolate into the whipped egg mixture until smooth.
- Sift the cocoa powder and espresso powder over the batter and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into the pan.
- Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes. The cake will puff up quite a bit, with a crackly surface on top. Set the pan on a cooling rack. Immediately run a knife around the side to loosen the cake from the pan, but leave the cake in the pan.
- As the cake cools, it will settle back down with a crackled appearance on top, and will not look nearly as puffed as when you first took it out of the oven. This is completely normal, so don't panic when this happens.Cool for 2-3 hours before serving so the cake can set up in the middle, or serve it slightly warm while the center is soft and molten.
- This cake is wonderful on its own, or served with ice cream or whipped cream. Other serving ideas are to dust it with cocoa powder, decorate it with raspberries and a dusting of powdered sugar, or drizzle it with ganache.
That really looks yummy, especially because I really love chocolate! I hope I can bake something like that, too.
Love the decadence of this dessert!
Ooooh! I am going to have to try this!
A gorgeous flourless chocolate cake is a thing of beauty, seductive and simple and I hardly think anything can be done to improve it, 'coz its already so puh-fect. But let me tell you that you've done it.
If anything can add to a flourless chocolate cake then its a salted caramel glaze! Pure heaven!
Came out amazing! Very decedent, I’m very impressed, easy to follow directions.
Can I omit the cocoa powder if I dont have it?
I need to make this in a 9” spring form pan as a special request. How much should I increase the recipe by? Also, I have a cake spatula to move the cake from the base to a cardboard round – do you think this will work? Thank you in advance – can’t wait to try this!! 🙂
I would increase it by 1 1/2 times. To transfer the cake off the base, you should line the base of the pan with a circle of parchment paper – then slide your spatula under the paper to easily move the cake and paper to a cardboard round.
This sounds amazing! I live at 6,600 ft altitude. Do you think I need to make any adjustments?
You shouldn’t need to make any adjustments.
Does this freeze well? I would need to make this 1-2 weeks in advance!
I have a similar recipe by a pastry chef living in Paris, but it’s not altitude adjusted. I wanted to try yours for a dinner party. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the comment about a 9” springform pan. I did 1.5 times the recipe, which might have been my downfall. At 25 minutes it was still VERY jiggly and didn’t look done, so I baked 5 minutes more. That was a mistake because it was crumbly and a bit dry when I cut it. I’ll definitely try it again increasing the recipe for a 9” pan. I have had much success with your recipes at 3400’ altitude, with no adjustments downward. Thank you!! Will report back and rate once I make the necessary changes for my pan.