July 30 2016 recipe by Anne Aobadia![Anne Aobadia]()
, photo by Emma Shevtzoff![Emma Shevtzoff]()
, nutritional review by Franziska Spritzler, RD, CDE![Franziska Spritzler, RD, CDE]()
in Recipes, Dessert
, photo by Emma Shevtzoff
, nutritional review by Franziska Spritzler, RD, CDE
in Recipes, Dessert Low carb chocolate cake
Chocolate, pure and simple. With a little help from eggs and butter, this flourless chocolate cake never disappoints. If you can separate eggs, you can make this low carb crowd pleaser.
USMetric
servingservings
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp 1 tbsp butter or coconut oil, for greasing the pan
- 9 oz. 260 g dark chocolate with a minimum of 80% cocoa solids
- 5 oz. 140 g butter
- 5 5 eggeggs
- 1 pinch 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp 1 tsp vanilla extract
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Making low carb simple
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 320ยฐF (160ยฐC). Use a springform pan, maximum 9 inches (20-22 cm) in diameter. Grease the form with butter or coconut oil and fasten a piece of round parchment paper to the bottom.
- Break the chocolate into pieces and dice the butter. Melt together using a double boiler or the microwave oven. Be careful โ chocolate burns easily, so stir often. Once melted, stir until smooth, and let the mix cool just a little.
- Separate the eggs and put the yolks and whites in separate bowls. Add salt to the egg whites and beat with a mixer until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- Add vanilla to the egg yolks and whisk until smooth.
- Pour the melted chocolate and butter into the egg yolks and mix well. Fold in the egg whites. Keep folding just until you can't see any white streaks from the egg whites.
- Pour the batter into the springform pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick; it should come out with moist crumbs, not runny batter. Pans that are smaller in diameter may require a longer baking time, while pans wider in diameter will finish baking in less time. Be sure to use the toothpick method to check for doneness in the center.
Tip!
Serve at room temperature or even a little warmer. And don't forget a little whipped heavy cream (sour cream is delicious, too) and a few berries if you like!
101 comments
This uses a sweeter chocolate so there is no additional sugar/sweetener needed.
You can try that if you feels it needs a touch more sweetness.
Even better with thickened cream and berries
If you baked them in a circle pan, you can cut the cake into quarters and then each quarter into 3 smaller wedges to get the 12 servings.
We have not tested this recipe at 1/3 the amount.
We have not tested this recipe in other pans as a spring form pan is very easy to remove the sides without disrupting the cake. For folding the egg whites, that means to stir them in very gently.
Yes, that should work.
Yes, 1/12 of the recipe is 7g carbs. This is in our moderate low carb recipe collection.
70% cocos solids?
As this recipe has no sweetener, using 100% baking chocolate will likely result in a cake with a very bitter taste.
Baked goods should be covered and stored in the refrigerator.
Yes, you can cut individual slices and freeze them.
I used 85% chocolate and the cake is not sweet at all.
I would recommend adding sweetner if the chocolate is 85%+.
This is a flourless recipe. No flour substitute is needed.
Any tips for measurements, techniques, etc., would be appreciated, as I am very new to baking.
I would try adding 1/2 tsp extract along with the vanilla--raspberry or coconut would work well as you noted.
On the subject of additional flavors... I added to the batter 1/8 tsp of cayenne pepper (maybe less -- I used just a regular teaspoon) because I had mild cravings for chili pepper while enjoying the aroma of the melted chocolate and butter.
(I read on some authoritative-sounding how-to website: "No one likes melting chocolate and butter," and then they go on to teach you how... TBH, it was sooo easy, fun, and enjoyable...coming up with an ad hoc double boiler, the smell of the melting chocolate, slowly adding the diced butter into the melt...I found it very sensual.)
So I haven't tasted it yet, but...my cake was wayyy underdone after 15 minutes. I kept adding 5 minutes to my bake time, again and again...I think it must've taken a half-hour to bake.
Sadly, my two layers have both sunk a little in the middle and are cracked on the top. I don't mind the cracks (even though that appears to be a disqualifying offense in The Great British Baking Show!). Google tells me that cracks and a sunken middle could result from the fact that I had to keep opening the oven after the 15 minute mark, at 5-minute intervals, several times, in order to check for done-ness.
*Can others please comment on their baking times?* Although this is my first cake, I do understand that "every oven is different." But really? 15 minutes bake time?
Or, is the cracked, slightly sunken appearance to be expected of flourless cakes, so it wasn't the result of my oven temperature?
I shared your question with the recipe team.
No need to add raspberry extract to the batter. Just putting the fruit on the cake was enough to give good, fresh flavor.
Still interested to know if the bake time is accurate, though. Thanks for checking!
The recipe team extended the baking time to 20-25 minutes and also added a note about pan size and checking for doneness with a toothpick.
Thank you. Will be making this again come the weekend. :-)
Wonderful! I am so glad you enjoyed this one so much! We have many others to choose from as well :)
As long as it is dark chocolate with a minimum of 80% cocoa solids it should work.
Yes, you can cut individual slices and freeze them!
Generally, you can use the middle rack in the oven and monitor it for doneness.
The most likely culprit here is that the egg whites may not have been sturdy/whipped enough.