A Sexy Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Recipe from Scharffen Berger Chocolate
Looking for a great, gluten free chocolate cake recipe? This is it! A cake with melt-in-your-mouth dark chocolate flavor, it is a flourless chocolate decadence with the added richness of almonds and just a hint of espresso. Love dark chocolate? Don’t miss this flourless dark chocolate indulgence.
This stunning cake recipe is the perfect finale for Easter or Passover dessert. But don’t safe it for spring. This rich, moist dark chocolate cake is in season all year round. Created by the culinary team at Sharffen Berger chocolate, a premiere American chocolate maker, this deceptively easy dessert recipe will easily become one of your favorites.
Why you’re going to love this flourless dark chocolate cake
We love the richness the 70% dark chocolate brings to this decadent, flourless chocolate cake. It really is one of the best chocolate cake recipes for gluten-free baking.
And, although the total time to make this cake from start to finish is almost 2 hours, only about 15 minutes of that time is active. (There’s no frosting or ganache to worry about so once it goes in the oven, you’re done.) The rest of the time it takes to make this cake is cooking and resting, leaving you free for other pursuits while the house fills with the mouthwatering aroma of melting chocolate.
This ground almond chocolate cake is a go-to in my house for entertaining because it is a beautiful make-ahead dessert with a complex flavor. It is a wonderful dessert option for Passover because the cake contains no leavening agents like baking powder or baking soda.
Ingredients
- Almond flour
This chocolate cake recipe calls for almond flour in place of white flour. This healthy, gluten-free flour alternative not only gives the cake a hint of sweet almond flavor but it is also what makes the cake gluten-free.
You can make your own almond flour. All it takes is the almonds and a good blender. But you can also just buy a ready-made almond meal to make this flourless chocolate almond cake.
- Sharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate
Since the recipe comes from the Scharffen Berger cookbook Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate. it calls for using their chocolate specifically. Although the recipe calls for Scharffen Berger 70% Bittersweet to make this decadent, gf chocolate cake, you can use your favorite bittersweet chocolate. (I do recommend using Sharffen Berger’s bittersweet chocolate if you can purchase it. It truly makes a rich, deeply chocolatey cake.)
You’ll notice that this cake uses no cocoa powder. The intense chocolate flavor comes purely from the use of premium baking chocolate. That’s why it’s so important to choose a good chocolate for making this cake, such as the one recommended by Sharffen Berger.
- Unsalted butter
It is important that you use unsalted butter for this and most baking recipes. You want to be able to control the seasoning in your baking and if you use a butter with an unknown amount of salt, you’ve lost that control over the final flavor.
- Separated eggs
Like many flourless chocolate cake recipes, this one calls for separating your eggs and whipping the egg whites. This might sound intimidating but whipping egg whites is quite simple so long as you have the right tools. You can achieve properly whipped egg whites by hand with a good whisk but I recommend using a stand mixer and saving yourself from the ache in your arm you’ll get from whisking.
- Espresso
This Sharffen Berger dark chocolate cake recipe gets its deep flavor partly from the addition of espresso. But if you don’t have an espresso maker, don’t worry! You can substitute with double-strength coffee.
Why this gluten free chocolate cake recipe calls for espresso
But please don’t skip the coffee if you’re worried that it will give the cake a coffee flavor. Because the bittersweet chocolate used to give the cake its main flavor is so powerful, the coffee simply lends an earthy note to balance out the sweetness of the almonds. We think you will find it a surprisingly enjoyable addition.
Try Next: My favorite almond flour and cardamom cookies
Why you should bake this Sharffen Berger dark chocolate cake for your next date night
This may be a great recipe for serving to company but this gluten-free cake recipe can also serve as a sweet ending to a romantic meal. That’s because this Sharffen Berger chocolate cake recipe is layered with some of the world’s finest aphrodisiac ingredients.
Aphrodisiac ingredients
To start with, there is the chocolate. Rich, dark chocolate is an ingredient proven to have a psychological link to romantic love. It is also an ingredient used by Josephine to seduce Napoleon and by Casanova to lure women into the lothario’s sphere. Here are a few reasons we think chocolate is such a successful food of seduction.
RELATED: Why Dark Chocolate is Good for Women
But don’t forget about the almonds, coffee and eggs. All three of the ingredients that make this gluten-free cake recipe’s backbone are historically aphrodisiac – and for good reason. In fact, almonds make my list of the 10 Best Foods for Men’s Sexual Health.
And then there’s coffee. Coffee not only offers a boost of energy but it is recognized as a mood booster. Not only that, but eggs, an international symbol of fertility offer protein along with a surprising number of nutrients to benefit sexual health.
However, don’t think you need to save this cake for your lover. It is a cake everyone enjoys and one that is so right for so many occasions.
Get more chocolate dessert recipes
About Sharffen Berger Chocolates
If you’re not familiar with Scharffen Berger, this American chocolate company has produced world-class chocolate since 1997. The name may also be familiar to you as a sparkling wine producer. And, yes, there is a connection.
Scharffen Berger Flourless Chocolate Cake with Almonds
Ingredients
- 6 oz SCHARFFEN BERGER 70% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate
- 1/4 cup espresso or double-strength coffee
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
- 6 large eggs separated
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups almonds toasted and finely ground
- confectioners sugar for sprinkling optional
- whipped cream optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Lightly grease and flour the springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- In the top of a double boiler or in a bowl placed over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and coffee, stirring frequently. Set aside to cool slightly.
- With a hand-held electric mixer, or heavy-duty stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and 3/4 cup of the sugar until ivory colored. Add the egg yolks, two at a time. Continue to beat until the mixture is light and airy. Fold in the chocolate.
- In a clean dry bowl using clean dry beaters, whip the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks form when the beaters are lifted. Gradually beat in the remaining two tablespoons sugar until the egg whites are stiff but not dry. Fold the ground almonds into the whites.
- Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg white mixture.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly.
- Place the pan in the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 350 degrees F. Bake 15 minutes.
- Turn the oven down to 325 degrees F. Bake an additional 45 minutes.
- 10. Turn the oven down to 300 degrees and bake 15 to 20 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave in the oven, with the door ajar, for another 30 minutes.
- 11. Cool on a rack.
- To serve: Remove the sides of the pan and transfer to a serving platter. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. Serve slices with whipped cream, if desired.
Amy is considered a leading authority on aphrodisiacs. Her work in aphrodisiacs is quoted in publications including National Geographic, The New York Times, Epicurious, Wine Enthusiast, Health and Playboy magazines. She speaks internationally on aphrodisiac foods and has brought her knowledge of aphrodisiac history and science to national television shows including The Today Show and CBS Early Show. She is a frequent guest on relationship and lifestyle radio and podcast shows and has been interviewed by BBC and NPR radio, Cosmopolitan radio and popular podcasts including My Dad Wrote a Porno.
Amy is also a freelance food, wine and health researcher and writer as well as a wine competition judge. Her work has appeared in publications ranging from Variety to The Daily Meal. She is an MSN content provider. And she is also a former wine editor for Gayot.com and wine & spirits editor of Las Vegas magazine.
Fun fact: Amy was the creator of the first ever comprehensive food and wine apps, Amy Reiley's Pocket Gourmet and Amy Reiley's Pocket Vineyard for Palm.
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