Do you like chocolate? Do you like to impress your guests with your skills in the kitchen? Do you find baking a bit intimidating? Then this is the perfect recipe for you!

This flourless chocolate recipe is much easier than the recipe I posted before, and just as good. But, it is much easier. It does not require you to melt chocolate and butter, for which you need to regulate the heat very carefully, if you don’t have induction au bain marie. It does not require you to separate eggs, which is tricky because one tiny drop of yolk in the white will make it impossible to whip the egg whites into foam. It does not require you to whip any egg whites, which can be tricky because the bowl and beaters have to be very clean otherwise it won’t work. It doesn’t require you to gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter, which is a pain in the ass.

Instead, you only have to put all of the ingredients in the food processor to make the batter, pour the batter in a springform pan that you lined with parchment paper so the cake will definitely come out without any problems, and put it in the oven for half an hour. That is all. Even if you find baking intimidating, this should be manageable. If you want to show off some more, you could even whip up this cake after the main course with your guests watching, bake it a bit shorter and serve it as a lava cake for dessert.

And the result? A moist dense chocolate cake with a deep chocolate flavor with a hint of coffee. One of the best chocolate cakes (if not the best) you ever tasted.

When I saw the recipe for flourless chocolate cake on Chef Connie’s blog Marinating online, I thought it was hard to believe a recipe that easy could be as good as the more complicated recipe that I normally used. But I bookmarked it anyway, and now that I’ve tried it I won’t go back. The main trick is the use of hot espresso to melt the chocolate, and it works like a charm. I simplified the recipe even further (by using only one type of chocolate and one type of sugar) and lowered the amount of sugar to suit my taste. This will be my go-to recipe for chocolate cake for now on. Thank you, Chef Connie!

For a more fancy dessert, you could of course serve this with berries, crème anglaise, etc. But it is good just by itself. Since I would like to encourage those of you who find baking a bit intimidating to try this, I will provide more detailed instructions than usual. Please try this cake. You will be glad that you did!

Ingredients

For a 20 cm (8 inch) springform pan, 8 servings

225 grams (8 oz) chocolate, 70% cacao solids

100 grams (1/2 cup) dark brown sugar

80 ml (1/3 cup) hot espresso

110 grams (1 stick) butter, at room temperature + more for greasing the pan

1 Tbsp cacao powder

4 eggs

1/2 Tbsp rum, whisky, or amaretto

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF, fan forced. Trace the shape of your springform pan with a pen or pencil on a piece of parchment paper…

…and cut it out. Cut out one or more rectangular strips to cover the sides of the springform pan as well.

Grease the springform pan with butter…

…then cover with parchment paper…

…and butter the parchment paper. This way, the chocolate cake will come out in one piece, guaranteed.

Weigh or measure all the ingredients and have them ready. Break up the chocolate into squares if needed, or use chocolate chips. Put them in the bowl of the food processor.

Add the sugar.

Start the food processor.

Once the chocolate is ground, add the hot espresso through the feeding tube with the motor running. (Heat it up in the microwave if needed.)

Keep the motor running, and add the butter cube by cube.

Continue with the eggs, one by one, with the motor still running.

Add the cocao powder…

…and the booze…

…and the vanilla. Turn off the food processor.

You should now have a smooth batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Flatten the top with a spatula.

Bake the cake at 180ºC/350ºF, fan forced, for 30 minutes. Check whether it is done by inserting a toothpick in the center, which should come out clean or with small crumbs attached.

Allow the cake to cool off to room temperature.

Remove the parchment paper on the sides and it is ready to serve. It keeps well in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic wrap. It is even better the next day.

Wine pairing

When you service this as a dessert as is, the best wine pairing by far is a Pedro Ximénez, a sweet sherry from Spain that is also known as “PX” that is like fluid raisins.

When you add red fruit, a red dessert wine such a recioto, banyuls, black muscat, ruby port, or vintage port, would work as well.

Flashback

Braciole are a typical dish from the province of Bari in Puglia. Braciole are bundles of beef, stuffed with a mixture of parsley, garlic, and cheese, and then cooked low and slow in a tomato sauce. They are a great secondo piatto, and you can serve the sauce first over pasta for a great primo.