Homemade Flourless Chocolate Cake – rich, decadent, and extra chocolatey… without the flour!
Try topping it with any of my Healthy Ice Cream Recipes.
This recipe is dedicated to one of my best friends.
When we met two years ago at a party, I’d just moved to DC and knew only a handful of people here. From that first night, he always made sure to include me in things, introducing me to everyone he knew until suddenly I found myself with a huge circle of friends.
He’s the kind of guy with whom you can’t go out and not run into at least one person who recognizes him.
In the two years I’ve known him, he has helped me fix my computer, been supportive and listened to all of my dating stories, and not only bought my book the day it came out but told everyone else to buy it too.
Last year when coding issues on the website were taking up most of my nights and weekends to fix, I got a text from him one Saturday that said, “I’m having people over to my pool. You need to get out, and I’m calling you an Uber. My treat.”
When I threw a rooftop party last month and was worried about having enough alcohol, he showed up with half his liquor cabinet.
That is just the kind of guy he is.
Wanting to dedicate a recipe to him, I asked what were some of his favorite desserts, and flourless chocolate cake came up in our discussion.
The following chocolate cake recipe–adapted from my Chocolate Zucchini Brownies–can be vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, and also, if I’m not mistaken, kosher and parve. It is dense and fudgy, almost more like a brownie than a cake.
Instead of flour, this healthy chocolate cake is made with nutritious coconut flour, which is really just ground-up coconut, not actually flour at all!
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Adapted from Chocolate Zucchini Brownies
Flourless Chocolate Cake – Healthy & Vegan!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp applesauce
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp ground flax
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 cup coconut flour (105g)
- 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar or xylitol
- pinch uncut stevia or 2 additional tbsp sugar
- optional 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
- optional 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-inch pan–round or square–and set aside. Whisk together first 5 ingredients. In a separate bowl, stir all remaining ingredients. Pour wet into dry, stir until well-mixed, and pour into the prepared pan. Bake on the center rack 40 minutes. Let cool, then refrigerate only loosely covered overnight to firm up much more.
Link Of The Day:
Girl Scout Cookie Peanut Butter Bars
I seriously need to stock up on some coconut flour because I keep hearing about it and then I see an amazing recipe like THIS and I realize, I need some in my pantry ASAP. This looks so, so good! I’m sold on it 🙂
Ah, your friend sounds like every girl’s perfect boyfriend! Lucky you calling him a friend.
This cake sounds great yet I hope you don’t mind me saying that you described coconut flour wrong there. Maybe yours is different but regular coconut flour is much different from just ground up coconut. I’m not expert so will let one of those do the talking :):
http://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/featured-articles/a-little-more-about-coconut-flour-guest-post/
Wow this looks and sounds like a dream come true, looks so delicious! x
Ariadna || RAWR BOWS
This was actually really good. It has a strange/different texture than regular cake, very crumbly, but that’s O.K. Definitely would make a great topping for ice cream if you’re unable to get nice slices out. Mine was much easier to handle after leaving it in the fridge, so I highly recommend you don’t skip that step. It kind of reminds me of the Carnation Breakfast Bars I used to eat as a kid many years ago. It was a hit in our home, especially with my daughter, who offered to polish off the entire cake, lol!
Hey Katie, I love your website, I’ve been checking it almost daily for over a year and disabled adblock here, but I was wondering if there was a way to get rid of the pop up that says “want to get healthier?” and tries to get you to put your email… it’s a bit annoying? I dislike pop ups and it literally comes up on every page, and I wish there was a way to click a box that says “don’t ask again”…Also I kinda don’t see the point of putting my email when I check the site so often anyway… (sorry if this message came off as rude or anything!)
Made this as my birthday cake this year! Couldn’t wait the full 40 minutes (much less overnight) and topped the gooey wonderfulness with raspberry preserves and flaked toasted coconut. Thank you!!!
I have a question on the applesauce and flax. I am not vegan and don’t really want to purchase things I won’t use. I am assuming these are a substitution for egg. Would I use one egg or two eggs in this recipe? I know that 1/4 cup of applesauce can replace one egg, but these amounts are slightly more than one egg. Thank you.
I used 2 eggs. I would also reduce the water if you use eggs. Mine came out a little wet but otherwise perfect
Wow, this looks so good. Love your recipes and cookbook. Thanks for another winning dessert!
Why don’t you use eggs instead of flax, apparently they do the same thing. Looked up a substitute for flax and found flax is a substitute for egg. Would much rather use something with nutrition and protein in my cooking, and my girls lay lovely healthy eggs. Going to try this recipe tomorrow with egg and coconut sugar.
This looks so delicious and I love how simple the recipe is! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Akino | akinokiki.blogspot.ca