Are you looking for the perfect festive holiday dessert? Well, this is your ticket!
We don’t indulge in dessert at our house very often – pretty much just holidays and birthdays. So when we do it’s an occasion to be celebrated and the dessert better be a real treat! I originally made this for my daughter’s birthday. In addition to gluten and dairy intolerance, she’s mildly allergic to soy, peanuts and tomatoes.
Sublime Flourless Chocolate Cake!
Fortunately I have this awesome flourless chocolate cake recipe and it can be made dairy and soy free. I took this to a Christmas party last year with rave reviews from everyone – gluten sensitive or not! One person told me it was a “food crime” in jest! It tastes too rich to believe it’s not bad for you. But if you take a very small piece and believe me a small piece will satisfy you, it really isn’t bad health wise. Mind you, you don’t want to be eating this everyday – lots of calories there – but for a rare splurge, eat it guilt-free!
Making It Gluten Dairy and Soy Free
I found this flourless chocolate cake recipe on the glutenfreegoddess blog. She makes it with butter. You could do that, not an option for us with the dairy problem, but I think it’s every bit as rich and tasty made with Earth Balance margarine, which has a healthier fat profile – more mono and polyunsaturated fats and less saturated fat. It calls for dark chocolate, but try and find any that doesn’t tell you it’s made on equipment shared with wheat and several other allergens. I found some wheat, dairy and soy free semi-sweet chocolate chunks made by Enjoy Life at Whole Foods Market that work great in this recipe. I’ve adjusted down the amount of sugar accordingly because the chocolate is sweeter. This cake bakes longer than it would made with butter, but it will come out just as rich and fudgy! I top it with a little sifted powdered sugar and sliced strawberries to make it pretty and give it that fruity pop!
This rich and beautiful flourless chocolate cake will WOW your friends and family!
- 16 oz gluten, dairy and soy free semi-sweet chocolate chunks (like Enjoy Life brand)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated white sugar
- ¾ cup very hot strong coffee
- 1 cup margarine (Earth Balance and Smart Balance have healthy fat profiles. If you need dairy and soybean oil free, Earth Balance makes a soy-free blend.)
- 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 8 large eggs
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
- Sliced strawberries
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare a 10-cup springform pan by lining it with parchment coated with margarine.
- Put the chocolate chunks in a processor and pulse until broken up into small bits.
- Add the sugar and pulse until you get a uniform sandy grain.
- Pour the hot coffee into the feed tube with processor running and the chocolate will melt. You may need to scrape down the sides and reprocess to get a uniform batter.
- Add the margarine in spoonfuls and the cocoa powder and pulse to mix.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and process until smooth. The batter will be liquid and creamy.
- Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Take a long piece of aluminum foil and wrap it around the entire pan allowing it to stick up above the pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F in the center of the oven about an hour and 25 minutes. Start checking it every 10 minutes after an hour. When it’s done the center will appear dry and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out just about clean with maybe a crumb or two. If the outside browns too much before the center is dry you can fold down the foil over the edges.
- Let cake cool completely. Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least three hours or overnight.
- To serve sift powdered sugar over the cake and top with sliced strawberries.
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- Foil Will Hold the Cake As It Rises Above the Pan
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- Cake is Fluffy After Baking But Will Compress and Become Dense As It Cools
This looks fabulous!! I’ve been looking for a recipe like this! Any ideas for a coffee replacement? I can’t have regular or decaf. I can try water but was wondering what ideas you might have?
Andrea, You might try a coffee liqueur like Tia Maria if you can have that. I wouldn’t use 3/4 cup of it though. Maybe 1/4 cup plus 1/2 cup water.
Alternatively roasted dandelion root with chicory tastes very similar to coffee
Hi Maria,
I have two questions: what kind of unsweetened cocoa do you use?. I have been trying to find one that is dairy, gluten and soy free. Also can I freeze this cake? Thanks
Andy
I just use a store brand generic cocoa powder (Kroger most recently). It says it’s gluten free and doesn’t list dairy or soy as being in it or in the facility. I have frozen it and it was great – the strawberries will get mushy though so you might want to remove them or put fresh ones on when you thaw.
Can you leave out or replace the coffee? I don’t like coffee and wouldn’t like the cake to taste like it.
Yes you could replace the coffee with hot water.