How to Make a Restaurant-Quality Flourless Chocolate Cake

My husband, Lewis, is very particular about chocolate cake. He will reject slices of devil’s food cake, Texas sheet cake, and even cute little chocolate cupcakes because they are not chocolatey enough for him. The only chocolate cake he will happily eat is the flourless kind: rich and pleasantly bittersweet, with crisp edges and a fudgy interior that comes from folding melted chocolate into a mixture of whole eggs and sugar that have been whipped until thick and pale.

As intimidating as that sounds, making an excellent flourless chocolate cake is actually quite simple. With a few tips and tricks—and a foolproof recipe from our Birmingham, Alabama-based test kitchen colleague Tricia Manzanero Stuedeman—it’s possible to make a restaurant-quality dessert at home whenever you want. Here’s how.

4 Tips for Making the Best Flourless Chocolate Cake

Melt the chocolate gently. One of the easiest ways to melt chocolate is to place it in a heatproof bowl that’s just large enough to nest in a saucepan of simmering water. The steam from the water gently melts the chocolate, while avoiding higher temperatures that can cause it to overheat, seize, and become grainy. Just be careful not to drip any water into the chocolate, as that will also cause the chocolate mixture to break. 

Use a blend of bittersweet chocolate, espresso powder, and unsweetened cocoa powder. For a cake with bold chocolate flavor, Stuedeman uses a trio of bittersweet chocolate that’s at least 60% cacao, instant espresso powder, and unsweetened cocoa powder. The espresso powder, while not chocolate itself, has similar roasted and bitter characteristics that enhance the chocolate’s fruity notes and, together with the unsweetened cocoa powder, give the cake a robust depth of flavor. (Feel free to experiment with chocolates that have different cacao percentages, but keep in mind that using something with a lower cacao percentage, like milk chocolate, which can range from 30 to 50% cacao, may result in a sweeter cake.)

Whip the eggs and sugar until they ribbon. It's important to beat the eggs and sugar together until they’re pale and thick—what bakers call the “ribbon” stage, as the batter is sturdy enough to leave a ribbon-like trail that slowly sinks back into the rest of the batter when the beaters are lifted. This gives the cake its rich yet delicate texture, as the properly whipped egg foam contains many tiny air bubbles that help aerate the cake while also providing structure.

Use a springform pan. Because the cake is so delicate, it’s best to bake it in a springform pan, which will allow you to easily unmold the cake without accidentally wrecking it. And if transferring the cake to a serving platter feels too daunting, you can serve the cake on the pan base.