Dairy-free Flourless Chocolate Cake

Who doesn’t love a good chocolate cake? But I understand that sometimes, dietary restrictions prevent us from enjoying the well-loved classic chocolate sponge cake with chocolate filling, so here is a gluten-free & lactose-free option! My dairy-free, flourless chocolate cake is made from Valrhona Guanaja 70% but you can use any good quality baking chocolate like Callebaut 811 which is also lactose-free. Most baking dark chocolates are dairy-free, but if in doubt, just check the label. A good thing to note when checking ingredients, is that cocoa butter is a lactose-free product.

Another dairy-free ingredient is Nuttelex buttery, which I used in place of butter. Nuttelex is a vegan, lactose-free butter alternative here in Australia, but if you don’t have Nuttelex in your local store, you can use any dairy-free margarine or coconut oil. I prefer using coconut oil because it tastes great, but of course your cake will have a hint of coconut. So for this recipe, I decided to use Nuttelex buttery.

Image courtesy of Nuttelex.com. Click photo for more information.

I love this chocolate cake because it’s easy to whip up and to decorate. It’s great to take to pot lucks and also a nice grown-up birthday cake. I love serving this with raspberry or coconut sorbet, and when I have time, I make my own using Gelato Messina’s recipe, which I will share here when I find extra time. It’s a great recipe and works so well! If you can have dairy, feel free to pair this with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, and it’s absolutely delicious too. There’s only one thing you could do to mess up this super easy cake, and that is too leave it in the oven for too long. The last thing you want is to dry this out, so make sure you set a timer and check on the cake 10 minutes before it’s meant to be done, especially if you’re oven runs hot. Cool down on the kitchen bench for 15 minutes then transfer to the fridge to set completely for at least an hour.

If you try this recipe, let me know how you went by leaving a comment below or tagging me on social media. I’m always excited to see your work and always keen to answer any questions.

Happy new year everyone and thank you for all your support last year, cheers to the future of Mrs.Fancypants!

 
Difficulty: Easy

Dairy-free Flourless Chocolate Cake

Makes 1 x 20cm cake

Ingredients

  • Toppings:

Instructions

0/5 Instructions
  • Preheat oven to 170C. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper.
  • Melt the chocolate and butter together and whisk until smooth. Set aside to cool down. Meanwhile, in the bowl of your stand mixer or with a hand mixer, whip egg whites and sugar together until stiff peaks.
  • When the chocolate is cooled down to room temperature, add the egg yolks one by one, incorporating well before each addition. Sift the cocoa powder and mix until smooth.
  • Carefully fold in the meringue in 3 additions into the cake batter. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 30 minutes. The cake should feel set but still soft in the centre. When you shake it, it should jiggle a little in the centre. Do not over bake or the cake will dry out.
  • Cool down on a rack for 15 minutes then move to the fridge for 1 hour to completely set. To serve, take out of the cake pan and peel off the baking paper. Sprinkle cocoa powder on top and decorate with berries and edible flowers, if using. Serve with a scoop of coconut or raspberry sorbet.

Notes

  • Nuttelex Buttery is actually margarine but I use this brand because the taste is not like other margarines. You can also opt for coconut oil and other dairy-free butter substitutes.
  • Pure cocoa powder (dutch processed or not) should be gluten-free
  • Make sure the 70% chocolate is dairy-free, I used Valrhona Guanaja 70% but there are plenty of good quality baking chocolate that are dairy-free too, like Ghirardelli & Callebaut.