Flourless Chocolate Almond Cake with Chocolate Ganache Frosting
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Made with ground almonds and chocolate ganache, this flourless chocolate cake is rich and elegant.
I’m in charge of dessert for Passover every year so I’ve made my fair share of flourless chocolate cakes. This one, adapted from Maida Heatter’s Cakes, is my all-time favorite. Originally called the Queen Mother’s Cake (it’s a long story), the cake is Heatter’s most popular recipe ever. It’s made with ground almonds instead of flour and frosted with a decadent chocolate ganache, making it rich, elegant and surprisingly light.
Even though it’s fancy and made with nuts, kids love it. As you can see, my son has been enjoying it as a snack cake all week long!
What you’ll need to make flourless chocolate Almond cake
There aren’t that many ingredients in this cake, which makes it look simple but I’ll be honest: there are a lot of steps! It’s not hard to make but it does take a few hours start to finish. I think it’s worth it!
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by buttering a springform pan. Line the pan with a round of parchment paper, then butter the paper. Dust the pan with matzo meal (if making for Passover) or fine bread crumbs so the cake won’t stick. Next, toast and grind the almonds, separate the eggs and melt the chocolate in the microwave.
Next, beat the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until soft. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating after each addition, then add the melted chocolate and ground almonds. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold them into the chocolate mixture.
Bake the cake for about one hour and ten minutes, then let the cake cool. It will fall in the center as it cools; that’s okay — the next step is to cut off the edges of the cake to make it flat.
Next, make the frosting.
Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a medium saucepan, then whisk in the instant coffee powder. Off the heat, stir in the chocolate and stir until completely melted. Let the ganache thicken for 10-15 minutes, then pour it over top of the cake. Use a thin spatula to smooth it over the top and down the sides. Serve with fresh berries, sweetened whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or any combination.
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Flourless Chocolate Almond Cake with Chocolate Ganache
Made with ground almonds and chocolate ganache, this flourless chocolate cake is rich and elegant.
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1½ cups slivered almonds
- Handful fine dry breadcrumbs, matzo meal or gluten-free substitute (for dusting the pan)
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (best quality, such as Ghirardelli)
- ¾ cup sugar, divided
- 1½ sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
- 6 large eggs
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
For the Ganache Frosting
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee or espresso powder
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (best quality, such as Ghirardelli)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Spread the almonds in a single layer on the prepared pan and bake for 5-7 minutes, or until the almonds are lightly colored and fragrant. Set aside to cool. Leave the oven on.
- Butter the bottom and sides of a 9'' x 3'' springform pan and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper cut to fit. Butter the paper. Dust the pan all over with the fine bread crumbs (or matzo meal); rotate the pan several times to spread evenly, then invert over the sink and tap lightly to shake out any excess crumbs. Set the prepared pan aside.
- Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 20-second intervals, stirring in between, until about 75% melted. Stir and let the residual heat melt the chocolate until completely smooth. Set aside until tepid.
- Place the almonds and ¼ cup of the sugar (reserve remaining ½ cup sugar) in a food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade. (Reserve the parchment paper from the nuts for icing the cake.) Process until the nuts are finely ground, stopping the machine once or twice to scrape down the sides. You should process for about one minute total. The mixture will be a little pasty but should not be the consistency of a nut butter. Set aside the ground nuts.
- In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft. Add ¼ cup of the sugar (reserve the remaining ¼ cup sugar) and beat to mix. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating and scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary until smooth. On low speed, add the chocolate and beat until mixed. Then add the processed almonds and beat, scraping the bowl, until incorporated.
- Now, the whites should be beaten in the large bowl of the mixer. If you don't have an additional large bowl for the mixer, transfer the chocolate mixture to any other large bowl. Wash the bowl and beaters.
- In the clean bowl of the mixer, with clean beaters, beat the egg whites with the salt and lemon juice, starting on low speed and increasing it gradually. When the whites barely hold a soft shape, gradually add the remaining ¼ cup sugar. Continue to beat until the whites hold stiff peaks when the beaters are raised. Do not overbeat.
- Stir a large spoonful of the whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it a bit. Then, in three additions, fold in the remaining whites. Do not fold thoroughly until the last addition and do not handle more than necessary.
- Turn the mixture into the prepared pan. Rotate the pan briskly in order to level the batter.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 350°F, then reduce the temperature to 325°F and continue to bake for an additional 50 minutes. The top might crack a bit; that's okay.
- Remove the cake pan from the oven and place it on a rack. Let stand until tepid, 50 to 60 minutes.
- Release and remove the sides of the pan (do not cut around the sides with a knife—it will make the rim of the cake messy). Now, let the cake stand until it is completely cool.
- The cake will sink a little in the middle as it cools. Use a long, thin, sharp knife (I prefer serrated) and level the top. It will seem like you're cutting off a lot; don't worry about it. The finished cake should be about 1½-inches high. Brush away any loose crumbs. Place a rack or a small board over the cake and carefully invert. Remove the bottom of the pan and the paper lining.
- The cake is now upside down; this is the way it will be iced. Place 4 strips of the reserved parchment paper (each about 3'' x 12'') around the edges of a cake plate. With a large, wide spatula, carefully transfer the cake to the plate; check to be sure that the cake is touching the paper all around (in order to keep the icing off the plate when you ice the cake).
- To make the ganache frosting, heat the cream in a medium saucepan over medium heat until it boils. Add the espresso or coffee powder and whisk to dissolve. Add the chocolate and remove from the heat. Stir until all the chocolate is all melted and the mixture is smooth. Let the ganache stand at room temperature, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until it begins to thicken.
- Pour the ganache slowly over the top of the cake. Using a long, narrow metal spatula, smooth the top and spread the icing so that a little runs down the sides of the cake (not too much—the icing on the sides should be a much thinner layer than on the top). Smooth the sides with the spatula, then remove the parchment liners.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (12 servings)
- Calories: 464
- Fat: 34 g
- Saturated fat: 17 g
- Carbohydrates: 38 g
- Sugar: 32 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 8 g
- Sodium: 81 mg
- Cholesterol: 137 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Comments
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Jenn,
I made this following all ingredients and instructions because it’s an endless search for a chocolate cake that my husband likes. It came out looking exactly like your picture, and even though I reduced the sugar, it was a bit sickly sweet and I think it was from the semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate and maybe the almond flour. It’s also quite big!
So I’m going to try it in a 4″ springform, halving all the ingredients, but using almond flour all purpose flour in equal quantities, and Lindt 70% chocolate.
My question is not whether you think this is going to work (!!) but how long in the oven – for the first hotter bit and then the longer lower heat bit? And of course I wouldn’t mind hearing whether you think it’ll work at all!
Thank you for making us all look like we know what we’re doing!!
Hi Joy, If you’d like to halve this and make it in a 4″ springform, I’d keep the oven temp the same (325°F) throughout baking time. I’m not certain how long it will take, but I’d start checking it at about 40 minutes. I’d love to hear how it turns out!
So this is what transpired. The 4″ teeny weeny pan arrived. My husband took one look at it and said you realize you’ll have to calculate the volumes of the 4″ and the 9″ to arrive at the correct measurements. With his help (ahem) – a 4″ is 6 times smaller in volume than a 9″.
Cut to the chase. One sixth of your measurements:
14 grams of each almond flour and all purpose flour (28 grams)
28 grams of chocolate
25 grams of sugar
28 grams butter
1 egg
Pinch salt
Small squeeze of lemon
I know you can imagine the minute amount of batter there was before the folding in of the egg white….
It fitted perfectly into what looks like a king size muffin pan, and I took it out after 30 minutes from the 325 temperature. It could do with just 25 minutes, but in the end, I’d say it tastes a bit like a Sachertorte without the apricot jam.
So thank you, Jenn, for your patience, and I’m sending you this only because you asked, but I certainly don’t expect to see it in the Comments!! Far too much information!
Thanks for reporting back — glad to hear it came out well! And, who knows, maybe your measurements will help someone else. 🙂
Hi Jenn,
Should the texture of this cake be the same as your flourless chocolate cake with meringue topping? I made this recipe for flourless chocolate with ganache topping and the texture was drier that I expected. Maybe I overbaked it. I thought I followed the recipe exactly although I was confused about the amount of butter required . I used 1 1/2 sticks because that is what the picture of ingredients showed but you told one of your commenters that 6 oz was the correct amount. The list of ingredients lists 1 1/2 cups (6oz) of butter. Can you please clarify? BTW the ganache was delicious. Thank you.
Hi Maria, the texture of this is different than that of the flourless chocolate cake with meringue; the almonds in this one give it a different texture. That said, if it was dry, you may have overbaked it a bit. Regarding the butter, you used the correct amount. If you were to weigh one and a half sticks of butter, it would be the equivalent of 6 ounces. Hope that helps!
I don’t know what went wrong but my ganache is not smooth at all or pourable. It also has an oily residue. What can I do?
Hi Susie, Sorry you had a problem with it. I’d refer to this video to try to fix it. Hope it works!
It was OK. I think I would have liked a darker chocolate as I’ve had other flourless cakes, which I can compare to. Maybe it was me, but I followed the ganache instructions exactly how it said, and it was not shiny at all. I googled why it was not shiny and it was suggested to add corn syrup. I did another batch and it was shiny with the corn syrup. Thank you for the recipe, anyway.
This cake has become the centerpiece of my husband’s birthday celebration. We call it his “gateau au chocolat”, and now that we have this, I cannot imagine baking any other chocolate cake. I bake it in a 10″ springform pan and can bake it at 3,500 feet with no modification to the ingredients. My question is whether the “toothpick test” works with the almond flour or if not, how to tell when the cake is done. I usually have to adjust baking time for our altitude. Thank you.
Hi Ellen, happy to hear this has become a tradition for your husband’s birthday! I honestly don’t know whether or not the toothpick test works with almond flour but because this cake is pretty fudgy, I don’t think it would be reliable anyway. I’d just stick to whatever adjustments you make for altitude and pay attention to what the outside of the cake looks like to determine doneness. Sorry I can’t be more helpful than that!
Thank you; that does help, because in the end we’ve got to trust our own judgment when we’re in the kitchen. However, all your pro tips plus comments from other readers have made me a better cook!
I made this for a friend’s birthday party, and it turned out so pretty. The ganache was very shiny. I was short of semisweet chocolate by 4 oz for the ganache so used 63% dark chocolate and it tasted great. Served with fresh raspberries on the side.
I woke up dreaming of Maida Heatter’s cake but my cookbook is miles away. I did a search for chocolate almond cake and your recipe was the first one I clicked on. How lucky for me! I’ll be getting started as soon as I finish my coffee. Thank you!
Can you make the chocolate ganache ahead of time?
Sure, Sandra – you’ll need to warm it very gently in a saucepan or in the microwave before using.
The recipe calls for 1 1/2 sticks of butter, or 6 ounces. Where I live, sticks of butter are usually 8 ounces, so 1 1/2 sticks would be 12 ounces. So is 6 ounces correct?
Hi Tim, 6 ounces is correct. Hope that clarifies and that you enjoy the cake!
Can I leave out the coffee or substitute something else for it?
Hi Amy, You can just omit it. Hope you enjoy!