Easiest Ever Flourless Chocolate Cake

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Here you’ll find easy-peasy sweet and savory treats (thanks to my new cookbook Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bakes) These are recipes with pantry-friendly ingredients and short instructions, that can be assembled in 20 minutes or less, with nothing more than a bowl, a whisk and a spatula.

In short, this newsletter (delivered monthly) is always filled with easy-peasy delicious treats that anyone can make.

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Now let’s get snackable.

It’s April, Snackable peeps and I’m ready for it. This past weekend was Cherry Bombe Jubilee (see the photo above of me and one of my Salty Cheesy recipe testers, Claire Fan). It’s CB’s largest event and happens every year in April. This year, I hosted the Bakers Meetup, sponsored by Ghiradelli Chocolate and I hung out at Kerrygold’s Butter Club, as a recipe of mine (see below from Salty Cheesy) was on offer: Kristin’s Olive Cheese Puffs (tiny pimento stuffed olives wrapped in a cheesy buttery dough and baked - SO good).

Things over here in my snackable land have been a-okay. I recently developed a new recipe for New York Times Cooking (which is always an absolute THRILL, I mean #goals, and all that) - it has not yet been published, but once it is, I will attempt to share it with you all, despite the fact it is behind a paywall. I also developed a new recipe for the Washington Post (not published yet and also behind a pay wall), as well as a few recipes for Food & Wine digital. I’ve developed four recipes thus far for F&W, and will be sharing those in upcoming letters, so stay tuned!

I am also continuing to work away on a special project that I look forward to (HOPEFULLY) sharing in the next few months. Eek!! Working on it is giving me a lot of pleasure, which is a nice feeling and one I want to remember, next time I’m like questioning everything and considering a little towel throwage. I mean it doesn't happen often, but still: right now is a good reminder of why I do what I do.

Alrighty, enough about Jubilee, recipe development and secret projects, how about a recipe? Today I am sharing my easiest ever flourless chocolate cake which I have been making for over a decade. It was first inspired by Molly Wizenberg’s recipe, and I was drawn to this recipe, not because I am a flourless chocolate cake fanatic, in fact, historically, I am very much NOT a flourless chocolate cake person (too dense, and overwhelmingly chocolatey for my not-as-sophisticated-as-I’d-like palate).

But because the recipe was crazy easy, assembled in a single bowl (aka a one-bowl dessert) with a short ingredient list AND most importantly - there was no finicky step where I might be required to separate eggs and beat whites to stiff peaks or yolks til ribbony, - or god forbid, both. Instead, whole eggs are added and whisked thoroughly, but gently into the chocolate/sugar mixture. Molly’s recipe calls for a little flour, but I removed it and don’t think you can tell (but back to that palate issue, not sure I’d know).

Anyway, the recipe is perfect for Passover, for the GF peeps in your life and for Easter! The cake is fudgy and chocolatey - but in the best way, kind of like a brownie? But not chewy. Highly recommend you give it a try and please serve with dollops of creme fraiche - it cuts the sweetness and richness of the cake like nobody’s business - and tang is very welcome.

So, the recipe is below, but before you peruse it, I did want to mention that the first quarter of the new season of my Cherry Bombe baking podcast (the #1 in the country, thank you very much), She’s My Cherry Pie, just came to a close (we pick up again in late April!) and lately I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Stacey Mei Yan Fong (we discussed Boston cream pie - pie from her book 50 Pies, 50 States); Melissa Weller (we discussed baguettes from her new book Very Good Bread) and we re-aired my episode with Natasha Pickowitz (in which we discussed her Passion Fruit, Coconut and Tequila Layer Cake from her book, More Than Cake). Please check the pod out if you have not already done so, as it is kind of a very good listen, if you are into baking.

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Easiest Ever Flourless Chocolate Cake

So, as mentioned above, I did not set out to make a flourless cake when I developed this scrumptious beauty, but merely an easy chocolate one. The texture is almost like a rich, dense pudding and is DEEELISH with a dollop of crème fraiche. Oh, and frozen slivers of cake are 100% yum, too.

Serves 8

Active time: 5 minutes

Bake time: 30 to 35 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter

1½ cups (255 g) semisweet chocolate chips, or a darker, bittersweet chocolate, if you prefer

1 1/3 cups (266 g) packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¾ teaspoon kosher salt

6 large eggs, room temperature

Instructions

Crème fraiche for serving.

Heat the oven to 375°F. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan with cooking spray or softened butter. Line the bottom with parchment paper.

Microwave the butter and chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl on high, in 30-second bursts, stirring after each with a flexible spatula, until melted and smooth. Off the heat, whisk in the sugar, extract, salt, and then the eggs, very gently and one at a time. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating the pan at the halfway point. The cake is ready when its top is crackly, its edges are puffed and the center wobbles just a bit.

Let cool for about 10 minutes, the cake will collapse a little; then carefully run a butter knife around its edges and invert the cake onto a cooling rack, right side up. Let cool to room temperature before serving slices with a dollop of crème fraiche. Keep the cake wrapped on the counter for up to three days and it will last for up to a month frozen (and frozen slivers + TV-indulging = fire (and fire is a good thing, in case you do not have teenagers and so do not know)).

Alrighty flourless chocolate cake lovers, that’s it for this letter. Looking forward to being in touch again next month! Have a wonderful few weeks. 💗

P.S. Speaking of easy-peasy bakes…

❤️ Meet my new cookbook Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bakes

It’s filled with easy-peasy crackers, quick breads, hand-pies, brunch, lunch and dinner items and my viral magic melted pie dough.

Order on: Amazon | Oblong Books | Kitchen Arts & Letters | Bookshop

And if you have already ordered a copy, thank you!!! I would be so terrifically grateful if you would leave a review on Amazon, here. Even if you did not buy the book on Amazon, you can still leave a review and it really helps the book get into lots of people’s hands.