Make Ahead

Almost Flourless Chocolate Cake with Meyer Lemon Whipped Cream

January 21, 2014
4.6
21 Ratings
Photo by Eric Moran
  • Prep time 10 minutes
  • Cook time 40 minutes
  • Makes one 9-inch cake
Author Notes

This cake is only very lightly adapted from Molly Wizenberg's Winning-Hearts-and-Minds Cake -- and it gets better as it ages (or is stashed in the freezer for a bit). Serve it with powdered sugar, whipped cream, this lemon whipped cream, or nothing at all. —Kenzi Wilbur

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Cake
  • 7 ounces best-quality dark chocolate
  • 7 ounces unsalted European-style butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
  • 5 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • Meyer Lemon Whipped Cream
  • 1 pint heavy whipping cream
  • 1 Meyer lemon, peels only
Directions
  1. Cake
  2. Heat the oven to 375º F, and butter a 9-inch cake pan. Line the base of the pan with parchment, and butter that, too.
  3. Chop the chocolate and melt it in a double boiler (I use a metal bowl over a simmering pan of water), stirring continuously. Once it begins to melt, add the butter, and keep stirring until both are fully melted. Add the sugar, stir to combine, and set aside to cool slightly.
  4. Add the eggs one at time, mixing very well after each. Mix in the flour. At this point your batter should be super smooth.
  5. Pour batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 25 minutes -- or, as Molly says, until the center of the cake looks set and the top is shiny and a bit crackly-looking.
  6. Let the cake cool in its pan on a rack for 10 minutes; then carefully turn the cake out of the pan and revert it, so that the crackly side is facing upward. (The cake will deflate slightly as it cools.) Allow to cool completely before you serve.
  7. Serve in wedges at room temperature with whipped cream -- or nothing at all.
  1. Meyer Lemon Whipped Cream
  2. Combine the lemon peels and the cream in a heavy saucepan, and bring to just under a boil.
  3. Before it comes to a boil, take the cream off the heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes.
  4. Cool completely, strain, chill, and then whip to soft peaks. Alternatively, if you don't have much time, you can grate lemon peel into cold cream before you whip it.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Marsha Shapiro Roux
    Marsha Shapiro Roux
  • Branewyrms
    Branewyrms
  • Red Caya
    Red Caya
  • Julieta Flores Jurado
    Julieta Flores Jurado
  • KK
    KK

185 Reviews

sshardy February 14, 2024
Delicious and sooooo easy! I am not a baker but decided to try this and am so glad I did….it will be my #1 go to dessert! One question…do you think I could use gluten free flour and if so, which one do you think would work best….thank you for this fabulous recipe !
 
Marsha S. November 8, 2021
I've made a very similar flourless choc cake...but the 5 eggs were separated and the whites were beaten until soft peaks formed and then was folded in to the...I've made that flourless cake 4 times and it comes out so good. I use 72% Trader Joe's belgium chocolate and the cake comes out divine every time. I'm curious to try this recipe and see if there is any noticeable in the taste and/or texture
 
Jenny A. February 14, 2024
Would have helped if you posted after you tried the recipe. This was 2021, guess you didn’t like it.
 
Branewyrms December 30, 2020
I’ve made this cake a dozen times over the years and normally it comes out perfectly, but this time it rose and spread over the edges of the pan (it didn’t leak, just mushroomed a bit). So odd as it’s never happened to me before. Is it possible that I over mixed when adding the eggs? I beat them in by hand using a spatula so I didn’t think I could incorporate that much air into it. I’m sure it will still be sublime when it’s ready to serve.
 
Red C. April 20, 2018
I made this last night and it was fantastic! I did add orange zest and made the whip cream. It was a hit and I will definitely be making this again.
 
nuncaxampanale March 24, 2018
Is there any way to make this cake without flour? What would be an acceptable substitution?
 
ReeceAmy March 24, 2018
I make it without flour. Turns out great! I do find I need to bake it For a tiny bit longer. It’s an amazing cake.
 
violingirl March 24, 2018
we have made this so many times (but never the whipped cream) and never with flour. Somewhere it says to replace that tbsp of flour with cocoa. works perfectly. enjoy
 
jamcook March 27, 2021
I use a tablespoon of almond flour,...perfect
 
Trishington February 14, 2024
I've made a very similar recipe to this using regular and gluten free flour (the America's Test Kitchen GF flour mixture) and it works beautifully both ways. Note that when using the GF flour, I don't add any xanthan gum because there's so little flour required and skipping it makes zero difference to the outcome.
 
linda December 18, 2017
Is the dark chocolate unsweetened?
 
Ayu F. October 26, 2017
Hi, i just want to try to bake it for my cousin birthday. In the instruction said Add the eggs one at time is it means that the egg should be mix into melting chocolate?? And the other one, normally people mix it using spatula or hand mixer??
 
Ayu F. October 26, 2017
Hi, i just want to try to bake it for my cousin birthday. In the instruction said Add the eggs one at time is it means that the egg should be mix into melting chocolate?? And the other one, normally people mix it using spatula or hand mixer??
 
Ayu F. October 26, 2017
Hi, i just want to try to bake it for my cousin birthday. In the instruction said Add the eggs one at time is it means that the egg should be mix into melting chocolate?? And the other one, normally people mix it using spatula or hand mixer??
 
Ayu F. October 26, 2017
Hi, i just want to try to bake it for my cousin birthday. In the instruction said Add the eggs one at time is it means that the egg should be mix into melting chocolate?? And the other one, normally people mix it using spatula or hand mixer??
 
Julieta F. July 18, 2017
Is it normal if it's quite jiggly? The top was dry and cracked but the inside seems underdone...
 
KK February 14, 2017
Saw this recipe as a suggestion and decided to make it for my two teenage sons at the last minute right before dinner for Valentine's Day and it was amazing!! Simple to make yet one of those that my kids call a "restaurant cake." I didn't have any lemons and just made whipped cream flavored with vanilla and it was delicious. I will def be making this one again - ty :)
 
Andy July 16, 2016
Alice Medrich contributed a terrific recipe to the Joy of Cooking. It's foolproof and delicious!
 
TinaB July 16, 2016
I tried this cake yesterday for the second time as I am a big lover of flourless chocolate cakes and a budding-baker who had not yet found a recipe I love enough to make again and again. The recipe is great and very easy to follow. I use the European butter (Plugra) and now used this 73% dark Vietnam origin chocolate https://www.santabarbarachocolate.com/vietnam-origin-extra-dark-chocolate-73-without-soy-lecithin/ the flavor turned out really good this time. I made no changes to the recipe. The cake is very moist and not too sweet and easy chocolate cake! Great that it doesn't require any special ingredients. I served it with just powdered sugar on top.
 
joanie February 8, 2016
Is there any apparent effect to substituting cocoa powder for the flour? And would it be regular or dutch process? Thanks!
 
Donna February 8, 2016
I would contact the Chef on that question....
 
Patricia S. May 31, 2017
I've tried it both ways and both ways work well.
 
Donna January 16, 2016
I normally use some sugar in my whipped cream but this time I stayed true to the chefs recipe. Next time I'm going to add some zest to the cream. I was also wondering about adding some Limonchello....?
 
Arlenebdm January 16, 2016
Do you ever sweeten the cream? I instinctively put a small amount of sugar in whipped cream, but am happy to try it without.
 
Donna January 13, 2016
What to do with left over chocolate bars...made this cake and WOW was
it a hit!
The Lemon Whipped Cream however seemed to be a bit bland, I would add more lemon peel next time.
 
carol S. November 22, 2015
Kenzi,
Could olive oil be used in place of butter?
 
Kenzi W. November 23, 2015
I've never tried it—I may be a little nervous to replace the fat in its entirety because there are so few ingredients in this cake that doing so could really change the flavor. I might try half and half and see how it goes, but again, I've never tried it so can't be sure until I do. If you're serving it to company, I might just play it safe. :)
 
Sarah E. February 14, 2015
Made this cake today for Valentine's Day dessert - fantastic! Will definitely make again. I did not make the Meyer lemon whipped cream so will need to try it another time. Tonight I just served the cake with raspberries and vanilla bean ice cream. Yum!