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Dessert

Flourless Chocolate Cake

A dense chocolate cake made without flour, using eggs, sugar, butter, and melted chocolate.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Serves 8
Ovengas mark 2 (300 °F or 150 °C)
Timeapproximately 30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl set above another pan of simmering water (or use a double boiler).

  2. Lightly whisk the chocolate mixture until smooth, then remove from heat and allow to cool while still stirring.

  3. Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl until the mixture is creamy.

  4. Gradually mix in the melted chocolate (and any other variants, if desired).

Bake and set

  1. Pour the mixture into a mould (baking tray or 8 individual moulds).

  2. Cover the moulds with aluminium foil and place them in a deeper baking tray.

  3. Pour boiling water into the deep baking tray to a depth that is half that of the moulds.

  4. Bake for approximately 30 minutes in a preheated oven at gas mark 2 (300 °F or 150 °C). Insert a skewer to check if ready: if it comes out clean, the cake is done.

  5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature.

  6. Cool for approximately 10 hours in the fridge.

Serve

  1. Remove from the mould, place on a plate and garnish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

384Calories
8 gProtein
26 gFat
30 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Butter + chocolatetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten with sugar, they provide the structure that sets the cake without flour.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and, once melted and cooled, the dense, rich body of the cake.
Unsalted butter
Melts with the chocolate to add fat, giving a smooth, tender texture.
White granulated sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps the eggs form a creamy, stable mixture.

The step that matters

Cool the chocolate mixture before adding the eggs. Chocolate mixed into eggs while still very hot can scramble them or cause the batter to split, so it should be cooled while stirring first.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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