This year I’m trying five recipes for Christmas – all delicious, easy to make, festive and gluten free! I started with some Coconut & Amarula Snowballs and a Gluten-free Apple Crumble, before trying a Blueberry Crème Brûlée. My fourth recipe was the Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe by Makinze from Delish. It looked easy enough to make but exposed my lack of baking skills and I made some schoolboy errors which I will share at the end of the post. It was nevertheless delicious and what I loved the most was that it was truly flourless with no need for flour alternatives. The cocoa powder and eggs give it all the lift and structure it needs.

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 170 g bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
• 110 g butter, cut into large chunks
• 1 tsp. instant espresso powder
• 60 ml hot water
• 200 g sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 95 g unsweetened cocoa powder

For the Ganache

• 120 ml double cream
• 175 g chocolate chips
• Raspberries, for serving (I used mango and cherries as I didn’t have raspberries but would definitely use raspberries when doing this again.

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180°C (160ºC fan) and grease an 20cm springform pan. 
• Make cake: Place a small saucepan filled halfway with water over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Place bittersweet chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over the simmering pot. Stir until chocolate and butter are completely melted. Turn off heat and remove bowl from saucepan. 
• Dissolve espresso powder in hot water. Add sugar and espresso to melted chocolate and whisk until completely combined then add eggs and whisk to combine. Stir in cocoa powder.  
• Pour batter into prepared springform pan and bake until just set in the middle and a thin crust forms, about 35 minutes.  
• Let cake cool for 15 minutes, then remove sides of springform pan. Let cake cool completely. 
• Meanwhile, make ganache: Place double cream in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Place chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl then pour hot cream over chocolate chips. Let sit for 1 minute, then whisk to combine. 
• Pour ganache over cake and smooth with an offset spatula. Place in refrigerator until set, 10 minutes. 
• Serve with raspberries.

So, where did I go wrong? For starters, I didn’t have a springform baking pan which meant I struggled to get the cake out of the pan and ruined its structure. The ganache was perfect, but I had no idea how to pour it onto the cake and should have let the cake cool more. The mangos gave a pop of colour (I didn’t have raspberries!) but were the wrong choice of fruit as they made the centre a bit soggy. BUT — the cake was delicious… yes, a delicious mess, but delicious nonetheless! It was baked perfectly and the kids each had two slices, and that after a whole bowl of spaghetti! Most importantly, our Boxing Day Birthday Boy was pleased with our effort!

Are you baking this Christmas Season? What are your favourite Christmas treats? Let me know if you try this recipe!