A dense flourless chocolate cake for those following a low carb keto diet. It’s a simple dessert that only requires five common ingredients.
It’s been super crazy over the last week. I’ve been spending a lot of time reformatting all the recipes on the site.
You may have noticed that the layout of the recipes of starting to look different. That’s because I’m converting each one to use the latest standard coding for recipes.
With close to five hundred recipes on this website, the task is huge. But, I’ve decided to do it myself rather than pay someone to do it for me.
That means, I’ve had less time to spend in the kitchen developing new recipes. And, I’m totally not prepared for the holidays.
I did find a little time to bake up a low carb flourless chocolate cake last weekend. It’s a simple cake that doesn’t take much time to put together.
This isn’t the first time I’ve baked a flourless cake. Shortly after starting this blog, I posted a a recipe for chocolate mini cakes without flour.
Although that recipe is similar, it required using sugar free chocolate chips. I thought it would be easier to just use unsweetened baking chocolate.
I also prefer desserts a lot less sweet these days. So, this low carb flourless chocolate cake isn’t very sweet.
Eventually, I’m hoping to move to desserts that only require a couple drops of stevia per serving. Or, add a few berries for small amount of fruit sugar.
I did use Swerve as the sweetener in this recipe. But, I may try using concentrated stevia next time.
The inspiration for this recipe came from one I found at allrecipes.com. However, my low carb keto version is less sweet.
There was a raspberry sauce used on the original recipe. I left mine plain and served it with some fresh raspberries.
You can certainly add a low carb raspberry sauce if you wish. It would be an easy thing to add.
I thought this dense flourless chocolate cake tasted like a rich fudge brownie. It’s very chocolaty.
If you want an easy decadent cake that’s super filling, give this recipe a try. You may even want to try changing up the flavor a bit.
I was thinking it might be nice to add some nuts and Mexican spice. How does a chili lime chocolate cake sound?
Low Carb Keto Flourless Chocolate Cake – Gluten Free
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup low carb sweetener
- 12 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
- 2/3 cup butter or ghee, cut into tablespoon size pieces
- 4 large eggs
- boiling water
Instructions
- Line bottom of 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
- In small pot, heat water, salt, and Swerve over medium heat until salt and sweetener are dissolved.
- Melt baking chocolate in double boiler or microwave.
- Mix melted chocolate and butter in large bowl with electric mixer.
- Beat in the hot water mixture.
- Add in egg, one at a time, beating well after adding each.
- Pour mix into prepared springform pan. Wrap outside well with foil.
- Place springform pan in larger cake pan and add boiling water to the outside pan about 1 inch deep.
- Bake cake in water bath for 45 minutes at 350°F. Remove and cool slightly on wire rack.
- Chill cake overnight in refrigerator. Then remove side of springform pan.
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Nutrition
Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
About Lisa
Lisa has been creating low carb recipes for herself and sharing them with others since 2010. She loves to experiment in the kitchen and find new ways to create low sugar foods that taste like high carb favorites! Her recipes have been featured on popular magazine sites including Fitness, Shape, Country Living, Women's Health, and Men's Health. Lisa lives in Southeastern Connecticut. Connect with her and Low Carb Yum at:
Noel says
I made it for some friends who are doing keto. I want to believe I did something wrong because it wasn’t even “pourable” and had to be scraped out of the mixing bowl. I then read more reviews and feel that I’m not alone. It was sooooo bitter. It tasted completely like the unsweetened cocoa. I used Stevia as the sweetener.
Lisa MarcAurele says
You can add in more cream if it’s too thick and more sweetener to offset the bitter taste of the cocoa. The cream also makes it more of a “milk” chocolate which lessens the bitterness of the cocoa.
Pamela Lee says
I made this on my birthday and it was amazing! Kind of like a very thick brownie.
I added a scoop of my homemade vanilla ice cream – SO DELICIOUS!
Gotta save this and make it again and again! I used swerve for sweetener
Lisa MarcAurele says
Yay! Glad it worked out. A la mode is always a good option.
Larry Lovering says
I made this in two loaf pans for a Tuxedo Cake, with Chocolate Pastry Cream and Vanilla pastry Crème. The two cakes were baked for 30 minutes, refrigerated overnight and assembled with a panel of 90% chocolate (melted and formed in a loaf pan) between the two pastry cremes. The two cakes were on the bottom and top. A ganache finished the top. This is a wonderful recipe, Lisa; Thank you!
Lisa MarcAurele says
Sounds like a beautiful and delicious chocolate cake!
Nan says
I made this cake to today. I used Sweve (powdered/confectioners) after mixing really well it was too bitter so I added another 1/2 cup of the Swerve the batter. (Total of one cup) i didn’t do the water bath because I don’t have big enough pans, so I filled a Pyrex dish with water and placed into the oven This turned out DELICIOUS!! It’s still not too sweet and the consistently is like a brownie. Will top with sweetened whipping cream and berries! Thank your for the recipe!
Ps – could I somehow use unsweetened coca powder instead of the solid?
Lisa MarcAurele says
You could try the conventional sub of 3 tablespoons cocoa plus 1 tablespoon butter or coconut oi.
Carrie says
3/4 pound of dark chocolate? Are you sure you used that much? I made this, using your recipe, and it tasted like chalky dark chocolate. It was so dry and chalky that it was literally like compressed cocoa powder.
I was hesitant after spending nearly $10 on chocolate but went for it anyway. What a waste!
I love eating those bakers bars, I love the taste but your recipe messed them up, big time.
Lisa MarcAurele says
Perhaps a little more liquid or less baking chocolate would help. I’ll put this one on my list to experiment with more.
Mira says
I was going to try this dessert, but hesitate based on comments left. I have made flourless cakes the conventional way with wheat flour, and you usually whip the egg whites to firm peaks and fold them in to the yolk/chocolate mixture before baking. Is there a reason why you just added the whole eggs to the batter and not treat them separately? This would make a difference in the finished dessert.
Lisa says
It’s based on a cookbook recipe I’ve used in the past which didn’t separate.
Jane A Zappia says
This turned out great. After a good overnight chillin’, I set it out for 5 hours before serving to soften it, and sprinkled it with stevia and garnished with raspberries. I added liquid stevia to the recipe because I was concerned about it being a little bitter due to the dark unsweetened chocolate.
Lisa says
Thanks for sharing Jane! It is best to serve this one at room temperature and a little sweetener is usually needed for those who haven’t been on keto long.
LaDonna says
Okay just finished this was going to top with a chocolate mousse. The cake was sooo bad, didn’t want to waste the mousse on it. What a waste of chocolate and eggs and it was way more chocolate than other recipes. Someone’s been on a Keto diet waaay too long if they think this is good. Sorry and I can’t even remove the one star I have it!!
Lisa says
You may not have been on keto long enough to dislike sweets.
LaDonna says
I am hoping this tastes better than the little batter I tasted and the crumbs on the plate. It has no sweetness at all!!!
Lisa says
You can add extra sweetener if desired. Those on strict keto limit sweets so it’s preferable to have treats that aren’t very sweet to eliminate cravings.
Jeff says
This is absolutely horrible. Made per the recipe. Tasted like chocolate sand. Pebbly needs more fat.
Lisa says
There’s plenty of fat in this one. It may have been the sweetener.
Heidi Kaivalya says
Hi, sadly, I somehow made a disaster out of this recipe. I used mini cupcake pan to try to make bite sized cakes. The butter got bubbly in the batter and boiled over the pan and got all over the stove and created a lot of smoke.🙄
I even accidentally used less butter than it called for 1/2c instead or 2/3. It was extremely buttery.
Have you run into anything like this with this recipe before?i obviously over filled the cups but I would imagine that even in a spring form it would bubble quite a bit. I’ll try it again another day.
Lisa says
Did you place the cupcake pan in a pan of water like the springform pan was? I didn’t have any butter bubbling over.
Sue says
Hi, Lisa
I wanted to ask if this would still work if I cut the amount of sugar sub. to 1/4c and used 99% Lindt bars?
Thanks
Lisa says
It should, but you may need to add more liquid as sweetener is a liquid.
Kris says
Oh boy… learning my lesson about reading the entire recipe in advance. I just put the cake in the oven and have to bring it to a keto friends house in 2.5 hours. Can I stick it in the freezer to avoid the overnight cooling?
Lisa says
That probably would work.
Karen says
I served it shortly after making it. Not sure why it needs to go in the fridge. It was perfect. Also I used a cake pan not a spring form pan-no problem getting it out of the pan.It was delicious. Everyone loved it.
Julie says
have you ever tried to make these in muffin pans? What would be the adjusted baking time?
Lisa says
It’s hard to say, but I’d start checking after 15 minutes.
Eileen says
Also water got into the aluminum foil and the cake pan. Luckily the parchment paper kept it from touching the cake. Do you have a secret way of wrapping the springform pan in foil that keeps this from happening? As you can tell this was my first attempt at using a springform pan.
Thanks for any helpful hints.
Lisa says
I use a thick foil and bend the edges around the top of the pan.
Eileen says
When cooling cake in the fridge overnight do you cover it?
Lisa says
I don’t, but I make sure it in a good spot in the fridge like at the very top.
daniela says
sounds yummy except for the sweeteners. There is no low carb sweetener, including stevia that tastes good.
Lisa says
Have you tried blending sweeteners? I find the best taste comes from combining them. My favorite is to combine stevia and monk fruit. Even my 5 year old eats plain yogurt sweetened with those two. And, adding in a touch of vanilla makes the taste even better!
Nancy says
Hi – sounds wonderful – have you developed the recipe using concentrated (or plain, no fillers) stevia – I’m finding I can’t do the sugar alcohols – too much GI upset
Love the idea of chili/chocolate – so great !! Thanks !!
Lisa says
I used a bulk sweetener with erythritol, but you could try adding more liquid and subbing with a concentrate.
Jamie says
Will Lily’s sugar free chocolate chips work for this?
Lisa says
Yes! Any low carb chocolate pieces are fine.
Cinthia says
Hi
My son is turning 3 & is on a special diet- Keto. I’m trying to use your recipe for an Elmo shaped cake pan. Any suggestions?
Lisa says
This recipe is equivalent to one box mix so you should be able to use that as a guide.
Bridget Whitaker says
I am so disappointed! Not sweet enough and 45 min was too long. I probably have $10 in this cake. I am going to have to think of some way to sweeten.
Lisa says
Add a ganache? Keto desserts typically aren’t very sweet as most keto dieters have no longer crave sweetness.
Cici says
Will the water make the chocolate seize?
Lisa says
You do need to be careful, but that didn’t happen for me.
Barb says
Is that powdered swerve or granulated? I have both and never know which to use.
Started this new lifestyle 5 months ago for health reason. Finding your site has made it an easy transition. Thank you for all the great information and recipes.
Lisa says
I used the regular granular, but you could use powdered.
Rochelle Ferriell says
Sounds very good. I need some clarification on the mixing of butter with the melted chocolate: you put the cold butter pats into the melted chocolate and beat, or do you melt the butter along with the chocolate?
Thank you.
Rochelle Ferriell says
Never mind. I saw the picture of the butter pats in the melted chocolate. Duh.
Lisa says
I was just going to tell you I used cold Kerry Gold from the fridge.