Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake with Kahlua Whipped Cream

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake is pure indulgence on a plate.

And Kahlua whipped cream will send this dessert right over the top!

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Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake

I have to meet a person who doesn’t like flourless chocolate cake.

And in this version, two kinds of chocolate plus espresso powder make a deeply rich cake that’s great warm, room temperature or cold so it gets extra fudgy.

To make it extra special, we’re infusing a fluffy cloud of whipped cream with Kahlua, that boozy elixir of coffee and rum.

The cake is naturally gluten-free, grain-free and refined sugar-free but no one will care.

Everyone loves flourless chocolate cake anyway, no matter what’s in it (or not in it).

It’s easy to make this dairy-free as well, making it a Paleo flourless chocolate cake. And we can make it a keto flourless chocolate cake, too!

See instructions below for how to make these changes.

Everyone wins!

 

What you need for Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake

Ingredients for the cake:

• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (6 oz. total) chocolate chips, semi-sweet or bittersweet
• 10 tablespoons (4.6 oz.) butter, plus more for greasing the pan
• 1 cup superfine blanched almond flour
• 4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 teaspoons espresso powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup coconut sugar or honey
• powdered sugar or additional cocoa powder, for dusting, optional

Ingredients for the Kahlua whipped cream:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup Kahlua

Equipment:

• microwave-safe bowl or small saucepan with heat-proof bowl (for melting the chocolate)
• large mixing bowl
• a whisk
• stand mixer with the paddle attachment or hand mixer
• a spatula (the kind for stirring, not flipping)
• measuring spoons (<– I love these because they actually fit into spice jars)
• measuring cups
• 9″ springform pan

 

How to make a Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake

Heat the oven to 350°.

Grease the sides and bottom of a 9″ springform pan with butter.

First, melt chocolate chips and butter together. You do this in a microwave or on the stove.

To melt on the stove, fill a saucepan with a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Place a heat-proof bowl (like glass or stainless steel) on top, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Add the chocolate and butter and stir occasionally until it melts.

To melt butter and chocolate in the microwave, add both to a microwave-safe bowl and cook for 1-2 minutes or until mostly melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Once almost melted, stir the mixture until totally smooth.

Either way you make it, let it cool while you proceed with the recipe.

Sift together the dry ingredients: almond flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder and salt.

With a stand mixer or hand mixer, whip the eggs and coconut sugar until it triples in size and becomes thick and mousse-y.

Then gently fold in the dry ingredients and then the chocolate butter mixture.

As for how to fold ingredients for a cake batter. Hold the bowl with one hand and a silicone/rubber spatula with the other. Gently scrape the spatula down the side of the bowl all the way to the bottom, lift it out the opposite side and fold the mixture back on top of itself.

Continue to do this, constantly rotating the bowl to make sure everything is evenly incorporated. This ensures you don’t deflate all the air you just whipped into the eggs. Stop when the batter is evenly blended.

This video shows you how to do it.

Then you simply pour the batter into a prepared springform pan and bake for 40 minutes (45 if you want it less fudgy).

You want the top of the cake to be dry but it should still wobble a bit when you gently shake the pan.

Let it cool on a rack so the cake sets.

Then you can eat it warm, let it cool completely to room temperature, or store it in the fridge which will make it extra fudgy.

To make the Kahlua whipped cream, simply whisk the Kahlua and heavy cream together until soft peaks form.

If you need a primer on whipping cream, check out these 7 ways to whip cream to find which one is best for you.

Storing flourless chocolate cakes

Once the cake is completely cool, you can store it in the fridge for up to 3 days.

To freeze it, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap (not so tightly that it smooshes the cake, but tight enough to lock out air). Place in a freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and then leave out at room temperature for 1-2 hours before serving.

Leftovers can be wrapped tightly and frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and then bring to room temperature before serving.

 

How to make this a dairy-free flourless chocolate espresso cake

You can make this a dairy-free flourless chocolate espresso cake without sacrificing texture or flavor.

Simply replace the chocolate chips with dairy-free chocolate chips. I use Enjoy Life! Dark Morsels for this cake and they work great.

The butter can be replaced with coconut oil. I don’t find there to be any coconut flavor when I use coconut oil, but if you’re really sensitive to the taste of coconut, use a refined coconut oil.

Honestly, the cake is so good by itself that you don’t need any whipped cream. If you want, you can sift cocoa powder over the top (or use powdered sugar, but then it won’t be completely refined sugar-free).

You can also serve the cake with whipped coconut cream (instructions included in the recipe). And yes, you can still add Kahlua to the whipped coconut cream if you’d like.

To make this cake totally refined sugar-free

Replace the Kahlua with an equal amount of honey in the whipped cream/whipped coconut cream.

Do not use powdered sugar to dust the cake.

How to make this a paleo flourless chocolate cake

Use grass-fed butter or coconut oil for the butter.

Use Enjoy Life! chocolate chips (not fully Paleo but dairy-free with a small amount of cane sugar) or Hu chocolate chips.

Do not use powdered sugar to dust the cake.

Swap in an equal amount of honey for the Kahlua (and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract if you like).

Use whipped coconut cream for the whipped cream (instructions included in the recipe).

How to make this a keto flourless chocolate cake

Replace the coconut sugar/honey with a keto-approved sweetener such as this one.

Replace the chocolate chips with keto chocolate chips, such as by Luv or Lily’s.

You can use the regular whipped cream or the whipped coconut cream. Either way, leave out the Kahlua and add the same amount of the keto sweetener.

 

Other recipes you might like:

1. 7 Ways to Whip Cream
2. Hot Chocolate Skillet Cake
3. Dairy-Free Chocolate Creme Brulee
4. Chocolate Ricotta Pudding

 

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