Description
This peanut butter flourless chocolate cake recipe is made with just 5 easy ingredients, it’s naturally gluten-free, and it is wonderfully decadent and delicious!
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Flourless Chocolate Cake Ingredients:
- 8 large eggs, cold
- 1 pound (16 ounces) dark, semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache Swirl Ingredients:
- 3 ounces dark, semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
Instructions
To Make The Peanut Butter Flourless Chocolate Cake:
- Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper or waxed paper and grease the sides of the pan. (Be sure to grease the sides really well!)
- Place a large roasting or baking pan on the bottom rack of the oven. Bring a kettle or medium-sized pot of water to boil on the stove. Once it comes to a boil, carefully pour the water into the baking pan in the oven. This will be your water bath, and will help prevent the top of the cake from cracking.
- While the water is coming to a boil, add the eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat the eggs at high speed until the volume doubles. This usually takes about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and butter and peanut butter together. You can either do this in a double boiler on the stove (by placing the chocolate and butter and peanut butter in a large heatproof bowl, set over a pan of almost-simmering water, and stirring until melted and smooth). Or you can do this in the microwave (by heating the chocolate and butter and peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until the ingredients are melted and smooth). Then fold about a third of the beaten eggs into the chocolate mixture using a large rubber spatula until only a few streaks of egg are visible. Fold in half of the remaining egg foam, and then the last half of the foam, until the mixture is totally homogenous.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared springform pan and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. Place the springform pan on the middle rack of the oven (a rack above the pan of boiling water). Bake until the cake has risen slightly, the edges are just beginning to set, a thin-glazed crust (like a brownie) has formed on the surface, and an instant-read thermometer inserted halfway into the center reads 140° F, about 23-26 minutes.
- Turn the oven off and crack the door oven open a few inches, and wait about 10 minutes for the cake to slightly cool. Then remove cake and transfer to a wire rack, and cool until it reaches room temperature. Then cover and refrigerate until the cake is completely chilled. (The cake can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.)
- Once the cake has chilled, carefully remove the sides of the springform pan, invert the cake onto a sheet of waxed paper, peel off the parchment paper, and then re-invert the cake onto a serving platter. Top with the peanut butter chocolate ganache swirl, if desired. Or you can serve the cake lightly dusted with powdered sugar, or just plain.
To Make The Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache Swirl:
- Melt the chocolate and heavy cream together in a double-boiler or in the microwave (use the same directions as above), and whisk together until the mixture is completely smooth.
- Add the peanut butter to a separate bowl, and heat in the microwave (about 15-25 seconds) until it is warmed and a little melty. Transfer the peanut butter to a pastry bag or a large ziplock bag, and then use scissors to snip off a small corner of the bag so that you can pipe the peanut butter. Set aside.
- Pour the chocolate mixture on top of the chilled cake, and use a spoon to spread it out in an even layer. Pipe the melted peanut butter on top of the chocolate in some long lines (or your desired pattern). Then immediately take a wooden skewer (or a toothpick or a knife) and drag it through the peanut butter in circles to create swirls. If you’d like, you can then run a knife around the edge of the cake to smooth out the sides, or you can just leave it drippy.
- Refrigerate the cake for about an hour to let the ganache firm up, or you can just serve it immediately.
Can this recipe be doubled? I would like to make it for my daughters bday party!
Hi Jill! We haven’t tried doubling this, so we can’t say for sure. However, this might work doubled in a 10-inch springform pan (it really needs to still be a springform pan though). If you have a 10-inch pan or can get one, we think it’s worth a try, we just can’t say definitively, unfortunately. We hope this is somewhat helpful!
Yum, looks great! Can you post instructions on how to make those lovely swirls? Thanks!
Thanks, Pearl — we hope you love it! The swirl instructions are actually already within the recipe.
Just whip up a quick batch of chocolate ganache (melted chocolate + heavy cream), and pour it on top of the cake. Then heat some peanut butter until it’s all melty, pipe it onto the top of the chocolate ganache into long zig zags, and then use a wooden skewer (or a knife or a toothpick) to swirl the peanut butter and chocolate into whatever kind of design you’d like.
Can I use semi-sweet chocolate chips for the chocolate, or should I use bars? Thanks!
Hi Trinity! It’s totally up to you, but if you use bars, just make sure you’ve chopped them up well so they melt easily. We hope you enjoy this! :)
I baked it for the time stated and it’s just no way it was done. I put it back in for an additional 10 minutes and it still seems runny and like it has nothing to bind to….
Does it eventually set up as it cools or what could have went wrong?
Oh no — not sure what went wrong there! It will definitely set up a little more as it cools, but shouldn’t be runny…
Hey! I had a similar issue, I am in Australia so not sure how my calculations might have affected it but I checked the conversions about three times to make sure. After 26 mins the cake was still runny. I had to keep it in for almost an hour until it stopped wobbling.
I feel like I have made this cake before but differently and this time I followed every step to the letter.
I’m curious if you have tried a substitute for butter? I can’t have dairy but would still love to make this! Might coconut oil work? Thanks!
We haven’t tried this with anything other than butter, so we can’t say for sure! However, we think it’s worth a shot to give coconut oil a try. If you experiment with it, definitely let us know how it turns out! :)
In your recipe for the cake there’s butter but butter is missing in your instructions to make….just eggs mixed to the choc and peanut butter mixture…where does the butter go ya..thanks.
Hi Geraldine! It’s in step 4: Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and butter and peanut butter together.
We hope you enjoy the cake!
As a diabetic, it is critical to me to have the full nutritional information, especially the sugar and carbs info. Please add the information at the end of all recipes. Thank
Hi Leslee! We don’t provide nutrition facts for the recipes on the site as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
I’ve been trying to find a recipe for chocolate chestnut cupcakes. Could this be made with chestnut puree instead of peanut butter? And can they be bakes as cupcakes? Thanks!
Hi Amy! Unfortunately we haven’t worked with chestnut puree before, so we can’t say. However, if you give it a try, let us know how it works out for you!
I just made the cake today and after 25 minutes of cooking I decided it looked done so I let it cool down to room temperature and then chilled in the refridgerator, and then I tried taking the spring-form pan sides off. It cracked half way to the middle and I could tell that it was still pretty gooey inside. Is it supposed to be gooey? I’m really hoping I should fix this rather than starting over and having to buy more ingredients. Should I put it back in the oven even after it’s been chilled and try again? Or do you think that leaving it in the fridge longer would suffice?
Hi Sierra! Did you still follow this step: Turn the oven off and crack the door oven open a few inches, and wait about 10 minutes for the cake to slightly cool? That’s important before you put the cake on the cooling rack. It sounds like maybe it needed to chill longer, as it shouldn’t be gooey in the center. We hope this helps and that it came out okay!
Do you think heavy cream could be substituted with coconut cream in the ganache?
Hi Terri! We’ve never tried that, but we believe you can, as seen in this recipe here: We hope you enjoy the cake!
Hi and thanks to share your recipes, can you please give me the quantities in grs, Can’t wait to try this !
Hi Nini! We like this site for metric conversions. Enjoy!
This looks awesome. I have to say that I never baked anything and I want to try out this recipe. Obviously, I have a few questions.
1. Do you have to use the entire egg or just the egg whites? (the doubling of volume confused me )
2.Do you have to add the beaten eggs when the melted mixture is still on the stove or do you have to turn off the heat and let the mixture cool off?
3.Rookie questions: is the heavy cream suppose to be liquid or..? (I’m not a native English speaker).
Thanks!
Thank you, Eveline, we hope you enjoy this!
1) Yes, you use the whole egg. After whipping the eggs for a good while, they will double in volume.
2) Good question. We would fold the eggs in (off the heat), once the mixture has cooled just a little.
3) Yes, the heavy cream is a liquid.
We hope this helps! Happy baking! :)
can i refrigerate this cake after making the ganache?
Yes, we think that should be fine. We hope you enjoy!
This looks so good and it’s gluten free which is great for my husband. Is regular store bought peanut butter fine like Skippy’s/Peter Pan/Jif or should I use an all natural peanut butter?
I made this for my friend’s birthday (who is gluten free) and it was delicious. I do wish I had looked at the non-peanut butter version though b/c the additional pictures would have been very helpful. I didn’t bake it exactly as it was supposed to be done, but it still turned out great! Wonderful recipe!!
I live alone, can this be frozen, and defrosted in refrigerator?
Does the cake need to be kept in the fridge until all is eaten?
I refrigerated but let it come up to room temp prior to eating as texture and taste are really velvety then.
Ive made this a couple of times and its excellent so now im wondering if i can make a white choc version. I will omit the peanut butter and was thinking of using berry coulis for swirls on top. Any thoughts on using all white chocolate please?
I have made this five times in the last few months and reviews have always been positive! #bakesalesuccess
Thanks for the recipe.
I made this yesterday for a friends birthday. I eventually baked it an extra 15 minutes, turned the oven off and left it in another 10 minutes, opened the oven door and left it in till the oven went cold and put the cake in the fridge for 2 hours before I iced it and decorated it.
It was the best gluten free cake I have made. Friends said it was the best home made gluten free cake they had eaten.
I was terrified to make this, I have never done it before and what a hit it was. Super easy to make and it turned out like a super rich decadent brownie. You can do this. YUMMY
Ali, this is FABULOUS! But even better than your great recipes is the fact that you don’t constantly boast that your recipes are always “the best” of every recipe in the land. You just give us the ingredients, along with some comments and directions, and then we get to decide just how good your foods are (I haven’t yet found anything I don’t like, just for the record, and I’ve been cooking and baking for 57 years).
Easy and delicious!
This cake is amazing! One thing I would warn of is the time it takes for it to cool to room temperature and then chill in the fridge. I think it’s best to make the cake the day before you need it and chill overnight. Then, the day of, just put the topping on and chill for a bit longer.
It may seem as though it’s not done in the oven, but follow the directions to the T (140 degrees F in the center and then turn off oven and crack oven door a few inches for ten more minutes ) and it will be okay.
After reading some reviews about it being bitter, I chose to use Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips to eliminate that possibility. Also, I used Reese’s PB since PB and milk chocolate is a favorite for the 82-year old I made this for.
The swirls were super easy to make, just freely move a skewer throughout. I don’t think you can go wrong.
We had some with the warm topping and a cup of coffee…amazing! The rest was consumed with the topping chilled and is still amazing.
We really liked this cake! After reading the reviews I decided to go by the temp stated rather than the time for baking and it took a couple minutes longer but turned out perfect. Also do not have an 8″ sprinform pan so used an 8″ cake pan and put two strips of parchment paper under the parchment round on the bottom to help lift it out once cooled. Worked like a charm.
It looks so delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe
This looks AMAZING. One question I’m hoping you can help me with… I just measured and I only have a 9″ springform pan. Do you think I should make 1.5 times the recipe or do you think it’ll still turn out ok?
I made this cake yesterday. It was my first attempt at making a gluten-free dessert. It was amazing!! Everyone said it was one of the best cakes they had ever eaten. I only had a 9” springform pan and it still turned out great. I have never make a ganache, since I am lactose Intolerant, but I was able to find Silk brand dairy free heavy whipping cream. And that worked perfectly. Thanks for the fantastic recipe.
Just whip up a quick batch of chocolate ganache (melted chocolate + heavy cream), and pour it on top of the cake. Then heat some peanut butter until it’s all melty, pipe it onto the top of the chocolate ganache into long zig zags, and then use a wooden skewer (or a knife or a toothpick) to swirl the peanut butter and chocolate into whatever kind of design you’d like
Lovely mouth watery dessert! :-)
I made this yesterday – everyone LOVED it !!! Great recipe will make over and over again!!!
The baking instructions seem slightly off. I baked it in a 9 inch pan—8 inch was far too small—for more than 30 minutes (was visibly raw at 23 minutes). Haven’t tried the finished product yet.
I live at a high altitude 6500 ft. Things take longer to bake here, I’ve baked this cake for 45 minutes and it’s still running in the middle, and suggests? Thank you,lori
Made this absolutely awesome
I brought it for dessert for porch dinner at our club tonight, it was a huge hit! It was still a little warm, as I made it late, one of our friends it gluten-free so this is perfect! I had to share the recipe lol thanks
Not our favorite recipe for a flourless cake.
It was too rich.
Sorry.
Hi, Ali. I LOVE this cake! I have made it many times and it is great every time. I need to make one next week, but would be best if I can make ahead. Can this cake be frozen then thawed in the fridge overnight?
Thanks!