This EASY 5-ingredient Flourless Chocolate Cake is only 136 calories. So rich and delicious, perfect when you want a low-calorie, gluten-free chocolate dessert that won’t set you back, and it’s ready in less than 30 minutes!
The perfect light chocolate dessert to satisfy your sweet tooth, perfect to make when you’re entertaining. Made with just a few basic ingredients; chocolate, pumpkin puree, pure maple syrup, vanilla extract and eggs. The results are a warm, chocolate treat, somewhere in the middle of a cake and souffle. This is best warm out of the oven, although I did reheat one for my daughter later in the microwave a few seconds and she loved it.
You start by melting the chocolate in the microwave in 45 second intervals.
Then you add the whole egg, maple syrup, pumpkin and vanilla and mix well.
Next you whip the egg whites and fold the chocolate in.
Pour it into 4 ounce ramekins and bake them until the rise. Last grab a spoon and dig in (oops, I added a little whipped cream for fun)!
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 6 oz 60% Ghirardelli Chocolate
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 whole egg
- 3 egg whites
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 8 (4 oz) ramekins with cooking spray. Place on a large baking tray.
- Melt chocolate in medium microwaveable bowl for 45 second intervals, mixing until melted and set aside to cool a few minutes.
- Add the pumpkin puree to the melted chocolate along with vanilla, 1 whole egg, and maple syrup; mix well.
- In a separate bowl, with a hand mixer beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
- Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, add salt.
- Spoon 1/4 cup mixture into ramekins and bake about 15 minutes, until the cakes rise. Serve right away.
Last Step:
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Hi, do you buy the pumpkin purée or buy it? I have never seen this and would love to try it.
its canned pumpkin.
Amazing! Easy to make and it was the perfect after dinner dessert! I topped mine with a small scoop of light vanilla ice cream. Will definitely make this again!
I decided to try this for Easter Dinner because my daughter eats gluten free.
It was a tremendous hit. It is as decadent as any souffle’ or lava cake that we have
had in a restaurant.
The directions and ingredients are simple and I will definitely prepare it again!
I made this tonight and it was so good! My husband loved it and said I need to make it again! I didn’t have the ramekins so I put it all in a 9 in pan and it came out great, it was probably just a little thinner than it would have been. Thank you!!
This is restaurant quality! Or even better – because it has awesome ingredients. Make this. It’s so good. I doubled the recipe. Baked it in lined muffin pans. Served with whipped cream and strawberries. Came out perfectly.
Wow my new favorite, guilt free indulgence! Everything went well. After baking mine shrunk and turned rather ugly but I consider it part of the gourmet experience. The flavor was great. Anyone tried this with white or milk chocolate? My son loves white chocolate.
I liked this very much, although I found that better chocolate–Scharffen Berger unsweetened, with some semi-sweet chips mixed in–deepened the flavor considerably. I also baked them longer than the recipe notes, maybe 6-7 mins more. And I put about 5-6 oz in a larger little bowl, and made one larger portion, which worked well. Used a cake tester, and baked that one even longer.
I’ll definitely make this again. Good one.
Do you think you could make this in advance and keep in the fridge until time to bake? I’d like to take to a friend’s place for dinner but if best served warm, I could cook it there….
Whipped egg white collapses and turns liquid in standing. Perhaps if you whip the egg white at location, then bake right away.
I wanted to like this but it seemed lacking in richness and flavor. Not gross by any means….just not something I wanted seconds of.
Can you use Splenda instead of maple syrup
This was so delicious! Will be making it again soon. I only had 4 ramekins, so I used a muffin pan for the rest and it worked well. One of my favorite Skinnytaste recipes!
I made this tonight in my instant pot – high pressure for 7 min. So good! I was worried I’d taste the pumpkin, but not at all. I did add a tablespoon of peanut butter, mixed w a little powdered sugar. Glad I tried the skinny taste recipe instead of one w 1/2 cup of butter!!
Hi! Did you just put the ramekins in with 1/2 cup of water? I’d love to try in the instant pot!
Hi, can this recipe be done in a larger baking pan for a larger number of people?
Thank you!
Yummy quick craving buster!
I read all the comments, but didn’t see an answer as to how to store the leftovers. I’m looking forward to trying these as I’m a chocolate lover but, I’ll need recommendations on how to store them.
My husband can’t have eggs. Can you substitute egg whites for whole egg or is there another substitute than can be used ?
Utterly delicious! Thx!
My son made this for father’s day. He made it in 6 muffin tins & used sugar free maple syrup. It was amazing!!
Great!
I used 4 oz of 56% Baker’s brand chocolate I bought from dollar tree and made these last night in 12 cupcake liners. I was on the fence after I had one straight from the oven and froze the rest. I took one out to thaw the next day and put a scoop of cool whip on top. It was delicious cold and had more of a cake texture instead of pie or pudding like when it was warm. I also tried a frozen one but didn’t like it as much as the black bean brownies when they are frozen which reminded me that a pinch of coffee would probably make it that darker chocolate color I like and will try it next time. Don’t think I will make them as often as the brownies though as I am still trying to figure out what to do with the remaining pumpkin and egg yolks. If I had used a sweet potato I know I would have eaten the rest of it already so I’ll keep that in mind. Great recipe anyway!
These turned out very moist almost seemed like middle wasn’t cooked all the way through. Is this normal for flourless cake?
This was sooooooooooooo good ! Im sure most women can attest to that time of the month when the chocolate monster in us comes out ! … I made these instead of heading over to my fave bakery and damm , easy to make ! and the taste is on point ! i used 70 % chocolate …
Gina,
The recipe has the egg whites folded into to mixture, What is the white topping?
Whip cream (optional). 🙂
Can I sub anything out for the egg? My daughter is allergic. 🙁
Thank you so much for all you do. I have been mainly cooking my WW meals from you! You make it possible to be successful on the program. I made these tonight and they were amazing. Perfect for those night your crave chocolate !
Thank you!
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I was wondering the best way to save the yolks from egg whites? I hate wasting them. Is there a substitute?
The only 60% ghiradelli chocolate that I saw in my grocery says “bittersweet” is that the right thing? Or is there also one that just says Chocolate? I bought the stuff to make hem but want to make sure I got the right chocolate before I try.
This cake is so good that it feels wrong to eat it while I am following my weight watchers smart points plan. You cannot taste the pumpkin or the maple syrup. I made a double batch and froze a bunch of ramekins. I heat them up for one minute in the microwave and it is like eating a lava cake. You have to make this recipe!
So glad you liked it!
I need to take a treat somewhere and these look wonderful. Do you think they would bake okay in a muffin cup liner that’s lined with the aluminum finish and not the paper?
If making these fir a dinner party could the batter be prepared in the ramekins before dinner and stored cool until ready to bake? This would allow them to bake once dinner is completed and getting coffee/tea ready but I wondered if it the batter needed to be baked immediately to keep it fluffy. Anyone tried it?
I’m also wondering the same thing as I’m planning to make these tonight for Easter dessert but would prefer to make them ahead of time. Did you try to prep them and then bake them later?
This looks great! Is there a good way to store and save extras? After baking Would it work to freeze a few?
I absolutely love this recipe, however if I am just baking for myself and only need 1 or 2 ramekins, I have tried adapting the recipe but am still running into problems because it makes for a very complicated recipe (how does one obtain 3/4 of an egg?) I’d love to see a recipe like this for one or two instead of 8. Because, otherwise I end up eating 8 servings which defeats the purpose….
So so so yummy! This is just what I needed for my chocolate fix!
Any recommendations for cooking this in the altitude?
Any recommendations for cookie this in the altitude?
These were delicious. I personally enjoyed them more the next day cold than warm from the oven (they reminded me a little of pudding).
Sorry for the typos in my last comment: I meant to say “not guaranteed” and “important to note”
Just an FYI: Ghiradelli chocolate is not huaranteed to be gluten free. I think this is important to not for people that have celiac.
thanks for the info
1 minute Chocolate cake
3 heaping T of flaxseed flour
1 heaping T of cocoa powder
1 tsp of maple syrup
1 egg
combine all in a small bowl or large mug and mix well. It should resemble brownie batter. Put in the microwave for 1 minute. Take it out and top with whipped cream, ice cream, etc or to save calories, I just run my spoon through it a few times and pour 1/2 c skim milk over the top. Reminds me of chocolate bread pudding.
opps forgot the 1/4 tsp of baking powder
🙂
Gina – this is one of my favs and I link it to everyone all the time. Problem is I have trouble finding pumpkin in the summer months. Anything else that would be low cal and work similarly?
You can use canned pumpkin (freeze leftovers in appropriate portions for use later, or if making your own, start out by freezing portions and then you don’t have to look farther than your freezer. Butternut squash or sweet potatoes would likely work as well, might impart a bit different flavor, but should be comparable.
I used to LOVE flourless chocolate cake before becoming allergic to eggs–what would be a good substitute for eggs in the recipe? I keep reading about people using the liquid from soaking chickpeas…have you ever tried this in a recipe? I love all of your recipes, so I’d trust your recommendations!!
I'm wondering, can you freeze them after cooking?
Do these have to be baked immediately? I'm just one person and if I made half a recipe, could I just put them in the fridge portioned into the 4 oz cups and bake them off as I want them? I'm assuming there's a relatively short lifespan because of the whipped egg whites. If I made four and baked them off within four days (one each day), do you think the one I baked on day four would still turn out/be good?
Oh, and by the way, I love your recipes and recommend it a lot to my friends/family who are trying to lose weight. Although, even if you're not, people should still be using your recipes!
Gina, can I substitute egg substitute instead of one whole egg? This will give the recipe a little less in points.
I have the same question. I know that the carton gives equivalents to whole eggs. If we don't get the answer right away I will check out what the carton says. Can't wait to make
I didn't have pumpkin puree so I substituted it with pumpkin pie filling. The cakes are in the oven now… Let's see what it does… I'll keep you guys posted! 😉
Just tasted the cakes and they were pretty delicious! #awesome
I didn't have 8-4 oz ramekins so I made them in 4 8-oz ramekins. Ha, not quite as skinny but still delicious! 🙂
How long did you cook them for in the larger ramekins?
I made these for dessert on Christmas 2015 and they were amazing. I used the Ghiradelli chocolate chips 60%. I heard rave reviews from everyone at the table. I even doubled the recipe because I had 12 for dinner. Just finished the last one, I heated the last one in the microwave just before I started writing this post. Fabulous!!!
I was a little wary of this recipe based solely on the fact that my husband HATES pumpkin. Made them tonight though and they were amazing! So glad I decided to try them, and that I didn't mention the pumpkin until after my husband had already deemed them delicious ;).
Thank you for this recipe! I made these for my daughter's 5th birthday as one guest is on a gluten free diet and they were a big hit! I liked them better than the regular cake and cupcakes we had 🙂
Thanks for adding SmartPoints. I was about to figure it out and you already had it 🙂
I'm so happy to see you've already updated with smart points! You're amazing! 🙂
After you cook them, is it possible to freeze them or even freeze before cooking and cook from frozen? You have a wonderful site, well done
If all were not eaten, how would you store? Just covered and in the fridge?
How can I melt the chocolate if I do not have a microwave?
can i omit pumpkin puree and not put any sub? i'm not a fan of it.
You can try subbing sweet potatoes but not sure how it would turn out. If you try it let me know how it comes out!
I made this today with quince puree instead of pumpkin puree because I'm always looking for ways to use it…after making quince jelly you wind up with a lot of cooked quinces. I also used a little more puree because I didn't have enough chocolate at home. It turned out really great, the chocolate and quince flavours go very well together. Thank you Gina for this lovely recipe that comes together very quickly! That will be my new favourite way to use up my quince puree (I have around 20 packages in the freezer right now)!
Is the chocolate noted in he recipe sweetened it unsweetened? I can't have sugar and am a low glycemic diet so I was going to try changing the maple syrup to liquid stevia or blue agave. But wondering if I need to add more to compensate for the sugar in the chocolate if I use a bakers chocolate.
It's sweetened chocolate so you can probably omit the syrup and be ok.
This sounds delicous! I can't wait to try it out. I'm looking for ways to get my family more vegetables in their foods, and if I can sneak them in through sweets, that's about perfect for me!
What a great recipe!! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I am trying to print it through the printer friendly tab, but it won't work. 🙁
Thank you for sharing your delicious recipes!
Lisa
Weird, it's working for me!
Do you think I could use cocoa powder + coconut oil instead of a bar of chocolate?
I'm sure you can but I would be guessing how it turns out.
Love flourless chocolate cakes. Thank you.
SO WHAT OTHER THAN CHOCOLATE CAN I USE?
I am going to try using Enjoy Life chocolate chips, if it is a dairy issue that you have.
How did it turn out with the enjoy life?
happy Thanksgiving to us!
How long can you wait between pouring this into ramekins and placing them in the oven? In other words, can you pour into ramekins before dinner guests arrive, then place in oven 15 min before you plan on having dessert?
Because you have to whip the egg whites, it needs to happen right away. The whole thing comes together in about 10 minutes before baking so it's pretty quick.
I can't have maple syrup, nor honey. What would you recommend for a sugar free substitute?
I was thinking the chocolate is sweet enough that you may be ok eliminating it. Or you can add a little sugar to the chocolate.
I bet you could sub applesauce or mashed banana? Might be sweeter though. 🙂
I bet although I haven't tried that yet.
This looks great but I don't have any ramekins. Can I bake the mixture in a pan? For how long do you recommend?
No, try using a cupcake tin
How long would you bake them in a cupcake tin?
Should be the same time, keep an eye on them.
I cooked mine in a cupcake tin, using the same time and it worked beautifully. They were wonderful!
What can I sub for the pumpkin puree?
Mashed sweet potato or butternut (babyfood works great here)
Would applesauce work?
If I don't have a hand mixer, can I still make it?
The egg whites need to be beaten so as long as you can achieve that, any mixer will do.
Could you use honey in place of the maple syrup?
Sure!