Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake with Mousse
September 4, 2019
“Cute glutenfree cake with chocolate mousse and butter sandwich cookie.”
Two plated wedges of dark chocolate cake. I topped each one with a thick layer of chocolate mousse piped in bold diagonal ridges, studded it with gold pearls and finished it with an orchid petal and a small layered butter sandwich cookie.
Gluten-free chocolate cake is one of pastry's happy accidents: chocolate and eggs provide all the structure it needs, so nothing is lost by leaving out the flour. The crumb is dense, moist and intensely chocolatey. Piping the mousse instead of spreading it adds height and catches the light. The little cookie on top is a baker's flourish, there to give a second texture and a hint of the care behind the plate.
This article is written in Corey’s voice for this tribute site, based on his captions and blog. His own words are the quotes above.
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse
Flourless chocolate cake relies on nothing but chocolate, butter, eggs and sugar, so it is naturally gluten free. This style, sometimes called a fallen soufflé cake, rises in the oven on whipped egg whites and then sinks as it cools, leaving a crisp shell and a fudgy center. The hollow it forms is filled here with a light chocolate mousse.
Ingredients
Flourless chocolate cake
- 300 g bittersweet chocolate, 60 to 70% cacao, chopped (10 1/2 oz)
- 150 g unsalted butter, cubed (2/3 cup)
- 6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
- 150 g granulated sugar (3/4 cup), divided
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp fine salt
- Cocoa powder for dusting the pan
Chocolate mousse topping
- 150 g dark chocolate, 60 to 66% cacao, chopped
- 120 g heavy cream, for heating (1/2 cup)
- 240 g heavy cream, cold, for whipping (1 cup)
- 15 g granulated sugar (1 Tbsp)
To finish
- Cocoa powder or chocolate shavings
- Fresh raspberries (optional)
Method
- Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan, line the base with parchment, and dust the sides with cocoa powder, not flour.
- Melt the chocolate and butter together over barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from the heat and cool to about 45°C (113°F).
- Whisk the yolks with 75 g of the sugar, the vanilla and the salt until pale and slightly thickened, then stir into the chocolate.
- Whip the whites to soft peaks, add the remaining 75 g sugar gradually, and whip to a glossy meringue with peaks that hold but still curl at the tip.
- Stir a quarter of the meringue into the chocolate to loosen it, then fold in the rest in two additions until just combined. Pour into the pan.
- Bake 35-40 minutes, until the top is puffed and cracked and the center has only a slight wobble. A skewer should come out with moist crumbs, not liquid batter.
- Cool completely in the pan on a rack. The center will sink and the edges will stand up to form a crater, which is intended.
- For the mousse, pour the simmering 120 g cream over the chocolate and stir until smooth. Cool to 35-40°C (95-104°F), then fold in the 240 g cream whipped to soft peaks with the sugar.
- Spoon the mousse into the hollow of the cooled cake and swirl the top. Chill 2 hours, release the springform, and finish with cocoa or chocolate shavings and raspberries.
Chef’s notes
- For guests who avoid gluten, check the chocolate label for traces of wheat or barley malt and make sure the cocoa and vanilla are certified. Nothing in the recipe itself contains gluten.
- A dry, crumbly cake was overbaked. Take it out while the center still trembles, because it continues to set as it cools.
- If the chocolate is hotter than about 50°C (122°F) when the meringue goes in, it melts the foam and the cake bakes up dense. Let it cool until just warm to the touch.
- Serve at cool room temperature. Straight from the refrigerator the cake is hard and the flavor muted, so take it out 30 minutes ahead.
Fallen soufflé or dense water bath torte?
Separated eggs, baked dry
Richard Sax, whose Chocolate Cloud Cake set the pattern, and Claire Saffitz
Yolks go into the chocolate and the whites are whipped and folded through, so the cake soufflés and then collapses into a light, moussey crumb under a crackled crust. It needs no water bath and gives a natural bowl for cream or mousse. This recipe follows this method.
Whole eggs in a water bath
Rose Levy Beranbaum, whose Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte uses only chocolate, butter and eggs
Warmed whole eggs are whipped to a foam, folded into melted chocolate and butter, and baked briefly at high heat in a bain-marie. The result is perfectly flat and as dense and smooth as a truffle, with no crust at all.
Drawn from the methods of
- Richard Sax, Classic Home Desserts (1994)
- Rose Levy Beranbaum, The Cake Bible (1988)
- Claire Saffitz, Dessert Person (2020)
- Pierre Hermé and Dorie Greenspan, Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé (2001)
Corey has not published his own formula for this piece. This reference recipe is compiled from the published methods of the chefs and bakers listed above, written in our own words.
