Chocolate Cloud Cake With Chantilly Cream | Flourless
Chocolate Cloud Cake is a rich and intense, moist and mousse-like flourless cake topped with dreamy Chantilly Cream. A flourless recipe, this cake features chocolate, butter, and eggs to form a beautifully rustic soufflé type cake that would be perfect for Valentines Day.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This post may include affiliate sales links. Please see my Privacy Policy.
This recipe comes from Richard Sax in his famous cookbook Classic Home Desserts. Although this was his last book before he passed away in the mid-1990’s, I believe it was his best. It’s certainly my favorite of his. Chocolate Cloud Cake was one of his most famous recipes, and I’m sure you can see why. This cake is just gorgeous, and the recipe is deceptively simple.
Ingredients for Chocolate Cloud Cake
There are really only 4 ingredients in the cake recipe: chocolate, butter, eggs, and sugar, with a few optional ones such as Grand Marnier and zested orange peel. Although the ingredients are few, the cake is rich and intensely chocolatey. No flour means it can be made gluten-free.
How to Make Chocolate Cloud Cake
To start out with, you melt the chocolate in a double boiler. I used Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips. Once the chocolate is melted, you add the butter and stir to combine. You can melt the chocolate in the microwave if you wish, but I would recommend sticking with the double boiler method to prevent the chocolate seizing.
Next, You beat together eggs and egg yolks with half the sugar. It’s important not to let the sugar sit with the eggs too long or the proteins in the eggs will start to “cook”. As soon as you pour in the sugar, start beating them together right away.
After beating the eggs and sugar, you’ll add the melted chocolate mixture to the eggs, followed by the Grand Marnier.
The next step is to beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar. You will not beat them to stiff peaks. Instead, you’ll beat them until they just hold their shape. – By the way, this Hamilton Beach handheld mixer is over 30 years old. We’ve had it our entire marriage, and it still works very well! –
The whole process takes about 10 minutes. As you can see in the image grid below, the egg whites slowly start to lighten in color until they are bright white.
Here you can see what the meringue mixture should look like. Fluffy, soft peaks that hold their shape, but are not too stiff.
After the egg whites are beaten into a soft meringue, you’ll begin slowly adding them to the chocolate mixture. You’ll start by adding only about 1/4 of the egg whites to lighten the batter. This makes it easier to add the remaining meringue without having to stir too much which would deflate the mixture.
When you’ve finished adding the meringue mixture to the cake batter, it will be lighter in color and a bit fluffier.
Baking the Chocolate Cloud Cake
Next, prepare an 8-inch springform pan by lining with parchment paper. It’s important not to grease or butter the pan. This allows the cake batter to cling to and climb up the sides of the pan as it bakes.
Then you’ll pour the batter into the springform pan and smooth out the top. The cake will rise and puff up like a soufflé as it bakes, revealing a gorgeous, cracked and rustic top. However, as it cools, it will sink in the middle. This is meant to happen and provides a perfect hollow for filling with Chantilly Cream after it is completely cool.
While the cake is baking, I need to tell you about this cookbook holder. Isn’t if perfect? I found it on Amazon and I absolutely love it! It’s cast iron, so it’s heavy enough to hold up heavy cookbooks like this one without falling over. And it holds the page open for you while you’re working.
It has no trouble with thick cookbooks like this one at all. I searched everywhere until I found one that was perfect for what I needed. It’s heavy, white, decorative, and beautiful enough to leave on your counter all the time. I tend to leave the cookbook I’m currently perusing in the stand on the counter.
Here’s a good view of the back. There’s also a gorgeous red one available in this style, but white goes better with my kitchen.
Back to the cake! When the cake comes out of the oven, it’s tall and puffy and cracked around the top edge. It immediately starts to sink, however, and this picture below is after about a minute out of the oven. You’ll let it cool completely on a wire rack before topping.
As the cake cools, it sinks in the center, leaving a big hollow, perfect for filling with homemade Chantilly Cream!
Homemade Chantilly Cream
Chantilly Cream is simply homemade whipped cream with powdered sugar and vanilla. Make sure the heavy cream is super cold for the best results. Again, I used my hand mixer so I could have more control and ensure I didn’t over-whip the cream.
After the cream is ready, simply pile it into the hollow of the Chocolate Cloud Cake.
Finish the cake by sprinkling with cocoa powder and topping with chocolate shavings.
Be sure NOT to remove the springform pan until after you’ve finished decorating the cake. Otherwise the delicate cake may not hold up.
This cake is so rich and delicious. It’s intense while also being light. My family thinks it’s better than something you’d order in a restaurant. High praise indeed!
With so few ingredients, you must try this fabulous cake! If you don’t have cream, or don’t want to include it, you can simply dust with powdered sugar. It would be fantastic either way. Enjoy!
Recommended Items:
Chocolate Cloud Cake
Ingredients
- 8 ounces coarsely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (225g)
- 1/2 cup room temperature butter cut into pieces (110g)
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar (200g)
- 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or cognac optional (I used 1 tbsp Grand Marnier)
- Finely grated zest of 1 orange about 1 tablespoon, optional
Chantilly Cream Topping
- 1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream (355g)
- 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Unsweetened cocoa powder and/or chocolate shavings for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line an 8-inch (20cm) springform pan with parchment paper. Do not grease or butter the pan.
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, or a bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water. Once the chocolate melts, remove from the heat and stir in the butter until smooth.
- Separate 4 of the eggs. In a large bowl, whisk 2 whole eggs and the 4 egg yolks with 1/2 cup (100g) of the sugar just until combined. (Don’t let the sugar sit in the eggs too long without whisking.) Whisk the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Whisk in the Grand Marnier and the orange zest, if using. In a separate bowl, beat the 4 egg whites until foamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup (100g) sugar and beat until beautifully glossy, soft peaks form that hold their shape but aren’t stiff, about 5 minutes more. Gently stir about a quarter of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, then gently fold in the remaining whites. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top.
- Bake until the top is puffed and cracked and the center is no longer very wobbly, 35 to 40 minutes. Be careful not to over bake. (It's better to under bake than over bake.)
- Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack. The center of the cake will sink as it cools, forming a crater. Let cool completely.
- To make the Chantilly Cream, whip the cream, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Do not over whip.
- Fill the sunken center of the cake with the Chantilly Cream. Dust the top lightly with cocoa powder and sprinkle chocolate shavings or chocolate curls on top.
- Run the tip of a knife around the edge of the cake. Carefully remove the sides of the pan, cut into wedges, and serve.