Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe with Raspberry and Rose

Simple to prepare, deliciously moist, and gluten free, this flourless chocolate cake recipe makes a great dinner party dessert. Made with almond flour, raspberries, and rose simple syrup, you can have this easy-to-make cake on the table tonight.

Why Make This Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe?

This flourless chocolate almond cake combines the richness of dark chocolate with the subtle nuttiness of ground almonds. I’ve infused the cake with a delicate rose simple syrup (for a fragrant, floral taste and ultra-moist texture), and added powdered freeze-dried raspberries for a tart berry note.

Although the finished product looks impressive, this recipe requires just eight ingredients, and an hour or so of prep and baking time. (You will need another hour if you want to make your own rose syrup from scratch. See my notes below!) I love this recipe because the ingredients lend themselves to an endless range of garnish options—dried rose petals, fresh raspberries, berry compote, chocolate curls, even a spoonful of homemade hot fudge sauce.

Made with almond flour rather than all-purpose, this recipe also makes a solid gluten-free and dairy-free dessert option. Just double-check any garnishes for hidden ingredients.

Ingredients for Making Flourless Chocolate Cake

To make this flourless chocolate cake recipe, you’ll need the following:

• Almond flour – Almond flour forms the base for this cake recipe. I enjoy baking macarons so I always keep almond flour in the cabinet, but you can purchase almond flour on Amazon if you don’t already have a bag. (Use the rest to make my orange almond cake, or a batch of these cherry almond blondies!)
• Unsweetened cocoa powder – For a rich chocolate flavor. Choose regular cocoa powder for this recipe, not Dutch process.
• Freeze-dried raspberries – Powdered freeze-dried raspberries (rather the whole berries or pieces) work best. If you only have whole freeze-dried berries, use a food processor or coffee grinder to turn them into powder.
• Rose Simple Syrup – Soaking the cake in rose syrup adds moisture, as well as a floral flavor. It’s not difficult to make your own rose simple syrup, and you can use it for lots of applications, including baked goods, cocktails, and lemonade. But if you’re short on time, a store-bought drink syrup like this one will work just fine.

• Eggs – Four whole eggs (and a touch of baking powder) give the cake its lift.
• Rosewater – To heighten the rose flavor. I prefer the Nielsen-Massey brand, but any brand will work. Just make sure you’re using a culinary-grade product—some rosewaters are meant for topical or cosmetic purposes only, and are not safe for consumption.

Making and Using Rose Simple Syrup

Rose syrup represents a key component in this flourless chocolate cake recipe. Although I’ve offered a shortcut above, it doesn’t take much time or effort to make the syrup from scratch. My rose simple syrup recipe requires just three ingredients, including dried rose petals which you can also use to garnish the cake.

There are two methods for applying soaking syrups to cakes: cold syrup on a hot cake, or hot syrup on a cold cake. In this recipe, I’m applying cold syrup to a hot cake. Because you want the rose syrup to be completely cool before soaking,  it’s fine (even ideal!) to make it a few days in advance, then refrigerate until you’re ready to soak your flourless chocolate cake.

Notes on Dried Rose Petals

I’ve used dried rose petals to garnish my cake—these add a pop of pink, plus an extra note of rose flavor. When purchasing dried petals, opt for a product clearly marked as culinary or food-safe. Do not dry petals from a bouquet of store-bought roses. (It’s impossible to know whether these have been treated with pesticides or chemicals.) Save fresh flowers for a homemade simmer pot, and choose culinary dried rose petals for this recipe instead.

Garnishing Flourless Chocolate Almond Cake

I love this flourless chocolate cake recipe because the components lend themselves to so many creative garnish options. Some of my favorites include:

• Fresh raspberries, raspberry jam, or raspberry compote
• Whipped cream (or coconut whipped cream, to keep the dessert dairy free)
• Shaved or chopped dark chocolate, or chocolate curls
• Dried rose petals
• Homemade hot fudge sauce or a drizzle of melted chocolate

Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe Tips

It’s easier to leave the turned-out cake upside down on the serving plate (so the bottom becomes the top) rather than flipping it twice. The bottom stays flatter than the top of the cake, making it easier to apply the rose soaking syrup.

Don’t skip the tin-lining step! (If you don’t take the time to properly line and grease your cake tin, you’ll find it impossible to remove the cooled cake.) Simply trace the round cake tin onto a sheet of baking parchment, then cut out the parchment circle. Spray the tin with nonstick spray and place the parchment circle in the bottom, then spritz more spray on top of the parchment, as well as the sides of the tin.

When sifting the dry ingredients into the beaten egg mixture, it’s fine to dump the last few spoons of the cocoa-almond flour mixture directly into the bowl. In this recipe, you’re aiming to distribute the dry ingredients evenly on top of the eggs, rather than to remove debris as you’d do when baking macarons.

Make-Ahead and Storage Suggestions

You can prepare the rose simple syrup a week (or more) in advance, and store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake and soak your cake. See my notes above.

It’s best to make this flourless chocolate cake recipe on the day you plan to serve it, but leftovers will keep reasonably well for about two days. Wrap leftover cake in foil (or cover the plate with a tightly-fitting sheet of clingfilm/plastic wrap) and store it at room temperature.

Other flourless and gluten free desserts you might enjoy:

Flourless Orange Almond Cake
Lemon Posset
Eton Mess Recipe with Mixed Berries
Floral Wreath Meringue Cookies

And if you do make these, or any of my recipes, don’t forget to tag me @bastecutfold or use the hashtag #bastecutfold on Instagram. I always love to see what you’re making!

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