This fallen chocolate souffle cake is dense, rich, and decadent~ a flourless, gluten free cake that will get raves (and requests for the recipe) every time!

This cake that is meant to fall.

Most any cook will tell you to do all that you can do to prevent your cake from falling. Same for souffle. The dreaded “fall” that occurs when the cake or souffle sinks makes it less than appealing and often inedible. But this fallen chocolate souffle cake is an exception to this rule. It is MEANT to fall, after which it is at its best, most enjoyable, perfect consistency.

This cake has deep, rich, chocolate flavor.

Any time I need a chocolate fix, a REAL chocolate fix, this is the cake I crave! When I say REAL chocolate, I mean that it is deep. Bold. Unmistakably dark. The combination of semisweet and bittersweet gives this cake maximum intensity that is just out of this world. My go-to brand for chocolate is Ghirardhelli or any high quality chocolate.

This cake is flourless (and gluten free).

This cake is fabulous to serve at a dinner party or gathering, as it is gluten free and can be enjoyed by most anyone (unless someone is allergic to chocolate haha). 

This cake can be made ahead (and frozen).

For optimal results, make and serve this within several hours of baking. This method will result in the texture shown in the photo above. If served from frozen, it will still be delicious but won’t have the warm, soufflé like texture. It will be more like a rich, dense brownie.  If you want to make this cake ahead of time, you definitely can. I have made this cake and frozen it for up to one month with great results. If you make ahead, be sure to wrap well before freezing and allow to thaw at room temperature well before serving.

This recipe requires several separate steps.

Since there are several steps to making this, I outlined the process as I made this cake recently. This isn’t a hard dessert to make; it just requires several steps–melting, mixing, and folding. This is a recipe where a KitchenAid or good stand mixer is worth its weight in gold.

Steps to making fallen chocolate souffle cake.

First: Melting butter and chocolate

Melt butter and all chocolate. I didn’t use a double boiler, which is always safest, but I kept the burner on low and watched carefully. Chocolate burns quickly, so use a double boiler if you have one.

Second: Mixing whites and yolks

WHIP WHITES FIRST (not yolks). If you will be using the same mixer blades to whip whites and mix yolks, do the whites first. Why? Egg whites won’t whip if any oil is in the bowl or on the mixer blades. Mixing whites and whipping cream both require clean bowls and blades).  

• First: Mix eggs whites until stiff peaks form. This takes 7-8 minutes, so I do this while chocolate melts. The whites should hold stiff peaks when they are ready. 
• Second: Mix yolks for 10 minutes (or until ribbons form).

Folding ingredients into one batter:

Now you have 3 bowls: whites, yolks & chocolate. Fold the chocolate and whites alternately into the yolks mixture until well incorporated. It does take a bit of folding to get everything completely mixed.

Baking

Pour batter into prepared pan. Make sure that you have lined the bottom with parchment and sprayed the entire pan well with Baker’s Joy.

Watch this careful and be sure not to over bake. This needs to be jiggly when removed from the oven. It is supposed to fall and maintain a slight bit of oozing. If this is over baked, it will not be good.

The cake will (and should) fall after baking.

After baking and sitting out for a short while (less than 30 minutes), the cake will fall~sink in the middle. The cake will have the cracked, fallen look, typical of a souffle, and is not the prettiest dessert you’ll ever see. But after one bite, you’ll be smitten. This is one decadent dessert. Enjoy warm as it is, or top with freshly whipped cream and dust with cocoa powder.

If you make this cake, please let me hear how it turns out! Leave comments beneath the post so that we can all hear your thoughts. As always, thanks so much for stopping by. Wishing you a joyful, blessed, and savvy day!!!