Flourless Chocolate-Orange Cake

Name: Flourless Chocolate-Orange Cake
Total time: 40 minutes (plus cooling)
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients: 10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for pan; 1 large orange; 1 cup (200 g) sugar; 8 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped, plus more shaved for serving; ½ cup plus 1 Tbsp. (45 g) unsweetened cocoa powder; 1 tsp. baking powder; ¾ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt; 3 large eggs; 1 cup heavy cream; A 9"-diameter springform pan

By Kendra Vaculin

February 11, 2025

A flourless chocolate cake topped with whipped cream shaved chocolate and candied orange peels.

Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton, Prop Styling by Gerri Williams

This fudgy, party-ready chocolate cake is dreamily simple to make. With nine probably-in-your-pantry ingredients and no special equipment, you can get it into the oven in about 10 minutes. It’s the recipe I pull out when I’m having people over at the last minute or heading to a gathering and don’t have time to make something elaborate. Despite the easy technique, this cake over-delivers on flavor and presentation. The flourless formula makes it naturally gluten-free, while the inclusion of orange zest massaged into the sugar (and a bit of juice in the batter as well) puts a twist on the classic chocolate cake that food director Chris Morocco, a noted chocolate-orange hater, called “beguiling.” With a lofty cloud of whipped cream on top, dotted with shaved chocolate and thinly sliced orange zest, it’s a treat everyone can get behind. For the cleanest slices, pull your knife back up through your cut rather than dragging it out the back of each slice, which can crack the outer edges of the cake, and wipe down the knife between cuts.

This recipe is from our Dinner With Friends series. Get the full menu here: How to Throw a Dinner Party With Just $60

Recipe notes