Flourless, butter free and naturally fruity sweetened… this is what this incredibly tasty and extra moist chocolate cake is all about.
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I got invited to try this amazing recipe by a friend of mine a week ago on a train trip to Göteborg (West coast of Sweden). For me who strongly believes that true baking has to be done with so-called “true” ingredients like butter, sugar and flour, I would never have given this cake a chance.
More than that: I would never have guessed that it was flourless (it still seems almost impossible according to its perfect texture) and naturally gluten free. Entirely sweetened by fruits – with dates actually – you would not think there is no refined sugar in the recipe. The cake is perfectly sweetened and does not taste fruits at all. Then coconut oil is used instead of butter – a much healthier alternative and guaranteed with no cholesterol!
Featured Comment
“Would give it 10 stars if I could! I won a small bake-off in our local area with this recipe. Everyone was so impressed with the depth of those chocolate notes as well as with the fact that it’s eggless, flourless and…even sugarless! What’s not to like about this recipe. It is now my go-to brownies.” —Sam
But I am telling you, what surprises me the most in this chocolate cake is its amazing extra moist texture that makes you think that there is no way it is a healthy recipe! It took me a while to understand it could be so moist without any flour!
For fun, I did the test separately with several of my friends this weekend and asked them to guess which ingredients this cake was made of. Each single time, they answered flour in the first place, then sugar and butter. I think it says a lot about this non-looking-but-still-very-healthy chocolate cake!
To finish with, you will be amazed by the simplicity of the recipe. With only 6 main ingredients + baking soda, all you have to do is basically to mix everything in a food processor and then pour the batter into a form. Easy, right?
Whether you care about healthy food a lot (and try to avoid refined sugar or butter as much as possible) or not, I really encourage you to taste this recipe at least once. A serving size is indeed the perfect healthy snack to enjoy in the afternoon and will satisfy your chocolate cravings!
And for other healthy recipes with chocolate, you can also try one of these :
- 5 ingredients snickers bliss balls
- Healthy Double Chocolate Avocado Cookies (sugar and dairy free + a vegan version)
- Healthy Oat-Peanut Butter Cups (Vegan)
- Healthy Vegan Chocolate Chip Blondies (refined sugar free)
- Easy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (vegan, gluten free, no added sugar)
- Sugar-Free Almond Butter Banana Muffins
Healthy Extra Moist Chocolate Cake
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Healthy
Flourless, butter free and naturally fruity sweetened… this is what this incredibly tasty and extra moist chocolate cake is all about.
Email me this recipe
We’ll send it straight to your inbox, along with weekly food inspiration!
Ingredients
- 7.5 oz (200g) unsweetened baking chocolate or at 70% cocoa
- 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/4 cup (200g) pitted dates, or about 10 dates
- 3 large eggs
- 1/4 cup (60ml) coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- In a food processor, pulse chocolate, cocoa powder and baking soda until texture of coarse sand.
- Pulse pitted dates, then eggs, coconut oil and vanilla.
- Transfer the batter into a 8×8 inch (20 x 20 cm) baking dish.
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow to cool before serving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 8 servings
- Calories: 166 kcal
- Sugar: 3.7g
- Sodium: 103mg
- Fat: 15g
- Saturated Fat: 10.7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 9.3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 17.1g
- Fiber: 4.7g
- Protein: 6.5g
- Cholesterol: 61mg
Did you make this recipe?
Lastly, if you make this Healthy Extra Moist Chocolate Cake, be sure to leave a comment and give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. And of course, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Thank you and enjoy!
Wendy
I just made this and it is fantastic! I used 100% baking cocoa and dried date pieces (all I could find at this particular market) and it is perfectly sweet and full of dark chocolate flavor. Next time I plan to make it with Medjool dates. I still can’t believe this cake has no flour, no butter, and such a little amount of sugar. This means I get to eat as much as I want:)
Thank you so much for this lovely recipe. It will be archived and made frequently.
Delphine Fortin
Oh, thank you Wendy for your nice words. I really love this recipe too, texture and taste are incredible and we would never think it’s actually healthier than a classic recipe. It’s the beauty about it!
Dorgham Fatma
Bonjour par quoi je peux remplacer les dates? merci
Nicolas Lesbros
Testé à l’instant et je dois avouer que ce gâteau est très simple à réaliser et délicieux !
Merci pour cette super recette et pour ce blog qui foisonne de recettes alléchantes !
Prochaine étape : le “kladdkaka” au chocolat…
Delphine Fortin
Oh, merci beaucoup Nicolas pour ton retour. Très heureuse que cette recette te plaise. C’est en effet tout simple à réaliser et assez bluffant niveau texture. Et dans un tout autre registre, le kladdkaka est à tomber… bien faire attention à la cuisson en fonction du four utilisé pour être sûr qu’il ne soit pas trop cuit et bien coulant à l’intérieur. Bien à toi depuis Chicago! Del.
CURTI
bonjour,
essayée ce week end, cette recette est à tomber ! merci beaucoup
car il y a longtemps que je cherchais ce genre de dessert à la fois “léger” et fort en chocolat
Delphine Fortin
Très heureuse d’apprendre que ce gâteau vous plaise. C’est une recette en effet simplissime et bluffante tant niveau goût que texture 🙂
Niamh Downes
I’ve made this twice recently, using 70% chocolate and its just delicious. The second time the dates didnt blend quite as well so I might soak them in a small amount of water the next time. But I am thrilled to have come across this recipe. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing!
Delphine Fortin
Oh, thank you for your feedback! Making it with 70% cocoa is my favorite version too. And yes, it’s a good idea to soak the dates when they are a little bit too dry. Thanks again for stopping by!
Niamh Downes
Hi Delphine, I’ve since made this using prunes instead of dates and it turns out beautifully. Just another option to bring down the carb and calorie content.
Delphine Fortin
Oh thank you for sharing this with us, I truly appreciate! 🙂
Sheila
Can this be made vegan by substituting with flax seed?
Delphine Fortin
Absolutely! Let me know how it turns out but it should be just fine.
Ana Santos
Hi! Your recipe sounds and looks amazing!
I have some leftover canned coconut milk in the fridge and would like to replace the eggs with it. Do you think it might work? I have tried replacing eggs with mashed banana before and it has worked just fine in baking, but in this particular cake, I would like it to be all chocolate and no banana taste if possible…
Delphine Fortin
Hi Ana! I think I wouldn’t risk replacing the egg with coconut milk in this recipe. Instead, I suggest apple sauce or a flaxseed egg. FYI, 1 flaxseed egg = mix 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds and 3 tablespoons of water, then let sit for 5 minutes before using. Here you would need to triple the quantities to replace 3 eggs in total. I hope my answer helps!
Tanee Beasley
This turned out so delicious! I think I accidentally put in an extra TB of cocoa (talking on the phone), but it still isn’t too chocolaty. On me KEEP list, definitely.
Delphine Fortin
I’m really happy to hear that, Tanee! And I’m with you when it comes to the additional tablespoon of cocoa. A little extra yum doesn’t hurt 🙂
MAYA SAENZ
J’ai testé ce gâteau ce week-end : un délice ! Hyper simple à faire, et bluffant au goût. Et moi qui n’aime pas les dates, je ne les ai pas du tout senti à la dégustation. Merci beaucoup pour cette recette !
Delphine Fortin
Très heureuse d’apprendre cela. Merci beaucoup pour ton retour, Maya!
Danièle
Ça a l’air succulent !
Je voudrais essayer cette recette, mais je n’ai pas d’huile de coco. Par quoi est-il possible de la remplacer ?
Merci d’avance de vos conseils
Delphine Fortin
Merci beaucoup Danièle, je suis ravie que cette recette vous plaise ! Vous pouvez parfaitement remplacer l’huile de coco par une autre huile végétale de votre choix, cela n’affectera pas la texture. En espérant vous avoir aidé ! Bien à vous.
Danièle
Merci.
Mais si je mets de l’huile d’olive, est-ce que le goût de l’huile d’olive risque d’être trop prononcé ?
Guetni
Bonjour
J’ai essayé ce gâteaux et j’ai été bleufe par sa texture sans farine sans beurre un vrais délice et surtout très sain merci beaucoup et bonne continuation
Delphine Fortin
Merci beaucoup pour ce retour! En effet c’est une recette vraiment bleuffante tant niveau texture que goût. Je ne m’en lasse pas 🙂
Elinor Clements
These are lovely and so easy to make. Hard to believe there’s no sugar! Def be making them again. Maybe try with some pecans or walnuts
Delphine Fortin
Thank you Elinor, I’m glad you liked it! Oh, with pecans inside sounds lovely too. Love the idea!
mariana mccann-pereira
How big is this cake?
Delphine Fortin
Good question indeed! Not really big. I usually bake it in an 8″square (about 20 cm) baking pan. This way you can get a thick enough cake. Happy baking!
Josefine
Hi Delphine, I made this recipe today and it turned out absolutely gorgeous! I made little changes, but respected the recipe in its integrity. I used dried dates, so there were a lot of dates in 1 cup and a half. I reduced the chocolate, as I only has two bars of chocolate 85%, but added a full teaspoon of Dutch cocoa, and added half a teaspoon of creme of tartar. I was concerned the dates wouldn’t break, but I persisted and got a small pebble texture, rather than a coarse sand texture. I mixed the eggs sooner, to help with the process. The big change is that I used a small bread loaf pan, as I didn’t get a lot of dough. And it turned out perfect! It needed almost 45′ to cook, but I got about 12-14 thin slices that are more than I expected.
Next time ( yes, I will make it again!) I will prepare enough for two loaves, and will susbstitute half the dates for coconut flour or almond meal to reduce sweetness ( I am trying to eat less sugar, including sucrose).
Thank you for sharing!
Josefine
Delphine Fortin
Wow, what a pleasure to read you, Josephine. I absolutely love baking experiments as I strongly believe recipes are made to evolve and I’m very curious about the change you brought to the recipe to make it your own. I will definitely give it a try myself. I like that you used a bread loaf pan too, great idea! Thanks again for sharing all this with us, I really appreciate. Have a beautiful day! 🙂
Story
I tried these today and they are so awful. They are so bitter and dry. I did everything the recipie said. You definatly made these look moister than they are for the picture because these things could soak up a pool and still not be moist.
Delphine Fortin
Hello! I’m really sorry you feel that way. This recipe has been tried again and again by many readers and it should not be dry at all. And I never cheat on the photos ; if the recipe don’t taste good or if the texture is not as great as I expect I simply don’t post it on the blog. I’m pretty confident with this one. It can be bitter if you use unsweetened chocolate and are used to it. In this case, I recommend dark chocolate with 70% cocoa instead. Regarding the dry texture you experienced, it might come from the oven temperature or for how long you baked it. Each oven is different so it’s always better to check by inserting a clean toothpick into the cake a few minutes before the baking time ends, it might be already cooked through.
Amanda S
Hello Delphine. I was wondering if you think this cake would hold well being layered? My mom is on a new diet plan for her health and is so sad that she won’t be able to make our traditional Mint Chocolate Christmas Tree Cake. So I’ve set out to surprise her with a healthy version she can have.
So layers… yes, no, maybe? What are your thoughts?
Thanks for taking the time to answer every comment.
Delphine Fortin
Hi Amanda! I think the best is to make 2 cakes with the mint in the middle. I wouldn’t risk to slice the cake, it would not be easy to spread the filling I’m afraid. Let me know how it turns out. It looks like a fantastic idea!
Farah
Hi! This looks lovely. If I wanted to leave out the chocolate to have a moist date cake is that possible? Or would I need to add some sweetener to make up for it.
Many thanks!
Delphine Fortin
Hello! This is a good idea but a totally different recipe and I haven’t tried it myself so I can’t advice you on this one. Let me know if you find something interesting and try it, I’m always curious! 🙂
Jody
Hi,
Planning to make this cake tonight. I will be using a glass baking dish. Do I need to oil it before baking?
Thanks !
Delphine Fortin
Hi Jody! Yes, it’s better to oil the dish a little before, with about one teaspoon of coconut oil. Hope you’ll enjoy the cake! 🙂
Jody
Thanks! I wanted to do a trial run of this cake for my daughters 1st birthday next week. I just made it and added a thin layer of vanilla icing. Perfection! Thanks for sharing!
Heidi
Not sure if you have tried this or not…could you freeze these to make them into a layer for an ice-cream cake?
Delphine Fortin
Hi Heidi! This is a good question indeed, but I think it is worth a try! Let me know how it turns out for you.
Yosefa
I LOVE this recipe. I make it every week and the guests I host also LOVE it! They can never guess the ingredients correctly.
Question: What did you dust the cake with in the picture?
Delphine Fortin
Ah! I’m so happy to hear you love the cake, Yosefa 🙂 I know it always makes the best impression with the dust on top, here I simply dusted some unsweetened cacao powder. Try it next time!
Raïkata
Gâteau testé et adjugé! C’est fou ce qu’il peut sentir bon en plus de ça 🙂
Je découvre votre blog et je le trouve très bien détaillé. Bonne continuation!