The ultimate flourless chocolate cake calls for only four ingredients. You only need one bite, which is why baking them in mini sizes is ideal for serving!
By the time you read this, Nate and I will be whizzing up the California coastline on Highway 1 in a 1984 pick up truck with all of our stuff! Woohoo!
Hands down, one of the best dessert chefs/bloggers out there is David Lebovitz. He lives in Paris and cooks insane food with butter and sugar - his Instagram is honestly transporting. I’ve always been intimidated by his recipes (homemade labneh, anyone?) but when searching for flourless chocolate cake recipes for Passover weeks ago, his came to the top of Google and its title was “Chocolate Idiot Cake”. Supposedly even an idiot could make it! This amateur baker liked where this was going .
Given that there was only four ingredients, I knew this baby was going to be rich. So rich that you didn’t even want more than one bite - an “amuse bouche” of a dessert, if you wish. I decided to modify the recipe to make mini tartes - tartlets! So I definitely owe the ingredients breakdown to Chef David, but if you don’t want to make an entire cake, follow my directions below. As we know, baking is a science and I was worried that if I modified his recipe in any way these things would turn out wrong. Well, that’s probably why he said that even an idiot could make this cake. It is really hard to screw up baking chocolate, butter, sugar, and eggs. No matter the size, if you undercook or overcook it, if you end up serving it straight out of the pan, if you can’t even make it to the baking portion because this batter (can you even call it batter?) is so ridiculously rich and delicious.
So I certainly agree with David - the first couple of steps of this recipe is definitely something any basic chef could do. Melt butter and chocolate, and whisk in eggs and sugar. That’s it. But given that this dessert is so rich and full of moisture, it gets a little more complicated than that. Make sure you grease that tart pan VERY WELL before putting in the batter.I think my parents found me brandishing the knife at the first round of these because they stuck to the pan, squealing about how I “ruined Passover” and that everything was ugly and “how is it possible for even an idiot to make these?!” Well, it doesn’t matter how ugly these things look because you could serve crumbles of them they taste SO good. David recommends using a springform pan for when you cook in cake form - less sticking.
We served these at Passover with homemade whipped cream (no sugar added - this cake is so rich the whipped cream needs no additional sweetness) and fresh fruit alongside my Strawberry Vanilla Macaroons. And the mini bites of them was all that you really needed. We saved extra to pass along throughout the week and everyone was kind of blown away with how good these flourless treats were. I will definitely be making this recipe again, but only for special occasions.
- 1¾ cup dark chocolate (chopped or chips)
- 1 cup sugar
- 5 eggs
- 1¾ sticks of butter, room temperature
- Extra butter or cooking spray for greasing
- Optional: cocoa powder, powdered sugar, fruit, or whipped cream for serving!
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
- Using a double boiler, melt together the dark chocolate and butter
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together
- Pour in the chocolate butter mixture, and mix thoroughly - it will be the consistency of pudding
- Grease your mini tart pan WELL, using cooking spray and/or butter
- Pour the batter into each tart shell, until almost reaching the top
- Cover the pan with tin foil
- Fill a glass baking dish with about ½ inch of water, and place the pan in the dish. The water should come up to about halfway to the pan
- Bake for 50 minutes
- Remove and let cool, then pop out with a knife
- Dust cocoa powder or powdered sugar over the torte-lettes
- Serve at room temperature with fruit or whipped cream
If you like these, you’ll love: Five Flourless Dessert Ideas for Passover (or any time of the year!)
Thanks for stopping by! 
