Jump To Recipe
145 Comments »
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I figured it was high time for a new chocolate recipe here on the blog.
Even better, time for a new chocolate and peanut butter recipe here on the blog.
Because I’m pretty sure that chocolate and peanut butter were one of the original matches made in heaven. And because I’m pretty sure that they were meant to be swirled together on top of this cake. And because I’m pretty sure that the second you try a taste of them together in this decadent flourless cake, it’s going to be love at first bite. :)
Even better, all you need are 5 easy ingredients to make this cake! So grab your favorite chocolate, and let’s get to baking.
Really, this cake is just a peanut butter-y variation on my favorite 3-Ingredient Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe. It’s surprisingly easy to mix together, andbakes in just half an hour. Then once it has chilled completely,you can either just serve it as-is, or put your swirly cake decorating skills to use. I promise — it’s much easier than it seems!
Just whip up a quick batch of chocolate ganache (melted chocolate + heavy cream), and pour it on top of the cake. Then heat some peanut butter until it’s all melty, pipe it onto the top of the chocolate ganache into long zig zags, and then use a wooden skewer (or a knife or a toothpick) to swirl the peanut butter and chocolate into whatever kind of design you’d like.
So simple, and SO pretty!
You can either then just dive right into the cake, or refrigerate it awhile longer until the ganache completely sets up. And then this decadent dessert will be yours to enjoy.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, or any lovely day you feel like a chocolate and peanut butter-y treat. :) Enjoy!
Print
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star4.8 from 15 reviews
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 -16 servings 1x
Description
This peanut butter flourless chocolate cake recipe is made with just 5 easy ingredients, it’s naturally gluten-free, and it is wonderfully decadent and delicious!
Ingredients
Scale
Peanut Butter Flourless Chocolate Cake Ingredients:
- 8 large eggs, cold
- 1 pound (16 ounces) dark, semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup(2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut intosmall pieces
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache Swirl Ingredients:
- 3 ounces dark, semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1/3 cupheavy cream
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
Instructions
To Make The Peanut Butter Flourless Chocolate Cake:
- Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper or waxed paper and grease the sides of the pan. (Be sure to grease the sides really well!)
- Placea large roasting or baking pan on the bottom rack of the oven. Bring a kettle or medium-sizedpot of water to boil on the stove. Once it comes to a boil, carefully pour the water into the baking pan in the oven. This will be your water bath, and will help prevent the top of the cake from cracking.
- While the water is coming to a boil, add the eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat the eggs at high speed until the volume doubles. This usually takes about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and butter and peanut butter together. You can either do this in a double boiler on the stove (by placing the chocolate and butter and peanut butter in a large heatproof bowl, set over a pan of almost-simmering water, and stirring until melted and smooth). Or you can do this in the microwave (by heating the chocolate and butter and peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until the ingredients are melted and smooth). Then fold about a third of the beaten eggs into the chocolate mixture using a large rubber spatula until only a few streaks of egg are visible. Fold in half of the remaining egg foam, and then the last half of the foam, until the mixture is totally hom*ogenous.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared springform pan and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. Place the springform pan on the middle rack of the oven (a rack above the pan of boiling water). Bake until the cake has risen slightly, the edges are just beginning to set, a thin-glazed crust (like a brownie) has formed on the surface, and an instant-read thermometer inserted halfway into the center reads 140° F, about 23-26 minutes.
- Turn the oven off and crack the door oven open a few inches, and wait about 10 minutes for the cake to slightly cool. Then remove cake and transfer to a wire rack, and cool until it reaches room temperature. Then cover and refrigerate until the cake is completely chilled. (The cake can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.)
- Once the cake has chilled, carefully remove the sides of the springform pan, invert the cake onto a sheet of waxed paper, peel off the parchment paper, and then re-invert the cake onto a serving platter. Top with the peanut butter chocolate ganache swirl, if desired. Or you can serve the cake lightly dusted with powdered sugar, or just plain.
To Make ThePeanut Butter Chocolate Ganache Swirl:
- Melt the chocolate and heavy cream together in a double-boiler or in the microwave (use the same directions as above), and whisk together until the mixture is completely smooth.
- Add the peanut butter to a separate bowl, and heat in the microwave (about 15-25 seconds) until it is warmed and a little melty. Transfer the peanut butter to a pastry bag or a large ziplock bag, and then use scissors to snip off a small corner of the bag so that you can pipe the peanut butter. Set aside.
- Pour the chocolate mixture on top of the chilled cake, and use a spoon to spread it out in an even layer. Pipe the melted peanut butter on top of the chocolate in some long lines (or your desired pattern). Then immediately takea wooden skewer (or a toothpick or a knife) and drag it through the peanut butter in circles to create swirls. If you’d like, you can then run a knife around the edge of the cake to smooth out the sides, or you can just leave it drippy.
- Refrigerate the cake for about an hour to let the ganache firm up, or you can just serve it immediately.
posted on February 4, 2016 by Ali
Cakes, Chocolate, Desserts, Gluten-free
145 Comments »
You May Also Like...
Leave a Reply
145 comments on “Peanut Butter Flourless Chocolate Cake”
« Previous12
-
Jill — September 11, 2016 @ 6:53 pm Reply
Can this recipe be doubled? I would like to make it for my daughters bday party!
-
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven — September 12, 2016 @ 7:36 pm
Hi Jill! We haven’t tried doubling this, so we can’t say for sure. However, this might work doubled in a 10-inch springform pan (it really needs to still be a springform pan though). If you have a 10-inch pan or can get one, we think it’s worth a try, we just can’t say definitively, unfortunately. We hope this is somewhat helpful!
-
-
pearl — September 12, 2016 @ 11:29 am Reply
Yum, looks great! Can you post instructions on how to make those lovely swirls? Thanks!
-
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven — September 13, 2016 @ 9:36 am
Thanks, Pearl —we hope you love it! The swirl instructions are actually already within the recipe.
Just whip up a quick batch of chocolate ganache (melted chocolate + heavy cream), and pour it on top of the cake. Then heat some peanut butter until it’s all melty, pipe it onto the top of the chocolate ganache into long zig zags, and then use a wooden skewer (or a knife or a toothpick) to swirl the peanut butter and chocolate into whatever kind of design you’d like.
-
-
Trinity — September 14, 2016 @ 10:19 pm Reply
Can I use semi-sweet chocolate chips for the chocolate, or should I use bars? Thanks!
-
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven — September 16, 2016 @ 12:44 pm
Hi Trinity! It’s totally up to you, but if you use bars, just make sure you’ve chopped them up well so they melt easily. We hope you enjoy this! :)
-
-
Darcy — October 1, 2016 @ 10:38 pm Reply
I baked it for the time stated and it’s just no way it was done. I put it back in for an additional 10 minutes and it still seems runny and like it has nothing to bind to….
Does it eventually set up as it cools or what could have went wrong?-
Ali — October 12, 2016 @ 6:15 pm
Oh no — not sure what went wrong there! It will definitely set up a little more as it cools, but shouldn’t be runny…
-
Alex — June 28, 2017 @ 6:58 am
Hey! I had a similar issue, I am in Australia so not sure how my calculations might have affected it but I checked the conversions about three times to make sure. After 26 mins the cake was still runny. I had to keep it in for almost an hour until it stopped wobbling.
I feel like I have made this cake before but differently and this time I followed every step to the letter.
-
-
Lish — October 26, 2016 @ 11:30 pm Reply
I’m curious if you have tried a substitute for butter? I can’t have dairy but would still love to make this! Might coconut oil work? Thanks!
-
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven — October 28, 2016 @ 12:30 pm
We haven’t tried this with anything other than butter, so we can’t say for sure! However, we think it’s worth a shot to give coconut oil a try. If you experiment with it, definitely let us know how it turns out! :)
-
-
Geraldine — November 22, 2016 @ 9:31 am Reply
In your recipe for the cake there’s butter but butter is missing in your instructions to make….just eggs mixed to the choc and peanut butter mixture…where does the butter go ya..thanks.
-
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven — November 22, 2016 @ 10:51 pm
Hi Geraldine! It’s in step 4: Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and butter and peanut butter together.
We hope you enjoy the cake!
-
-
Leslee — December 2, 2016 @ 1:41 am Reply
As a diabetic, it is critical to me to have the full nutritional information, especially the sugar and carbs info. Please add the information at the end of all recipes. Thank
-
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven — December 9, 2016 @ 1:38 pm
Hi Leslee! We don’t provide nutrition facts for the recipes on the site as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
-
-
Amy — December 2, 2016 @ 2:14 pm Reply
I’ve been trying to find a recipe for chocolate chestnut cupcakes. Could this be made with chestnut puree instead of peanut butter? And can they be bakes as cupcakes? Thanks!
-
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven — December 9, 2016 @ 2:10 pm
Hi Amy! Unfortunately we haven’t worked with chestnut puree before, so we can’t say. However, if you give it a try, let us know how it works out for you!
-
-
Sierra Fredrickson — December 16, 2016 @ 3:41 pm Reply
I just made the cake today and after 25 minutes of cooking I decided it looked done so I let it cool down to room temperature and then chilled in the refridgerator, and then I tried taking the spring-form pan sides off. It cracked half way to the middle and I could tell that it was still pretty gooey inside. Is it supposed to be gooey? I’m really hoping I should fix this rather than starting over and having to buy more ingredients. Should I put it back in the oven even after it’s been chilled and try again? Or do you think that leaving it in the fridge longer would suffice?
-
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven — December 18, 2016 @ 7:10 pm
Hi Sierra! Did you still follow this step: Turn the oven off and crack the door oven open a few inches, and wait about 10 minutes for the cake to slightly cool? That’s important before you put the cake on the cooling rack. It sounds like maybe it needed to chill longer, as it shouldn’t be gooey in the center. We hope this helps and that it came out okay!
-
-
Terri — March 21, 2017 @ 10:28 pm Reply
Do you think heavy cream could be substituted with coconut cream in the ganache?
-
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven — March 23, 2017 @ 3:07 pm
Hi Terri! We’ve never tried that, but we believe you can, as seen in this recipe here: We hope you enjoy the cake!
-
-
Nini — July 7, 2017 @ 12:19 pm Reply
Hi and thanks to share your recipes, can you please give me the quantities in grs, Can’t wait to try this !
-
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven — July 8, 2017 @ 1:54 pm
Hi Nini! We like this site for metric conversions. Enjoy!
-
-
Eveline — July 18, 2017 @ 8:39 am Reply
This looks awesome. I have to say that I never baked anything and I want to try out this recipe. Obviously, I have a few questions.
1. Do you have to use the entire egg or just the egg whites? (the doubling of volume confused me )
2.Do you have to add the beaten eggs when the melted mixture is still on the stove or do you have to turn off the heat and let the mixture cool off?
3.Rookie questions: is the heavy cream suppose to be liquid or..? (I’m not a native English speaker).Thanks!
-
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven — July 18, 2017 @ 2:51 pm
Thank you, Eveline, we hope you enjoy this!
1) Yes, you use the whole egg. After whipping the eggs for a good while, they will double in volume.
2) Good question. We would fold the eggs in (off the heat), once the mixture has cooled just a little.
3) Yes, the heavy cream is a liquid.We hope this helps! Happy baking! :)
-
-
Jessica — July 30, 2017 @ 1:05 pm Reply
can i refrigerate this cake after making the ganache?
-
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven — August 1, 2017 @ 8:48 pm
Yes, we think that should be fine. We hope you enjoy!
-
-
Sandy — September 21, 2017 @ 10:11 am Reply
This looks so good and it’s gluten free which is great for my husband. Is regular store bought peanut butter fine like Skippy’s/Peter Pan/Jif or should I use an all natural peanut butter?
-
Sara — December 13, 2017 @ 4:30 pm Reply
I made this for my friend’s birthday (who is gluten free) and it was delicious. I do wish I had looked at the non-peanut butter version though b/c the additional pictures would have been very helpful. I didn’t bake it exactly as it was supposed to be done, but it still turned out great! Wonderful recipe!!
-
MzzLady — February 7, 2018 @ 9:35 am Reply
I live alone, can this be frozen, and defrosted in refrigerator?
-
Julie — February 10, 2018 @ 11:33 am Reply
Does the cake need to be kept in the fridge until all is eaten?
-
Bradders — May 28, 2018 @ 10:04 am
I refrigerated but let it come up to room temp prior to eating as texture and taste are really velvety then.
-
-
Bradders — May 28, 2018 @ 9:59 am Reply
Ive made this a couple of times and its excellent so now im wondering if i can make a white choc version. I will omit the peanut butter and was thinking of using berry coulis for swirls on top. Any thoughts on using all white chocolate please?
-
Kathryn Venegas — July 26, 2018 @ 4:52 pm Reply
I have made this five times in the last few months and reviews have always been positive! #bakesalesuccess
-
Deanna — August 10, 2018 @ 4:32 pm Reply
Thanks for the recipe.
I made this yesterday for a friends birthday. I eventually baked it an extra 15 minutes, turned the oven off and left it in another 10 minutes, opened the oven door and left it in till the oven went cold and put the cake in the fridge for 2 hours before I iced it and decorated it.
It was the best gluten free cake I have made. Friends said it was the best home made gluten free cake they had eaten. -
Sherri Rambo — August 15, 2018 @ 3:44 pm Reply
I was terrified to make this, I have never done it before and what a hit it was. Super easy to make and it turned out like a super rich decadent brownie. You can do this. YUMMY
-
Joyce — November 25, 2018 @ 7:21 pm Reply
Ali, this is FABULOUS! But even better than your great recipes is the fact that you don’t constantly boast that your recipes are always “the best” of every recipe in the land. You just give us the ingredients, along with some comments and directions, and then we get to decide just how good your foods are (I haven’t yet found anything I don’t like, just for the record, and I’ve been cooking and baking for 57 years).
-
Tiffany — February 14, 2019 @ 5:32 pm Reply
Easy and delicious!
-
LD — June 3, 2019 @ 11:14 am Reply
This cake is amazing! One thing I would warn of is the time it takes for it to cool to room temperature and then chill in the fridge. I think it’s best to make the cake the day before you need it and chill overnight. Then, the day of, just put the topping on and chill for a bit longer.
It may seem as though it’s not done in the oven, but follow the directions to the T (140 degrees F in the center and then turn off oven and crack oven door a few inches for ten more minutes ) and it will be okay.
After reading some reviews about it being bitter, I chose to use Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips to eliminate that possibility. Also, I used Reese’s PB since PB and milk chocolate is a favorite for the 82-year old I made this for.
The swirls were super easy to make, just freely move a skewer throughout. I don’t think you can go wrong.
We had some with the warm topping and a cup of coffee…amazing! The rest was consumed with the topping chilled and is still amazing.
-
Ceri — February 17, 2020 @ 5:37 am Reply
We really liked this cake! After reading the reviews I decided to go by the temp stated rather than the time for baking and it took a couple minutes longer but turned out perfect. Also do not have an 8″ sprinform pan so used an 8″ cake pan and put two strips of parchment paper under the parchment round on the bottom to help lift it out once cooled. Worked like a charm.
-
shivam — March 30, 2020 @ 8:09 am Reply
It looks so delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe
-
Justine — April 9, 2020 @ 1:05 pm Reply
This looks AMAZING. One question I’m hoping you can help me with… I just measured and I only have a 9″ springform pan. Do you think I should make 1.5 times the recipe or do you think it’ll still turn out ok?
-
Jan Messali — June 27, 2020 @ 11:11 am
I made this cake yesterday. It was my first attempt at making a gluten-free dessert. It was amazing!! Everyone said it was one of the best cakes they had ever eaten. I only had a 9” springform pan and it still turned out great. I have never make a ganache, since I am lactose Intolerant, but I was able to find Silk brand dairy free heavy whipping cream. And that worked perfectly. Thanks for the fantastic recipe.
-
-
Kreg — April 30, 2020 @ 3:21 am Reply
Just whip up a quick batch of chocolate ganache (melted chocolate + heavy cream), and pour it on top of the cake. Then heat some peanut butter until it’s all melty, pipe it onto the top of the chocolate ganache into long zig zags, and then use a wooden skewer (or a knife or a toothpick) to swirl the peanut butter and chocolate into whatever kind of design you’d like
-
Momsila — August 23, 2020 @ 6:12 am Reply
Lovely mouth watery dessert! :-)
-
Linda — August 24, 2020 @ 6:35 pm Reply
I made this yesterday – everyone LOVED it !!! Great recipe will make over and over again!!!
-
Stacie Mason — January 8, 2021 @ 12:50 pm Reply
The baking instructions seem slightly off. I baked it in a 9 inch pan—8 inch was far too small—for more than 30 minutes (was visibly raw at 23 minutes). Haven’t tried the finished product yet.
-
Lori — February 11, 2021 @ 4:27 pm Reply
I live at a high altitude 6500 ft. Things take longer to bake here, I’ve baked this cake for 45 minutes and it’s still running in the middle, and suggests? Thank you,lori
-
Arlene nolen — February 23, 2021 @ 5:16 pm Reply
Made this absolutely awesome
-
Marianne — July 15, 2022 @ 8:16 pm Reply
I brought it for dessert for porch dinner at our club tonight, it was a huge hit! It was still a little warm, as I made it late, one of our friends it gluten-free so this is perfect! I had to share the recipe lol thanks
-
Shelly — January 9, 2023 @ 2:08 pm Reply
Not our favorite recipe for a flourless cake.
It was too rich.
Sorry. -
Christy Myers — February 9, 2023 @ 5:00 pm Reply
Hi, Ali. I LOVE this cake! I have made it many times and it is great every time. I need to make one next week, but would be best if I can make ahead. Can this cake be frozen then thawed in the fridge overnight?
Thanks!
« Previous12
Leave a Comment »
