Flourless Fudge Cake with Dairy-Free Ganache

The end of August was a blur. A crazy, beautiful blur. If you're like me, not only is your birthday in August, but 90% of your friends were born in the same month as well. So the final days of last month were spent celebrating numerous births, however, I must say that Jamie's was a little extra special this year. He turned the big 3-0 on the 26th and we celebrated with all kinds of things pulled from our childhood memories, including a piñata and some roller skates. So it just wouldn't be right if I didn't make the birthday boy the world's fudgiest [dairy-free, flour-free] chocolate cake on his big day, and later share the recipe with the rest of the world! And just so you know, all non-dairy ingredients below can be replaced with actual dairy products, like butter & cow's milk. So it's a recipe for the masses.

Inspired by a recipe found here, I bring you chocolate madness... you're welcome.

Flourless Fudge Cake with Dairy-Free Ganache

Ingredients for cake: 

3 oz. dairy-free dark chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup dairy-free semisweet chocolate morsels

1/2 cup non-dairy butter, such as Earth Balance Buttery Spread

8 large eggs, chilled

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch nonstick springform pan.  Set aside. (caution: be careful that the batter does not drip through the seal of the pan!) **

In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and non-dairy butter and heat in the microwave for about a minute or 2, until nice and melted. Whisk together and allow to cool a bit. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs for 5 minutes on medium speed, until the mixture appears bubbly and light. You can use a hand mixer, or a standing mixer.

Gradually add sugar, cocoa powder and the vanilla extract into the eggs and whisk well. Drizzle in the chocolate and non-dairy butter mixture into the egg mixture while the mixer is running. Mix until fully combined. 

Pour batter into the pan, and bake in the center of the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the center is just set and the cake's sides pull away from the pan a bit. Cool on a wire rack, or feel free to pop it in the fridge for a bit to chill. To remove from the pan, run a knife along the edges to make sure it doesn't stick. 

Once the cake is cool -- time to add the ganache! 

Ingredients for ganache:

1/2 cup dairy-free semisweet chocolate morsels 

1/4 cup vanilla almond milk (I choose unsweetened, but think sweetened would work nicely with the semisweet chocolate too)

Simply melt the chocolate and almond milk in the microwave (in a microwave safe bowl!) for about 1-2 minutes and stir to combine. Easy! Then pour this ganache onto the cake, your mouth, whatever. Just make sure it runs down the side of the cake. Then refrigerate the finished chocolate-coated cake until ready to serve and devour. 

Love, 

Amy

**For those of you (like me!) who don't own a springform pan, a simple 9-inch round cake pan can be used for this recipe -- just make sure not to fill the pan more than 3/4 way with the batter. Proceed with caution, and your cake should turn out just as lovely & yummy. And you should still butter the bottom & sides of the pan.