Vegan Flourless Chocolate Mousse Cake (Gluten free)

Melt-in your mouth, super easy to make, this Vegan Flourless Chocolate cake is one you will be repeating for years to come. A delicious nutty crust and a soft chocolate mousse layer, it is a dairy free and gluten free vegan chocolate cake. 

A quick and easy to make decadent chocolate mousse cake is something we would all like to have a recipe for, right?

So what if I told you that we have a recipe for one that you can prepare in 20 minutes? And it's also healthy and delicious?

This recipe is actually one I adapted from a vegan challenge facebook group last summer and it sounded so appealing that I simply had to try it. And it has quickly come to the top of my list of quick and healthy vegan desserts.

The only downside is that it needs to be in the fridge overnight, so you need to make sure you prepare it the day before you need it!

Why we love this vegan flourless chocolate cake recipe?

• rich chocolate cake for chocolate lovers
• ready in 20 minutes, needs cooling overnight 
• we don't use processed vegan substitutes like vegan butter
• decadent chocolate mousse filling
• eggless chocolate gluten free dairy free cake 
• it is a low cake, so it looks more like a vegan chocolate torte

Ingredients 

We use super simple ingredients for this gluten-free chocolate mousse cake. 

The crust

• Almonds -  Make sure to grind them before use (using a food processor gets the job done quickly). You can also do any other nuts of choice, like hazelnuts or walnuts but we find that almonds work the best
• Coconut oil - Doesn't have to be melted to add to this crust. Win.
• Cocoa powder -The original, raw, bitter kind. Not the sweetened sugary cacao powder for hot chocolate. 
• Honey - Or any other sweetener of choice like maple syrup, rice or date syrup. 

The mousse filling 

• Coconut milk - Make sure to use that full-fat thick version that will give the creamiest filling. 
• Dark Chocolate - The idea here is to use a dark chocolate that has at least 70% of cocoa but some people find it too bitter. You can substitute with a "normal" baking chocolate if you prefer but make sure you check the ingredients if you want the cake to stay vegan! If you are not used to a dark chocolate taste use a chocolate with maximum 50% cocoa. Make sure you are buying gluten-free chocolate.

How To Make 

It is so easy to make this gluten free vegan chocolate cake. 

Crust

1. Preheat the oven. Make sure to preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F beforehand so that when your crust is ready you can just pop it in the oven. 
2. Grind the nuts in a food processor so you get a consistency that is more dense than an almond flour but less dense than chopped nuts. 
3. Mix the cocoa powder, honey, coconut oil and almond meal in a large bowl. 
4. Place the crust batter into a springform pan (23 cm diameter (9 inch) and press down so it forms a compact base and put in the oven to bake for 10 minutes. 

Make the mousse layer 

1. Meanwhile, heat coconut milk in a pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. While the coconut milk is heating up
2. Cut the dark chocolate into pieces and place in a small saucepan.
3. Add the boiled coconut milk to the chopped chocolate and mix until it forms a chocolate cream. The chocolate mixture will be much more runny than you would expect but coconut milk will firm up in the fridge a lot. 
4. Finish the cake. Pour the coconut chocolate mixture over the crust and refrigerate overnight. The cake should have a firm crust and the top cake layer should have a creamy texture. 

Next day once it is firm, you can decorate your delicious dessert with some chocolate shavings, fresh berries and sprinkle coarse sea salt on top of the cake.

Possible Variations 

Mix your nuts. The original recipe I tried uses almonds in the crust. I prefer the taste of hazelnuts actually and it does taste great. A great option is to also mix the nuts so to use a combination like walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts! 

Don't need vegan? If you don't really need a vegan or dairy-free cake, you can substitute the coconut milk for a thick cream. This will give a great ganache cream. Just make sure to use the same amount of cream and chocolate because cream doesn't thicken as much as coconut milk when refrigerated. 

Too sour? If you still find the cream being too sour even if you've used a regular cooking chocolate (which usually has about 55% cocoa), you can either add some sweetener to the cream or simply use milk chocolate. Balance is key in nutrition after all! 

FAQ