Almond Meal Chocolate Cake

This Almond Meal Chocolate Cake is rich, soft and sweet with lashings of luscious thick cream cheese frosting. Sweetened with juicy medjool dates this is a cake that is super moist and keeps for a week in the fridge. It's both a cake and a dessert all in one. Perfect for dinner parties, brunches, birthday parties and for those looking for low sugar sweets.

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This cake doesn't contain any flour or refined sugars, but you wouldn't know it. It's a healthier take on a classic chocolate cake, and along with my sugar free chocolate cake, my gluten free mud cake and my chocolate fudge date cake, this chocolate cake will truly have you wondering why you'd ever want to eat shop bought cake again.

Why This Recipe Works

Its naturally sweetened: this cake is sweetened with plump and juicy medjool dates, and a combination of Monkfruit Sweetener.
It uses minimal ingredients: most of the ingredients are pantry staples. Just 8 ingredients for the cake.
Its super moist: the addition of the medjool dates make this cake wickedly moist and fudgey, and it stays that way for a whole week
That frosting is good enough to eat on its own: who doesn't love thick creamy frosting that's almost as high as the cake itself!
Its perfect for those can't tolerate flour/wheat: Great for your gluten free friends!
Its higher in protein and fibre: Almond meal naturally contains more protein and fibre than regular flour so a small slice will keep you fuller for longer

Ingredients

This is one flourless chocolate cake that won't disappoint. Not only does it have a deliciously moist centre with a perfectly balanced level of sweetness, it's a healthier option than packet cakes you make at home and those you buy at supermarkets and bakeries. Its kind of like a chocolate mud cake with almond meal - delicate, decadent, and utterly moreish.

Ingredient Notes

Almond Meal: almond meal is fabulous for creating dense, yet light and filling baked goods. Its also packed with protein. The consistency of almond meal is different to flour as it is courser, and it's not the same as almond flour
Cocoa Powder: I love using unsweetened cocoa powder. I usually find it in the health food aisle of the supermarket. Using a sweetened chocolate powder may result in an overly sweet cake.
Granulated Sweetener: I use Lakanto Monkfruit "Gold" which is natural alternative to brown sugar. Its low carb and measures like sugar. Any brown sugar substitute would work. Natvia also has a brown sugar alternative that I sometimes use.
Sugar Free Maple Syrup: I recommend Lakanto sugar free Maple Syrup, however there are other sugar free syrups out there you can try. Just make sure to buy a naturally sweetened one. Alternatively, you can just use pure Maple Syrup.
Dates: Plump, juicy Medjool Dates at room temperature are ideal. Having them at room temperature is also kinder on your food processor. Make sure to remove the seeds first. Alternatively, you can also buy pitted dates which saves a little time and they're about the same price.
Eggs: room temperature eggs are best so that the batter is the right consistency.

How To Make

Preheat fan oven to 150 degrees C. 300 degrees F. Line an 8 inch springform tin with baking paper on the bottom and sides. Use a little extra butter or cooking spray to make it stick to the sides if necessary.
Make the chocolate Fudge: Add butter and vanilla to a pot on medium heat. Stir for a couple of minutes until butter is soft and melted. Add in the cocoa powder, and stir in with a spatula until combined. Set aside.

chocolate fudge ingredients in a pot with wooden spoon

Blitz: Add the dates (seeds removed), maple syrup, and chocolate fudge mixture to a food processor. Blitz on high until smooth.
Transfer: Transfer chocolate fudge mixture to a large mixing bowl, using a spatula to scrape down the sides of the food processor.

blitzing dates and fudge mixture in a food processor

Fluff up the Eggs: Add all the eggs to another large bowl, along with the granulated sweetener. Use Electric hand beaters to beat the eggs and sweetener together for 5 to 7 minutes. It should triple in volume, become fluffy, bubbly, pale and creamy.
Mix The Batter Together: Add half of the egg mixture into the chocolate fudge mixture. Use a spatula to mix together. Add the almond meal and remaining egg mixture, and fold through with the spatula until combined.

fluffing up eggs and almond meal in a bowl

Pour cake into tin: scrape down the edges of the bowl with the spatula to get all the cake bater into the bowl
Bake: Bake for 45 minutes in fan oven to 150 degrees C. 300 degrees F. Cake ill continue to cook a little once removed from the oven. If you poke a skewer into the centre of the cake, it may not come out clean, and this is a fudgy cake with a moist centre. Remove ake from tin after 10 minutes, cover and cool on a wire rack.

almond meal chocolate cake before and after oven

Frosting Ingredients

Make Frosting: Mix softened cream cheese and ricotta together in food processor until smooth. Add sweetener, cocao powder and vanilla, and blitz for another minute. Move frosting into a bowl. Use a blunt knife to spread the frosting generously over the top of the cake.

blitzing chocolate frosting ingredients in food processor

Recipe Tips

Dairy Free: To make this cake dairy free, substitute the butter in the cake with a non dairy alternative like nuttlelex butter. Or you could try my other dairy free chocolate cakes - this Chocolate Avocado Cake with Rich Chocolate Frosting, or this Easy Low Calorie Blackbean Chocolate Cake.
Maple Syrup: if you can't find Lakanto Maple Syrup, use a good quality Pure Maple Syrup.
Coffee it up: to give this sugar free chocolate cake a coffee twist, stir a tablespoon of expresso coffee into the cake batter at the end. Also add a teaspoon to the cream cheese frosting.
Storage: Store this cake in an air tight container in the fridge for 1 week.
Freezing: Freeze the cake without the frosting for upto 2 months. When you want to eat the cake, let it defrost naturally on a counter, covered with a towel until it gets to room temperature, then refrigerate for 1 week.
Fluffing the Eggs: Whilst you can certainly do this manually with a whisk, using electric hand held beaters makes it much easier. You can pick them up pretty cheaply for under $20 from Kmart in Australia.
Frosting the Cake: Make sure to frost the cake once its cooled so that it doesn't run off become soft and melty.

The reason why I love this cake so much is because its great to make in advance when you're having people over. You don't need to worry about it drying out or not being at its best. Even making a couple of days in advance works - because the dates keep it moist.

Questions

Can I use Almond Flour instead of Almond Meal?

Almond flour has a finer texture than Almond meal, and for this reason you can't always use them interchangeably 1 for 1. I would recommend for this recipe using Almond meal if you can.

Can I make this without a food processor?

Yes. At step 3, make a date paste by soaking the dates in boiling water for 10 minutes. Squeeze out excess water, then mash with a fork to a paste. Add to a bowl, along with the chocolate fudge mixture and maple syrup, and mix thoroughly with a spoon.

Can I use regular dates?

You can but you will need to use more than the recipe states as regular dates are not as big or as juicy and sweet. I would double the amount of regular dates if that is what you're working with.

Can I add extra granulated sweetener, instead of the syrup?

Yes, just replace the one third of a cup sugar free maple syrup with one third of a cup of granulated sweetener.

Personally, I like to serve this chocolate cake as a dessert, as part of a date night dinner or for a dinner party with a couple of good friends. I know at first glance, you might think that this cake looks heavy, especially being made with almond meal, but its not.

Its light, smooth and buttery and let me tell you this cake goes a long way. Whilst I've said it serves 10, it could easily serve 12. A small portion is quite filling thanks to all the fibre in the almond meal. Gotta love a cake where a small piece is all you need to feel satisfied.

I'm a big fan of chocolate cakes! Here are some of my others!