This Sugar-Free ,Flourless Espresso Chocolate Fudge Cake is everything chocolate and coffee lovers dream of! Keto, Low Carb, Gluten Free, Nut Free, and Grain Free!!!

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE

When you want the flavor of a cup of strong brewed coffee and a fudgey cake mixed into one fabulous dessert, this will be your new favorite cake! I had a birthday.

I'm not one to often make much of my birthday. Birthdays are more for my kids. But simple homemade cards are just my thing. When the kids make me cards, I'm happy and it's enough.

Except when it comes to birthday cake. I NEVER want to feel deprived on my birthday, EVER. I always make myself a birthday dessert. Every birthday is always about cake. Chocolate to be exact.

But when I first decided to be free from sugars hold in my life I mourned what I thought was the loss of my chocolate birthday cake dreams. I was so wrong then, that was 12 years ago. There's always room for chocolate and always a way to make most anything sugar free, especially a birthday cake.

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE

Ingredients

This cake is amazing because no flour is needed and that is exactly why it is so fudgey! You will need sugar-free chocolate chips, eggs, butter or coconut oil for dairy free, low-carb sweeteners, unsweetened cocoa, xanthan, coffee extract, and instant espresso powder.

Directions

Start by preheating your oven to0 350 degrees F and line a 9 inch spring form pan with parchment and spray it with olive oil cooking spray.

Place a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water.

Melt the butter and chocolate together. Stir well. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place the egg whites and vanilla stevia into a stand mixer and blend on high until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

In a separate bowl place the egg yolks and Swerve and mix well. Set aside.

In another bowl whisk the cocoa, salt, xanthan gum and espresso powder together. Stir this into the chocolate mixture.

Add the coffee extract and chocolate stevia to the chocolate mixture and stir until combined.

Fold in the egg whites by hand into the chocolate mixture in small portions until incorporated.

Pour batter into the pan and bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick in center comes out clean.

Allow to cool at least one hour before removing. Once cool you can frost and a refrigerate cake until ready to serve.

Make frosting by adding all ingredients to a stand mixer and blend on high until thickened. Spread over cake and sprinkle with chocolate shavings if desired.

Storage Information; It's best to store leftover fudge cake in an airtight container in the fridge to keep it nice and moist and delicious. It can be stored for up to 7 days. 

CAN I SKIP THE ESPRESSO?

The coffee extract is needed with the espresso powder, otherwise the chocolate will overpower the flavor of the coffee in this cake. The coffee is really more of a chocolate enhancer and truly makes the chocolate flavor even more noticeable. If you are really a coffee hater, you could certainly skip it and the cake will still be perfectly fudgey without it. 

CAN I SWAP THE SUGAR FREE SWEETENERS USED?

If you're not a fan of the liquid flavored stevias I use in this recipe, you do have some other options. One of our newer favorite low carb sweeteners that doesn't leave an aftertaste, is Better than Sugar by Sweetleaf. They have a confectioners powdered sweetener and they also have a granulated option. It's a combination of erythritol and stevia and has plenty of sweetness as sugar would provide.

 Swerve confectioners sweetener is low carb, but doesn't have as much sweetness and you may need to use a bit more to get this as sweet as you like or do like I did in this recipe and also use liquid stevia.  Allulose would be another option, but again it isn't as sweet as using the Better than Sugar sweetener. Allulose comes in a liquid, and granulated form. 

Use my updated Sweetener Conversion chart to look up the different sweetener options and find the right amount to use. 

CAN I MAKE THIS DAIRY FREE?

It is just two easy swaps to make this chocolate fudge cake dairy free! For the cake itself, you just need to swap out the butter with a dairy free option like coconut oil. If you want to make the sugar-free frosting dairy free, you would need to swap out the heavy whipping cream for canned coconut milk. 

SUGAR FREE KETO BIRTHDAY CAKE OPTIONS

Each year before my birthday I experiment with a cake for that day. You see, I was born on Thanksgiving and my birthday lands on that day every 7 years.

The first year I didn't make anything, no cake for me, boo, but I wrote about it and about aging.  The next year I made my Triple Chocolate Layered Fudge Cake from my cookbook, NATURALLY KETO. Another year, I made this chocolate pecan pie for my birthday. I've also made this Peanut Butter Cheesecake for my birthday which everyone couldn't believe was sugar free! 

But this year, oh man. This year was the cake of all cakes. I don't know how I will ever top this cake next year and make anything better. 

This cake is like fudge. FUDGE! Melt.In.Your.Mouth. Fudge Cake! Worth every calorie. Worth every bit of time in the kitchen. Worth.It.

BEST TIPS FOR PERFECT CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE

• Be sure to get stiff egg whites which could take about 15 minutes in the mixer. If you can flip over the bowl and they don't move, they are stiff. 
• You can use any chocolate you enjoy but,  Lily's Sweets is my favorite. They have sugar free candy bars as well. 
• If you don't have the flavored stevia you can use clear or just vanilla stevia.
• If you do have left over cake, refrigerate it. I reheated one piece by simply heating in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.

SUGAR FREE CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE

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5 from 3 votes

Sugar Free Flourless Chocolate Espresso Fudge Cake

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time35 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Servings: 12

Calories: 249kcal

Author: Brenda Bennett | Sugar Free Mom

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going to sleep

Ingredients

Cake

• 8 ounces sugar free chocolate chips
• ½ cup butter cut into cubes
• 8 large eggs separated
• 1 teaspoon vanilla liquid stevia
• ¾ cup Swerve Confectioners sweetener
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee
• 1 teaspoon coffee extract
• 1 teaspoon chocolate liquid stevia

Frosting

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• ⅓ cup Swerve confectioners sweetener
• ¼ cup coffee strong brewed, chilled
• ½ teaspoon coffee extract
• 1 teaspoon instant espresso coffee

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Line a 9 inch spring form pan with parchment and spray it with olive oil cooking spray.
• Place a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water.
• Melt the butter and chocolate together. Stir well. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Place the egg whites and vanilla stevia into a stand mixer and blend on high until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
• In a separate bowl place the egg yolks and Swerve and mix well. Set aside.
• In another bowl whisk the cocoa, salt, xanthan gum and espresso powder together.
• Stir this into the chocolate mixture.
• Add the coffee extract and chocolate stevia to the chocolate mixture and stir until combined.
• Finally add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate mixture in the stand mixer and blend until combined.
• Fold the egg whites by hand into the chooclate mixture in small portions until incorporated.
• Pour batter into the pan and bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick in center comes out clean.
• Allow to cool at least one hour before removing.
• Once cool you can frost and a refrigerate cake until ready to serve.
• Make frosting by adding all ingredients to a stand mixer and blend on high until thickened.
• Spread over cake and sprinkle with chocolate shavings if desired.

Notes

Net Carbs: 4g

This recipe was first published in December 2015 and updated with best tips and tricks and video in August 2021.

Nutrition

Serving: 1piece | Calories: 249kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 129mg | Sodium: 165mg | Potassium: 46mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 395IU | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @sugarfreemom and tag #sugarfreemom, I'd love to see your dish!

About Brenda

Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.