If you’re looking for Chocolate Snowball – the recipe, you’ve come to the right place.
We’re talking about a decadent gluten free chocolate cake, unique in that the cake is baked in a bowl. Then it’s chilled, inverted, and finished with whipped cream snowflakes!
Gluten Free Chocolate Snowball Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chopped in 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 cup strong coffee hot
- 1 cup less 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¾ pound 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 6 eggs lightly beaten
Frosting:
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a medium (5- to 6-cup, about 8-inch diameter) stainless steel bowl with aluminum foil so the foil overlaps the bowl 3 or 4 inches.
- Put the chocolate in a saucepan. Pour the coffee over, which will melt some of the chocolate. Place over medium-low heat, add the sugar and stir with a wire whisk to dissolve the sugar and any unmelted chocolate. Add the butter gradually, a dollop at a time, whisking until the butter is incorporated before adding the next dollop. This should take about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Slowly whisk the beaten eggs into the chocolate mixture. Pour through a strainer into the foil-lined bowl. Discard any firm bits of egg that remain in the strainer. Bake 50 to 55 minutes, until the batter rises and a cracked top crust forms. The mixture will still jiggle like molded gelatinr. (Resist the urge to bake it a little more-- the butter and chocolate will be solid when cold.)
- Let the cake cool. Fold the overlapping foil over the top, and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 8 hours, keeping the cake in the bowl.
To frost and serve:
- Remove the plastic wrap from the bowl. Pull the overlapping foil away from the cake. The cake will have fallen in the center--to make the top flat and even, press the raised outer edges down. Or trim the extra height with a knife, reserving the scraps for indulgent snacks. Place a flat serving plate or cardboard circle over the bowl and invert. Gently remove the foil.
- Whip the cream with the sugar and the vanilla until the cream comes to soft peaks that hold their shape. Put the cream into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe stars, covering the dome completely.
Nutrition
When I was Deer Valley’s pastry chef, I wrote Chocolate Snowball the cookbook, which was named after that popular chocolate dessert.
Back then, I was elbow high in butter and sugar every day, though all along at home I was cooking healthy plant-based vegetarian recipes. So I started a blog about what I was cooking at home.
Letty’s Kitchen vegetarian blog is all about seasonal, whole food recipes. Scroll through and you’ll find plenty of delicious recipes, vegan, vegetarian and many gluten-free ones like my Almond Flour Chocolate Banana Muffins.
If you like to bake, you need my cookbook, Chocolate Snowball and Other Fabulous Pastries from Deer Valley. (Affiliate link.)
It’s a pastry cookbook for all levels of bakers, with recipes for breads, cakes, pies, ice cream, and desserts, each rated according to ease of preparation. Look for the same symbols ski areas use to rate their trails, 
Easier, 
Intermediate, 
Advanced and 
Expert. Believe it or not, Chocolate Snowball -the recipe is rated “Easier.”
My cookbook is now out of print, but you can buy paperback and hardcover copies (super-discounted) through my Amazon affiliate. There on Amazon you can buy it for Kindle as well.
To get my latest recipe posts and newsletters, subscribe here. (I hate Spam too and will never share your email with anyone.)
- Follow me on Instagram! It’s my favorite!
- Peruse my Pinterest boards for more vegetarian recipe ideas.
- Find daily vegetarian and healthy living ideas on my Facebook page.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. When you purchase products via my links, it doesn’t cost you anything and I earn a tiny commission, which helps me continue to provide free content here on Letty’s Kitchen. Thank you for supporting Letty’s Kitchen!
