Here is the best French chocolate cake recipe in the world! This is what the renowned pastry chef Pierre Hermé said when he first tasted this chocolate cake recipe created by his good friend and cookbook author Suzy Palatin. This chocolate cake (“gâteau au chocolat” in French) also goes by the name “Suzy’s cake” in a nod to the driving inspiration behind the original recipe. It’s really one of the best French chocolate cake recipes ever! And it’s basically my go-to chocolate cake for any occasion.
This recipe is very easy to do: you don’t need many kitchen tools, it has only five ingredients (chocolate, butter, sugar, flour, and eggs), and it’s very easy to remember. In the end, you should get a dense, fudgy chocolate cake, moist in texture and topped with a thin crispy crust. You can serve it with a simple dusting of powdered sugar or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Tips For Making The Best French Chocolate Cake
- Use high-quality dark chocolate with a cocoa content between 60% and 70%. In France, we use a “chocolat pâtissier” for this kind of recipe.
- In the original recipe, Suzy uses unsalted butter, but if you prefer you can use salted butter as well.
- Also, you can use a mixture of different types of sugar: 1/3 white, 1/3 cassonade, and 1/3 muscovado sugar.
- Make sure you follow the order in which the ingredients are added, otherwise you will not get the same cake.
- This cake is a “mi-cuit”, a fudgy almost lava cake. So the cake is still a bit delicate when removed from the oven. Make sure to let the cake cool down to room temperature before inverting the cake out onto a serving plate.
- Note that the proportions work for a 24/25 cm cake pan. Prefer a silicone pan in order to facilitate the removal of the cake after baking.
Suzy Palatin’s French Chocolate Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 g 70% or 60% cacao dark chocolate
- 250 g butter (salted or unsalted)
- 250 g sugar
- 70 g flour
- 4 eggs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/392°F.
- Break the chocolate into smaller pieces and melt it in a double-boiler (you can use the microwave as well). Add the butter cut into pieces and mix well with a whisk to obtain a smooth texture. Pour the mixture into a bowl.
- Add the sugar and mix well. Add the flour, and mix again vigorously, to avoid lumps. Crack the eggs into another bowl and beat them into an omelet. Add them to the chocolate mixture and mix well. You should have a thick, smooth, satiny batter.
- Pour the batter into a 24/25 cm diameter cake tin (ideally in silicone), buttered and floured beforehand.
- Lower the thermostat to 150°C/302°F. Bake for 30 mins.
- Leave to cool for 10 minutes and unmold. You should obtain a cake with a light crust and a soft, melting and creamy center.
Et voilà! I hope you enjoyed this French chocolate cake recipe. If you make this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. Merci beaucoup and bon appétit!
