Chocolate Macaroon Cake Is the Ultimate Passover Dessert

How to choose between Passover coconut macaroons and flourless chocolate cake? Make this hybrid instead.
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Alex Lau

This is not your average flourless cake. It's also not the chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons that have historically graced Passover seders. It's a gluten-free and dairy-free hybrid of the two. Which tastes insanely good.

Senior food editor Claire Saffitz tested a lot of different versions of this cake to get it just right. Here's everything that makes this Passover dessert recipe so damn good. This is the chocolate macaroon cake.

All is kosher, when dealing with this ganache.

Photo by Alex Lau

The Coconut Oil
Using coconut oil instead of butter is a win-win. It’s not only dairy-free and pareve, but it also makes the cake incredibly moist. In fact, this dessert gets better the longer it sits, so make it a day ahead and watch the flavors meld and grow.

The Chocolate
This cake is all about the chocolate flavor, so seek out the best quality bars and cocoa you can find. If you wouldn't eat the chocolate by itself, it doesn't have any place in your cake. Avoid milk chocolate, because it will ruin your dairy-free scheme and make the cake a bit too sweet. Make sure to keep the cocoa percentage in the 68-74% range.

The Whole Egg
Many Passover cakes are lightened by beating egg whites separately. Our cake forgoes this step, yielding a denser slice and cutting down on dirty bowls and time. No one wants more dishes.

The Coconut Milk Ganache
Thanks to coconut milk, the ganache will start to set up immediately once it thickens, so spread it on the (completely cooled) cake as soon as you’re done beating it. If a small part of you is saying, I don't know, this sounds kind of risky. I don't want my ganache to seize on me, you can just pour the non-beaten mixture over the cake as you would a glaze. Both treatments are thoroughly delicious.

The Savory Hit
Toasting the skin-on almonds before grinding them balances out the cake's sweetness. Between the chocolate and coconut, there's a lot of flavor going on here, so it's nice to have a savory element to keep everything in check. Also, you'll want to eat every bit of this topping before you dress the cake. Practice some restraint.

Now that you have dessert down, let's plan the rest of the meal: