Audrey Hepburn Chocolate Cakelettes
January 21, 2020 | by Shannon | Jump to Recipe
Who doesn’t love Audrey Hepburn?
And who doesn’t love chocolate?
If you’re a die-hard Audrey fan, this won’t be new information, but did you know Audrey absolutely adored chocolate?
YES! According to Audrey’s son Luca,
“Mum was crazy about chocolate, which she always kept within reach in a chest of drawers in the living room. When it came to this sweet temptation, her dancers discipline always (well, almost always) raised the white flag of surrender.”
Audrey and Chocolate: A Lifelong Love
From the time she was a little girl, Audrey loved chocolate. It was her comfort food as a kid, and took on an even greater significance in Audrey’s life as a young teen.
Audrey survived the Nazi occupation of Holland, though she came close to starving, surviving on the occasional turnip and flour Audrey and her mother made from tulip bulbs. When the Allies liberated Holland, Audrey’s first meal was sweetened condensed milk and seven chocolate bars, given to her by an Allied soldier.
From that time on, chocolate took on a special significance for Audrey: it was the taste of freedom. And she never forgot the association between this sweet treat and liberty.
Audrey's Kitchen
In 2015, Audrey’s youngest son Luca published a fabulous book about his mother, Audrey at Home [aff. link]. The book shares beautiful, rare photos, as well as Luca’s memories of Audrey as loving wife, mother, friend, and home chef. And if you thought it couldn’t get any better, Luca’s book also includes recipes from Audrey’s personal collection.
!!!!!!!!!
My favorite recipe in the book is for Audrey’s Chocolate Cake. Does it get any more quintessentially Hepburn?!! According to Luca,
“Chocolate had a special place in her [Audrey’s] kitchen. If this book could offer only a couple of recipes, they would be for pasta with tomato sauce and chocolate cake. This was her pièce de résistance and she liked to make it herself…It was a cake for celebrations, for birthdays, and later, for my homecomings.”
Ok, how cool is that?!!!
Now here’s the thing about Audrey’s Chocolate Cake: it’s flourless. And if you’ve ever baked a flourless cake before, you know that:
1. Flourless chocolate cakes are crazy good.
2. They can be a little tricky to cook just right.
I wanted to take Audrey’s fabulous chocolate cake recipe and make it a little more user-friendly, so to speak. My goal was to create a chocolate cake that would be reminiscent of the Hepburn cake taste and texture, but to make my spin on Audrey’s cake something that anyone, no matter how experienced in the kitchen, could easily master.
With this objective in mind, I developed my Audrey Hepburn Chocolate Cakelettes.
And I’ll tell you right now, they are addicting!
Cakelettes Over Cake
I decided to make this recipe even more Hepburn-esque by developing it to be baked and served in little ramekins. As you can probably guess merely by looking at her, Audrey Hepburn was a master of portion control. Audrey once said that
“I seem to have a sort of built-in leveler. I’ve a tremendously good appetite—I eat everything, everything—but as soon as I’m satisfied, a little hatch closes and I stop.”
For the rest of us that don’t have that little built-in leveler, these ramekins are the perfect way to try to emulate that famous Hepburn self-control ourselves!
You can find these cute little pink ramekins on Amazon here [aff. link]. (They also come in a Tiffany blue! Another perfectly Audrey color!) Feel free to use whatever 7-8 ounce ramekins you have on hand, but I’m sure these adorable pink ones would be Audrey approved!
A One Bowl Dessert
My Audrey Hepburn Chocolate Cakelettes have quickly become the go-to chocolate dessert in our home. And as the whole recipe comes together in a single saucepan—yes, it’s that easy and no fuss!—I’m always happy when this is the dessert requested by my family or friends.
Make my Audrey Hepburn Chocolate Cakelettes next time you have a chocolate craving. I’m sure it will become the repeat chocolate recipe in your home that it is in mine!
And For More About Audrey, I Recommend...
If you’re interested in learning more about Audrey through books and her films, here are links to some of my favorites. Click each picture to view on Amazon!
Audrey Hepburn Chocolate Cakelettes
Ingredients
For the wet ingredients:
- 1 cup butter
- 12 oz baking chocolate
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
For the dry ingredients:
- 6 slightly heaping Tbsps flour
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
Prepare the butter and chocolate
- In a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter and the chocolate over medium heat. Stir with a spatula to incorporate the butter and chocolate into one, creamy mixture.
- Once the butter and chocolate have melted and incorporated, take the saucepan off the heat. Let the mixture cool for 5 minutes.
Add the sugar and eggs
- After the chocolate/butter mixture has cooled for 5 minutes, add the white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract to the saucepan. With a wire whisk, whisk until the vanilla and sugars have fully incorporated.
- Now add in the eggs, and again whisk until the eggs have fully incorporated into the rest of the mixture.
Add the flour and salt
- Now add the flour and salt to the saucepan. (Make sure those Tbsps of flour are slightly heaping, and be sure to use a Tbsp measuring spoon to measure out each Tbsp individually. See note below.)
- Whisk until the flour and salt have just combined into the chocolate mixture.
Pour the batter into the ramekins
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Oil eight, seven to eight ounce ramekins very well. To make the ramekins easy to put in and take out of the oven, place them on a standard sized baking sheet. (That way you just have to slide the baking sheet in and out of the oven!)
- Now evenly distribute the cake batter among the ramekins.
Bake the cakelettes
- Bake the cakelettes at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until the top is firm, and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean. Take care not to over bake! (The cakelettes are always done right at 45 minutes when I make this recipe.)
Serve and think of Audrey!
- Serve these chocolate cakelettes alone, or with a dollop of ice cream or fresh whipped cream. And of course, think of our sweet Audrey as you enjoy each bite!
Notes
I’m Shannon, thanks for visiting! When I’m not on an adventure with my little girl, I’m developing plant-based recipes or watching a Classic Film!
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My Favorite Kitchen Find
Pink Ramekins
Aren’t these little pink ramekins adorable? I use mine for making personal-sized desserts, like these cakelettes, as well as for prep work, and for storing food in the refrigerator. These are such a stylish addition to the kitchen! Click to view my favorite on Amazon
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Interesting! I admit that I don’t know much about Audrey’s background. I had no idea she lived through the Nazi invasion of Holland. And flour from tulip bulbs – say what!? I didn’t even know that was possible. I wonder how these cakes would taste with tulip flour? Hah! I can say they look amazing, and it’s really cool that they are a spin off of Audrey’s own recipe. Love the post, Shannon!
Yes! Isn’t Audrey’s life story amazing?! An inspiration in every way. Oh so so true, it’s admirable what Audrey and her mother innovated to survive the war. Thanks so much for your kind comment David!
Thanks for this recipe. These little cakes sound addictive!
Thank you so much Jeff! Haha addictive is the perfect word. I have a hard time stopping at just one when I make these!
What a lovely post. Audrey H was truly a beautiful person. I most respected her in her later years when she was the head of UNICEF. I think that’s the organization. And she was prettier than ever in her old age. I hadn’t heard about her son’s book – I’ll have to look into that! Your cakelets are beautiful. I’m not much of a baker of sweets, but I think I could even handle these!
Thank you so much Mimi! I completely agree, Audrey was just an amazing human being. The fact that she gave back in her later years with her amazing work for UNICEF just raises her to sainthood in my book. And you are so right! Audrey was even more beautiful in her later years than she was as a young woman! Truly the evidence of a beautiful heart. 💗
These look so good, Shannon! I wish I had a little hatch that closes when it comes to chocolate! Thanks for sharing that amazing history too – fascinating as usual!
Haha I am so with you Katerina! Wish I had Audrey’s portion control skills! She is an inspiration in so many ways, isn’t she?
What a lovely easy to make chocolate dessert! I do wonder if I can make this delicious cake and also manage to watch my portion control to keep my figure as pristine as Audrey Hepburns was though! 😉
Haha you said it Neil! I have such a hard time only eating one when I make these cakelettes! So not Audrey of me haha but hopefully one day I’ll improve! 😆 Hope your week is off to a great start!