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This healthier no bake chocolate cake is creamy and rich. The cake needs just 2 ingredients and includes a hidden healthy ingredient. The cake doesn’t contain any flour, eggs, butter or oil. It can be made ahead of time and stores well.
This easy dessert can be made ahead of time for whenever you need a rich chocolate treat. The cake has a very soft and creamy texture.
Ingredients
- Dark Chocolate
- Cottage Cheese
Dark chocolate: This cake uses dark chocolate chips with 60% cacao.
Cottage cheese: The hidden healthy ingredient in this cake is cottage cheese. Make sure to use 4% cottage cheese and not low fat cottage cheese. 4% milkfat cottage cheese is less watery than 1% or 2% cottage cheese. Low fat cottage cheese contains more water and will cause the chocolate to seize. The cottage cheese is blended until smooth. When mixed with the chocolate, it gives the chocolate a very creamy texture. If you need a dairy-free substitute, I have a no bake chocolate cake made with applesauce.
How to Make No Bake Chocolate Cake
- The cottage cheese is blended until it is completely smooth.
- The chocolate is melted until smooth.
- Stir the chocolate and cottage cheese together until the mixture is uniform in color and no cottage cheese streaks remain.
- Transfer the batter to your prepared cake pan and place into the fridge until set.
- Once set, use a sharp knife to cut the cake into slices. You can also garnish or decorate the cake before serving.
Texture
This cake does not have the same texture as a baked cake. It is a rich chocolate dessert. The texture is similar to a fudge but softer than regular fudge so that you can eat it with a fork and it is not as sweet as regular fudge.
Expert Tips
- Make sure to blend the cottage cheese until completely smooth. It should have a yogurt consistency. I prefer using a personal blender but you can also use an immersion blender or a large blender.
- Once the chocolate and cottage cheese are both smooth, you do want to add them together quickly because the chocolate will thicken once the cottage cheese is mixed in and if you wait too long, the mixture will become too thick to work with.
More No Bake Cake Recipes
- 2 Ingredient Healthier No Bake Chocolate Cake (No Dairy)
- 4 Ingredient No Bake Lemon Icebox Cake
- 3 Ingredient No Bake Chocolate Coconut Cake
2 Ingredient No Bake Healthier Chocolate Cake
This healthier chocolate cake needs just 2 ingredients and includes a healthy hidden ingredient. No flour, eggs, butter or oil needed. The cake is easy to make and is a rich chocolate treat.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (340 g) 4% cottage cheese brought to room temperature, see note before starting
- 2 1/4 cups (368 g) dark chocolate chips, 60% see note before starting
Instructions
- Spray the interior of a 6-inch springform pan with cooking oil spray. Line the bottom with a parchment round. Also line the sides with long strips of cut parchment paper.
- Add cottage cheese to a blender and blend until completely smooth. When you’re done, it should look like yogurt. You do need to make sure it is completely smooth and no little chunks of cottage cheese remain, otherwise you’ll see the little cottage cheese chunks in the final cake. See the notes section for tips on blending cottage cheese.
- Add chocolate chips to a large microwave safe mixing bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between with a silicone spatula, until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Alternatively, you could do this over low heat in a double boiler on the stove.
- Working quickly, add the cottage cheese to the melted chocolate and mix until uniform and no cottage cheese streaks remain. I used a whisk and a spatula to mix. Your mixture will be thick, like a chocolate pudding consistency. See photo in post for reference. You do need to work quickly because the chocolate will immediately thicken once it comes in contact with the cottage cheese and it will continue to firm up as the chocolate cools. You want to get everything mixed before the cake batter is too firm to work with.
- Transfer the mixture into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula.
- Put in the fridge to set, around 3-4 hours or overnight. Once cake is set, carefully release it from the cake pan and peel off the parchment paper. If desired, you can frost or decorate the cake before serving.
- When cutting cake into slices, use a large sharp knife and wipe the blade after each cut. Store cake in the fridge or freezer in an airtight container.
Video
Notes
- Dark chocolate note: Make sure to use dark chocolate chips (sometimes labeled bittersweet chocolate chips) that contains around 60% cocoa. If you use a higher percentage cocoa, your cake will be too firm and if you use a lower percentage cocoa, your cake may not set. Also make sure your dark chocolate chips contain lecithin. Avoid brands like Enjoy Life that don't contain any lecithin because that ingredient is needed to help keep the chocolate smooth.
- I used Ghiradelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips (Amazon | Target)*
- Cottage cheese note: Make sure to use 4% cottage cheese. Low fat cottage cheese is too watery and can cause the chocolate to seize. You also need to make sure the cottage cheese is room temperature. If it is still cold when added to the chocolate, it will cause the chocolate to seize. I used Whole Foods 4% cottage cheese.*
- I use this 6-inch springform pan.*
- *These product links are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
- Cottage cheese blending tips: When blending a small amount of cottage cheese, I like to use a personal blender. I use my personal Ninja blender. I did have to run it through a few smoothie cycles and scrape down the sides several times to help the blender blend until completely smooth. You can also use an immersion blender to blend. In my experience, the immersion blender is easier to help get the cottage cheese close to smooth, but then I still transfer to a blender to get it completely smooth. You can also blend in a regular sized blender but make sure it is a high powered blender like a Vitamix. You will have to stop several times and scrape the sides to help it blend.
- Optional chocolate frosting:
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- ¼ cup (2 ounces) canned coconut milk (can substitute with heavy cream)
- Add chocolate chips to a medium bowl and set aside. Heat coconut milk in a small pot or pan over medium low heat. Heat until simmering. Pour hot coconut milk over chocolate chips. Let sit for 60 seconds then gently mix until chocolate is completely melted.
- Frost the surface of the cake with ganache. If desired, you can also garnish with chocolate curls.
- This cake is very rich so I suggest very thin slices. The slices in the photos are more generous sized slices. I usually cut my cake into about 12 slices.
- Estimated nutrition is for the cake only and does not include optional frosting or decoration.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice, Calories: 191kcal, Carbohydrates: 18g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Sodium: 98mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 13g, NET CARBS: 16
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
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Is it absolutely necessary that a spring form pan be used?
We recommend using one because it’s easier to remove the cake from the pan. It would be very difficult to remove from a solid one-piece pan.
can i add a peanut butter layer to this recipe by adding peanut butter to half of ingredients
We haven’t tried that with this recipe so we are not sure how that would work but you could give it a try!
Please send me your recipes I love them
Hi Rachel! You can get all of our recipes by joining our email list: https://kirbiecravings.com/email-subscription/
Hi!, unusual products, alway love them
Hello! We’re glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Why can’t I just blend the melted chocolate in the ninja blender that I used for the cottage cheese?
The chocolate will start to thicken and firm up very quickly once it comes in contact with the cottage cheese. It is easier to just fold in the chocolate by hand rather than trying to blend it all before it gets too thick and try to get the mixture out of the blender because it will likely thicken before you have a chance to pour it out.
Excellent idea thanks for your time.
Thank you! We’re glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Would it be possible to use sugar-free chocolate chips in this recipe? I have diabetics in my family and try to stay away from sugar.
We haven’t tried this recipe with sugar free chocolate chips. Sugar free chocolate chips can be tricky because the sugar substitute reacts differently. It may work with some types of sugar free chocolate, but we don’t know without testing it.
I used sugar free chocolate chip. Works perfect