Friday, April 9, 2010

Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake

serves 8-10

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My dear friend’s birthday is this week, and this cake was an uncompromising union of her love for chocolate and our other friend’s gluten intolerance. Maybe one of the easiest cakes I’ve ever made—I managed to find a recipe that didn’t require whipping the egg whites separately—it dressed up beautifully to suit everyone’s tastes: Petra and Liz had it with whip cream, I enjoyed it with a little sifted powdered sugar. Truthfully, I can’t believe just how delicious this one was. Try it, try it, try it.

6 oz. dark chocolate, broken up (I used Lindt 85% cocoa)

1 cube butter, cut into chunks

5 eggs at room temperature

1/2 C sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 C cocoa (I used a blend of regular and Dutch process)

Place chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan with 2 inches a water over medium-low heat (aka, a bain marie):

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Soon enough the butter and chocolate will have melted gently. Stir them up well and set them aside to cool.

In the meantime, put the eggs and sugar in the food processor, and process 4-5 minutes until pale in color and doubled in volume (obviously a mixer works too, but I’m all about mon robot de cuisine). Whisk about a cup of the egg mixture into the chocolate to lighten it, then gently fold the chocolate into the remaining eggs. Sift the cocoa powder over the batter, and fold gently until combined:

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Grease an 8-in round pan and dust with cocoa powder:

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Bake cake at 375 for 30-35 minutes. It will be massively puffy when it comes out of the oven.

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But after it has cooled it will sink down a little. Now dress it up to suit your fancy.

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