We love chocolate and I love cake, so if I could make a safe chocolate cake for us to eat... well, why wouldn't I? I've seen the lava cake thing and I dunno... Something about that just puts me off. The fact that it looks like you're eating a half baked cake is revolting to me. That being said, I was hesitant to try a flourless cake (recipe below). I wasn't sure what the texture would be like and if it would be a waste of good chocolate.
In the spirit of "Nothing ventured, Nothing gained" I decided to give it a try. I've made this 3 times now and each time it's been a bit different due to slight variations. I wanted to go small at first and remembered years ago my father had given me a set of small springform pans for Christmas. Having never made a flourless cake before, I was unsure what the stability of the finished cake would be. Springform seemed the best way to go to avoid having to invert the cakes, thus making the stability less of a concern.
The first two attempts were done completely by hand, while I used my Kitchenaid for the last attempt; which happens to be the one my husband thinks turned out the best. I served each little cake while still slightly warm topped with non dairy whipped topping, a faint drizzle of caramel ice cream topping and a dusting of cocoa powder.
I knew it was good when I had to push my plate away with a good third of the decadent little tasty remaining untouched. The flavor of the chocolate was intense like a good fudge brownie, while the texture was like a chiffon cake. Light and airy, not at all dense or soupy like I'd feared. The center never truly "set" like a proper cake, but I never felt like I was eating raw cake batter and that's what mattered most to me.
My husband asked me to make another one a few days later, so for the second attempt the only changes I made were using a 7" springform pan instead of the individual pans and chocolate chips instead of a premium chocolate bar. This one required a longer baking time, retained the same intense fudgy flavor, seemed a bit more "brownie-like" in texture and was gone in about 3 days time. Lovely with a fresh coffee.
Two days ago, I decided to give it another try with a few more modifications. This time I used a regular 8" cake pan, I melted my chocolate chips & butter in the microwave instead of using a double boiler and I used my stand mixer instead of mixing by hand. This last change is what I believe made the biggest difference.
Letting my stand mixer combine everything with the paddle attachment created a batter that was significantly lighter in color which meant it contained more air. Because there's no flour in the recipe, the batter can be a bit heavy and the eggs can take a real dose of elbow grease to fully incorporate by hand. This was the main reason I wanted to try the mixer, to make sure all of my ingredients were well combined.
What I ended up with, aside from a house filled with the lovely aroma of warm chocolate baking in the oven, was a sinful dessert combining the flavors of a super fudgy brownie with the texture of a souffle! Thin like a torte, but nowhere near as heavy. Because the flavors are so intense, a small slice with a bit of whipped cream is our service of choice. I would love to show you how it turned out, but my husband got the knife into it before I had a chance to pull out the camera.
If you love chocolate... I do hope you'll try it. Whether you go for the slightly heavier hand mixed method or the float away mixer method... it's chocolate at it's gluten free best!
~
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
4 oz. bitter or semisweet chocolate
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used vanilla sugar*)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*To make vanilla sugar, simply shove what's left of your "used" vanilla beans into a jar of sugar and shake every so often. The granules will scrub tiny bits of vanillin from the pods which will flavor your sugar, thus imparting a further hint of vanilla to your recipes.
Directions:
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
-In a heat proof bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Melt the chocolate and butter using either a double boiler (heat proof bowl over a simmering pot of water) or in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval.
-Once fully melted, whisk in sugar.
-Once combined, whisk in eggs, one at a time until fully combined and add vanilla.
-Sift cocoa powder into the chocolate mixture and whisk to combine.
-Pour into greased 8" cake or tart pan
-Bake 25-35 minutes. Let rest on a wire rack for 5 minutes before attempting to remove from pan.
-Serve in small warm slices with a dollop of whipped cream, drizzle of caramel or chocolate sauce, fresh fruit, ice cream, chocolate shavings, a dusting of cocoa, sprinkles, toasted nuts... the list goes on and on!
~
My husband has already put in a request for his office White Elephant. He wants a double layered with a cream cheese and toasted pecan filling. Since it'll be my first time baking for his colleagues, I'll definitely be doing a trial run and certainly be posting pics!!
Keep on Creatin'...
