Flourless Chocolate Cake

Flourless Chocolate Cake from Manly KitchenRegular readers here know of my love of all things chocolate. I spell dessert c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e. Yes, if they offered chocolate covered pine cones, I’d buy a box. 

The more chocolate you can stuff into a recipe, the more I’m probably going to like it. So, when I discovered such a thing as a cake with no flour, it made perfect sense. Without all that flour to get in the way, there would be more room for chocolate! And that’s a Very Good Thing!

The other great thing about this recipe is that it’s an excellent dessert for those who want to avoid gluten. I don’t really know what gluten is – except that it’s in flour, and that it cause problems for some people. (See, I’m not a doctor, and I’m not about to open myself to lawsuits, so I’m going to leave it at that.)

There are many different ways to make a flourless chocolate cake. Some of the recipes look really, really good… but there’s a really long list of ingredients. I chose this one because it has only three ingredients. Three.

Eggs.

Chocolate.

Butter.

Done.

Unless you add cinnamon. Which is optional.

The one thing is that this recipe, like most (if not all) of the others, you’ll need a springform pan and some parchment paper. A springform pan has a bottom, and a ring that snaps onto it to create the sides. You use one of these contraptions to make cheesecake as well, so you’ll have reasons to use it. I recommend you try to get a set of them… small, medium, large, so you’ll whatever size a recipe calls for. For this one, you’ll need an 8-inch pan.

I will also point out that I’ve seen this recipe all over the place – from my friend’s mom’s recipe box, to numerous sites on the Net. In fact, I’ve seen it so many times that I don’t know who to credit. So, since I saw it in her recipe box first, I’m giving credit to Mikey’s mom. Except the cinnamon is my idea.

So… enough talk. er, typing. Let’s go have some fun!

Ingredients:

1 lb. semisweet chocolate (see below)
2 sticks unsalted butter (plus more for pan)
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
8 large eggs (cold)

Flourless Chocolate Cake from Manly KitchenInstructions:

Put oven rack in lower middle position (just below the middle of the oven). Preheat oven to 325°.

Line the bottom of 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper. In a pinch, you can use wax paper as a substitute.

Grease sides of pan with butter. Use a LOT! This will help make it easier to remove the cake from the pan.

Wrap the outside of the pan with two sheets of aluminum foil. Use the heavy duty kind, or use an extra sheet for three total.

Set a pot of water to boil.

Cut each stick of butter into eight pieces – sixteen total.

If you use semi-sweet chocolate chips, you won’t have to do anything but melt them. But if you use a block of chocolate, you should coarse chop it before melting. The easiest way, though, is to get yourself a one pound bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Certainly, though, you can experiment with different brands and types of chocolate. Just remember that the package should say semi-sweet or bittersweet. Definitely NOT pure cocoa!

Melt chocolate and butter. The easiest way to do this is to use in the microwave. Put the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and heat at 50% power for 2 minutes. Add several of the butter pieces and heat another minute. Stir, add more butter, and continue heating until everything is melted, smooth and happy.

If you’re going to add cinnamon – something I learned from Mexico: cinnamon is AWESOME with chocoalte – do so when you add the last butter, and make sure you stir like crazy to incorporate it well.

Beat eggs with a mixer at high speed – a stand mixer is best, but you can get away with a hand-held model. Beat until eggs have doubled in volume. This will take about five minutes with a stand mixer, a bit longer with a hand-held.

Using a large spatula, fold in a third of the egg mixture into the chocolate and butter. When only a few streaks of egg are visible, add another third (half of what’s left) and combine, then finally the last third. Now continue to work the eggs in until the mixture is smooth and everything is very well blended.

Pour batter into springform pan. Scrape the sides of your bowl really, really well, because you don’t want to lose any of this chocolate goodness.

Flourless Chocolate Cake from Manly KitchenSmooth the top so that it will present more effectively. I mean it will look better when you serve it. If you prefer a lumpy top, you can skip this step. You can also do your best to “carve” a design in the top, but that peace sign is probably going to disappear during the baking process. Better to wait till you’re ready to serve and I’ll give you some ideas. Anyhoo… on we go.

Place the pan in a roasting pan.

Place the roasting pan on the oven rack. Pour boiling water into the pan, filling about half the pan.

Bake for 22 minutes, then check your cake. When done, the cake will have risen slightly and the edges will be set. The top will have formed a thin crust like a good pan of brownies. Instead of checking the center with a knife to see if it’s done, use an instant-read thermometer, which should read 140°. If not, continue to bake a few more minutes, then check again.

When the cake is done, remove the springform pan from the water bath, and place it on a wire rack to cool. When it has cooled to room temperature, cover the pan and refrigerate it overnight. This will allow the cake to firm up before serving.

Be careful removing the water bath, as it will be VERY hot! I usually wait until it has cooled quite a bit before attempting to move it to the sink to drain it.

As I mentioned, this cake should be refrigerated overnight before serving. But you can make up to four days in advance in a pinch. On the night you will serve the cake, remove it from the fridge at least a half hour before serving. (I do this while preparing the entree.) Remove the sides of the springform pan – carefully! If necessary, slip a thin knife between the cake and pan, but only if you have to!

Place a sheet waxed paper over the top of the cake, then a plate on top of that. Turn the whole thing over and remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake. Put your serving platter or plate on the bottom (now the top) and turn the whole thing over again. You should now have your cake (without the bottom of the pan or the paper) sitting nicely on the serving platter, ready for serving.

Flourless Chocolate Cake from Manly KitchenIf you like, you can sprinkle the top of the cake with powdered sugar or cocoa powder. Those wanting a something fancier can take a paper doily, lay it on top of the cake, then sprinkle the powdered sugar. Remove the doily and you’ll have a nice design in white.

Use a very sharp, thin-bladed knife to cut your slices. Make sure to rinse the knife blade clean between slices and wipe it dry. This will give you the best looking servings, and it only takes a few extra seconds.

Serve by itself, or add fruit, whipped cream or ice cream. I like to serve this with a generous dollop of whipped cream and some strawberries, which I slice and arrange on the whipped cream. But you can also serve with raspberries, and I’ve even seen blackberries. If I do use the cinnamon (and I don’t always do it), I’ll serve with whipped cream, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and perhaps a light drizzle of chocolate sauce – which is more for the Wow Factor than for taste. Of course, extra chocolate never hurts!

Try this one out and see if you don’t agree that it’s fairly easy to make, and totally scrumptious to eat. And, as always,

Play with your food!

Lane


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Lane

About Lane

Lane Baldwin is a an internationally-acclaimed singer, songwriter, author and food lover. He wasn't trained in France, and he doesn't have his own TV show. He just loves to cook, and loves sharing what he's learned over the years. In his "real life," Lane has toured the world, bringing his special brand of Blues-infused Americana to millions of fans. At home he leads a quiet life filled with good books, good food and good friends.