Flourless Chocolate Decadence

 

Sometimes, "conventional" cookbooks offer up wheat and gluten-free gems like this amazing cake I made for my belle mere's birthday. My son got to sing Happy Birthday to his mami and eat her cake. He was thrilled. It's such a rich, gorgeous mouthful of chocolate that you'll never miss your chocolate cake again.

Flourless Chocolate Decadence from The Joy of Cooking

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Grease an 8 x 2 inch cake pan and line bottom with wax or parchment paper. Preheat oven to 325 F.

In a large, heatproof bowl, combine:
1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 tbs. instant coffee, disolved into 1 tbs warm water (optional, my addition)
10 tbs. butter, unsalted, cut into ten pieces

Set the bowl in a large skillet of barely simmering water and stir often until the chocolate and butter are warm, melted, and smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in:

5 egg yolks

In another large bowl, beat on medium speed until soft peaks form:
5 large egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Gradually add, beating on high speed:
1 tbs. sugar

Beat until the whites are stiff, but not dry (they should have a shiny, glossy look to them). Use a rubber spatula to fold 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remaining whites. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Set the pan in a large, shallow baking dish or roasting pan, set the pan in the oven, and pour enough boiling water into it to reach halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake for exactly 30 minutes. The top should have a thin crust and the interior will still be gooey. Set the cake pan on a rack to cool completely, then refrigerate until chilled, or overnight. To unmold, run a thin bladed knife around the interior edge of the cake pan, set a plate on top, and invert. Peel off the paper, and then reinvert the cake onto another plate.

Now, I know not everyone 'knows' how to cook. Are you wondering about some of the techniques?

Soft peaks in your egg whites means when you pull the beaters out of the whites, the whites pull to a point and flop over. Stiff peaks are when you pull the beaters out and the whites stand at attention like Hershey's Kisses tops.
Folding the egg whites into the chocolate mixture is the most important step of the recipe, really. It's not stirring. You want to keep the eggwhites fluffy and light, so they can impart that quality to the chocolate. Adding a quarter of the whites first helps lighten the chocolate mixture enough that the rest of the whites don't get crushed by the weight of the chocolate. To fold an ingredient into another, you use your spatual at an angle, trying to come in as perpendicular to the table as you can. With a rolling, circular motion, you pull the chocolate mixture up from the bottom of the bowl and drape it over the eggwhites. You repeat this gentle motion until all the white colour has disappeared. Gently does it.

Serve this with a fresh raspberry couli or whipped cream if you need that final dollop of decadence.