Perfect Flourless Chocolate Cake

Everyone should have this heavenly dessert in their repertoire, it's impressive, yet simple to make, and its dense rich chocolate flavor and texture...perfect. I learned how to make this cake from pastry chef Elaine Wallace. Use a high quality dark chocolate for this recipe, with a cacao percentage of at least 50%. And yes, that is edible gold adorning the top!

* Chocolate is considered dark when it contains approximately 50-90% cacao (cocoa).

You're going to have three bowls of ingredients, the melted chocolate in a very large bowl, the egg yolks in the stand mixer bowl, and the soft peak heavy cream in a medium size bowl.

You will fold the eggs into the chocolate, then fold in the cream....that simple!

Yield: One 9 inch cake Servings: 14-16

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound high quality dark chocolate, finely chopped *

(For best taste, do not use chocolate chips.)

1 cup very cold heavy cream

2 tablespoons white sugar

1/3 cup strong coffee, warmed (so it mixes with the chocolate smoothly)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

scant dash of salt

6 large eggs, at room temperature (See Note at bottom of recipe)

1/2 cup white sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat a 9 inch round cake pan (not a springform pan) with vegetable oil. Line the bottom with a parchment round. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate in a large metal bowl, gently over hot water, keeping it warm. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in a microwave, but this must be done carefully at 15 second intervals, then stirred, then returned to microwave....until melted. If you overheat the chocolate, it will burn and be ruined. So pick your best way to melt the chocolate.

Whip the cream in a separate medium bowl, with the 2 tablespoons of sugar, until the cream forms soft peaks. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the eggs on high speed. Mix until eggs have doubled in volume. Add the dash of salt and vanilla extract. Gradually add the 1/2 cup white sugar to the eggs, in stages. Continue to whip the eggs until they have tripled in volume and are light and fluffy.

Pour the warm coffee into the chocolate, stirring gently until combined. Fold the eggs into the chocolate mixture, in three additions. Fold in cream.

Pour the batter into the parchment lined pan.

Instead of placing the cake directly into a water bath, fill a pan with hot water and place on bottom oven rack. Place cake directly on middle rack.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is still slightly undone in the center (it will continue to cook as it cools). Cool cake on a wire rack.

To unmold, slide a knife around the sides of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Cover the top of the pan with a serving platter, and turn right side up.

Sprinkle cake with cocoa powder and edible gold dust (optional). You may glaze the cake with chocolate ganache, my preference! Many options, make it your own!

😍

I serve the cake with unsweetened whipped cream and berries. Cake keeps best refrigerated for up to 5 days, if it lasts that long.

Note regarding the room temperature eggs. Why room temperature? Because if you add cold eggs to the chocolate, the chocolate will not remain smooth, but will begin to solidify due to the cold liquid. A quick way to bring eggs to room temperature is to place them in a bowl of very warm water for approximately 15 minutes.