Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ok, the illness has finally abated in my house.  Not a cough, sneeze or sniffle in sight.  To celebrate that, I had a girlfriend over Friday night for dinner, chit chat, wine and good food.  Of course, what is such a night without chocolate?  


When I was living in Minneapolis, our local co-op had an amazing bakery, which made a flourless chocolate cake.  I used to have dreams about this cake.  I had always assumed that this was some difficult feat meant only for the master baker.  I could not have been more wrong.  I opened up my America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, and was surprised to find an easy recipe.  Of course, everything from that book comes out delicious, but I just had to live on the wild side and change it up a bit.  The original recipe calls for semi-sweet chocolate.  Being the dark chocolate lover that I am, I put in some dark as well.  One word?  YUM!  It's like a truffle.  Oh, and if you want to really live it up, macerate some strawberries in Grand Marnier and serve them over the cake.  It gets no better than this.  

Flourless Chocolate Cake


Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Cookbook


3/4 pound semisweet chocolate
1/4 pound bittersweet chocolate
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
1/4 Cup strong coffee
8 large cold eggs


Adjust and oven rack to the lower middle position and heat to 325 degrees.  Lightly coat an 8 inch springform pan with vegetable spray, and cocoa powder (instead of flour) the pan.  Wrap the outside of the pan with at least 2 sheets of heavy duty foil, and set in a large roasting pan.  Bring a kettle of water to a boil.  


Heat the chocolate, butter and coffee together in a large bowl in the microwave, stirring often, until the mixture is melted and smooth, 1 to 3 minutes.  


Whip the eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until doubled in volume, 5 to 10 minutes.  Fold 1/3 of the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture using a rubber spatula until only a few streaks remain.  Add the rest of the eggs in 1/3 increments, until there are no streaks.  


Pour the batter into the prepared pan, inside the roasting pan.  Set the roasting pan on the oven rack, and pour in the boiling water until the water is halfway up the side of the cake pan.  Bake until the edges are just beginning to set, and a think glazed crust has formed on the surface, and an instant read thermometer inserted in the center halfway down reads 140 degrees, about 20 to 25 minutes.  


Carefully remove the springform pan from the water, bath and allow to cook on a wire rack, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours.  


Run a paring knife around the edge of the cake, and then remove the cake from the springform pan.