Flourless Chocolate cake

My partner is an actor. Often - before Covid - he would perform in smaller venues. In fact he often performed in very intimate venues such as private homes. You do not get much more intimate than a performance at a private home! One of his last performances, took place on Victoria Day. And, to mark the occaission, he asked me to make one of his mother's recipes - a flourless chocolate cake. It turned out amazing and the other day, I stumbled across the recipe again. And, thought I would post it here for you to enjoy as much as we did.

Ingredients

Cake:

1 ounce Chocolate - The original recipe called for baker's unsweetened chocolate. But, I used dark chocolate Chip-Its because I know they are gluten free.

1/2c Butter - You could also use margarine for this recipe. I would go with an unsalted butter or margarine as you do not want the salt to distract from the chocolate.

3/4 cup Sugar - Just plain old white sugar goes best in this recipe as it has a lower moisture content than brown sugar. If you do try with brown sugar, let me know how it turns out. :)

3 whole Eggs - The recipe does not specify the size of egg but I used large as that is what I had on hand and it turned out fine.

Cocoa for dusting - I didnt use much maybe about 1/8 cup.

1 teaspoon Vanilla - Personally, this can be omitted. I have been having a hard time finding Vanilla Extract that isn't 1) Artificial 2) gluten free and 3) under thirty dollars for a small bottle. I didnt use any in the recipe and did not notice it's absence.

Ganache:

1c Chocolate - I used the same chocolate as I did for the cake - chip-its.

1/2c Heavy Cream - Also known as whipping cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 C.

Grease a loaf pan and dust with cocoa.

Melt your chip-its with the butter or margarine in the microwave. I placed them in a bowl and mircowaved in fifteen second increments stirring between, until it is fully melted and mixed but not bubbling hot.

Allow the melted chocolate to cool slightly before addign the remining cake ingredients. You dont want it too hot or it will cook the eggs rather than incorporate them. Make sure to stir until it is well mixed.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the ganache by mixing the ganache ingredients in a microwaveable bowl.

Melt the chocolate as you did for the cake - microwave in fifteen second increments, stirring between until melted and mixed thoroughly.

When the cake is cooled, pour the ganache over top of the cake, making sure to spread it evenly.

Place the loaf pan in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

Cut widthwise into one inch slices and cut each slice in half again.

Notes

I used Dark Chocolate Chip-Its but next time, as an experiemnt, I'd like to switch things up a little. Chip-Its comes in several varieties now and My favourite is Sea Salt Caramel. I wonder how this recipe would turn out if I replaced the dark chocolate with sea salt caramel? I might attempt with half dark chocolate and half sea salt caramel.

Whatever you use for the chocolate in the cake, you can maek a matching ganache for it. But, I think a dark chocolate cake with a white chocolate ganache or even a sea salt caramel would look amazing.

Different countries call similar products by different names. I found this out when I went out in search of heavy cream and there was nothing even close ont he shelf. A british woman heard me asking the staff member at the local shop who had no idea and intervened by saying "I think you'll find that you call it whipping cream here, love." Thank you random british stranger, you were a life saver.

I left the cake in the pan for the ganache part as the loaf pan helped the ganache stay on top of the cake. You could remove the cake from the pan and pour the ganache overtop allowing it to run over the top and sides. But, I would make sure to place the cake on a wire rack with somethign underneath to catch the dripping chocolate.

I liked this cake served as is but, the original recipe said to garnish with cut strawberries and whipped cream.