Flourless chocolate cake
Rich. Dense. Decadent. No, that’s not a description of Ye; it’s this incredible cake. Flourless chocolate cake is a refined classic, and we think everyone needs a version in their baking repertoire. We love ours (we would!). It's great to bake for a crowd as it will serve 10-12, no worries, and it tastes as amazing as the chocolate and cocoa you use. Use shitty chocolate and shitty cocoa at your own risk because yes, these things do exist. (FYI we used Whittakers 62% Dark Cacao and it was mighty fine. Plus it is more budget-friendly than springing for one of the imported brands. But look, if you stump up for 84%, you’ll get even deeper, richer chocolate flavour). The great thing about a cake without flour is the hero flavours (in this case chocolate, obv) really shine. It’s the kind of cake to have with coffee, or the right kind of red wine if you’re smart enough to know what that could be. We are not, sadly.
Like many recipes, flourless chocolate cake comes with a ‘The Chef Forgot The XXX’ origin story and in this instance, it was flour. One of the most famous of these stories surrounds the Italian Torta Caprese, named after the island of Capri. Legend has it that the cake was born out of a baker’s mistake circa 1920 – dude forgot to add flour while making a dessert for tourists. Fortunately, that goof ended up a rip-roaring success and Torta Caprese is now a favourite dessert around the world. And yes, yes, we know the French also major in flourless chocolate cake so calm yourselves if you are about to spring into keyboard action.
If you’re wondering what kind of idiot forgets to put a critical ingredient in a cake, we’d have to say ‘um… us’? Once, ONE of us made a cake and heaved in what we thought was sugar. Turns out it was salt and that flop ended up in the bin, not as a charming footnote in culinary history.
Serve this with cacoa or icing sugar sprinkled over, and with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
SERVES 10-12
150g unsalted butter, chopped
180g good dark chocolate (62%, 70%, or 84%), chopped
35g (⅓ cup) Dutch-process cocoa, sifted
200g (2 cups) almond meal (almond flour)
6 large eggs, separated
100g caster sugar
100g (½ cup, lightly packed) brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
Preheat the oven to 175˚C, fan-forced. Grease and lightly flour the side of a 24cm springform pan and line the base with baking paper.
Combine the butter and chocolate in a bowl large enough to fit snugly in a saucepan half-filled with simmering water. Sit the bowl in the pan, making sure the base doesn’t touch the water. Heat until the chocolate and butter are melted. Remove the bowl, stir until the mixture is smooth, then cool slightly.
Meanwhile, combine the cocoa and almond meal in a bowl and whisk to combine well and remove any lumps. In another bowl, combine the egg yolks, both sugars, vanilla and salt then, using electric beaters, whisk until very thick and pale. Using a large metal spoon, stir in the chocolate mixture until combined well, then add the almond meal mixture and stir to combine.
In a large bowl and using clean electric beaters, whisk the egg whites until firm peaks form. Stir a quarter of the whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen, then use a large metal spoon to gently fold in the remaining whites. Pour the mixture into the pan, then bake for 50 minutes or until the cake is risen and firm to the touch. The top may crack a little but that’s OK; it will calm down as it cools. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
