No Flour Chocolate Cake

This recipe is from my friend Ed in Colorado. He perfected the recipe years ago, and gave it to me. Basically all I have done here is paired it up with a nice icing.

The recipe is particularly appalling because there is no flour in it. Basically everything in it is fat (with the exception of a few egg whites).

I like to add raspberry jam filling and an easy chocolate glaze. If you want somethinhg along the lines of a Sachertorte, use apricot jam instead of the raspberry.

Cake Part

• 1 lb (16 oz) Bittersweet chocolate
• 6 eggs separated
• 6 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp strong coffee (an espresso shot works well here)
• 4 Tbsp brandy
• 1 C heavy cream

Line the bottom of a 9" cake pan with parchment paper then butter the paper and the sides of the pan and flour the whole thing.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler, don’t immerse the top pan in the boiling water or you run the risk of scorchng the chocolate which will make the rest of the recipe more difficult.

While the chocolate is melting, beat the six egg yolks with the sugar until they are a smooth shiny light yellow. Add the coffee and brandy and mix well.

Once the chocolate is melted and smooth, pour it slowly into the egg mixture, beating all the while to prevent the eggs from curdling.

Set that mixture aside to cool for a bit. Meanwile, beat the egg yolks to stiff (but not dry) peaks, and beat the cream (separately) until peaks hold their shape. Of course, you don’t want to over beat the cream or you will have butter.

Fold the cream into the cooled chocolate mixture, then fold the egg whites into that.

Pour the whole thing into the prepared cake pan and pop it into the oven at 350°F for an hour. You can check for doneness by poking the center of the cake with a wooden toothpick. If the toothpick comes out with no batter on it, the cake is done.

Allow the cake to sit in the oven for an additional 15 minutes or so with the door open to set. Then place the cakepan on a cooling rack to finish cooling. You don’t want to take the cake out too early or it may fall (no flour, you see).

Icing

This icing sets pretty quickly so you want to make sure you are ready to use it before you begin. Lining the sides of the plate with wax paper before you place the cake on top will allow you to ice the cake on the serving plate without making a mess. After the cake is iced, simply pull the wax paper out from underneath.

• 1 6oz. jar of jam
• 4 oz semisweet chocolate
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 6 Tbsp heavy cream
• up to 1 ½ C confectioner’s (powdered) sugar

Cut the cake in half to make two layers. (Use a bread knife to make this easier, and use a couple of big spatulas to move the top half — remember this cake is fairly fragile.)

Spread the bottom half of the cake with raspberry (or apricot) jam.

Melt the chocolate, butter and cream together in a double boiler, again being careful not to scorch it.

Blend in enough of the confectioner’s sugar to make the icing smooth and spreadable (a little bit on the runny side perhaps, but not too runny). Don’t use so much that the icing gets stiff, you will end up with something more resembling fudge than glaze.

Ice the cake as quicly as possible. Start with the top and let the iceing run down the sides smoothing it with a spatula. It will set into a nice firm glossy shell.

This cake is mightily rich, so serve small portions with good coffee to wash it down. A nice zinfandel will also go remarkably well with the chocolate and raspberry.