Flourless Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce

It's a cake! It's a brownie! It's a truffle (the chocolate kind!) It's flourless chocolate cake!! (Please read that in an "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Super Man!" voice.) This cake is really easy, it does take up a few pans, but the ingredients are minimal, the steps are easy, and the result is delicious and pretty - a great combo, especially as a company worthy dessert. I like this with a super quick raspberry sauce made from frozen (or fresh if it's summer) raspberries and sugar. The sauce looks great and tastes amazing. It's good over ice cream if you happen to run out of cake. 

Flourless Chocolate Cake - I don't know where I got this recipe... it's been years.
Serves 8
Preheat oven to 350

Cake
7 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons)
1 cup sugar, divided
4 eggs, separated
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons butter - 9 1/2 go into the cake, 1/2 tablespoon greases the cake pan
Optional for decoration...
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

First thing to do is prep the cake pan. Spray the cake pan with oil, and then line with a circle of parchment. Generously butter the parchment paper in the pan and set aside.

Next, melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler or in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Chocolate is easier to melt with butter added to the mix, but don't over heat too quickly or it will turn into this weird drying-glue business and there is not recovering from that. So anyway, heat slowly and stir regularly.

Prep the eggs by separating them - yolks in a large bowl, with 1/2 cup of sugar, vanilla and salt. Whites in a separate bowl and set aside. When chocolate and butter is melted, take it off the heated water bowl to cool a bit and beat eggs and sugar until pale and smooth.

Temper the egg mixture with about a 1/4 cup of melted chocolate and start stirring the mixture together. Quickly stir the chocolate into the egg mixture and set aside.

Next beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Then add 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Fold the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture. Fold gently to keep the egg whites frothy.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 for 40 minutes, checking at 35 minutes. A toothpick or knife inserted in the middle should come out clean.

This cake will be puffy with a crispy shell that will start to fall in on itself as it cools. Press a cutting board over the top of the cake pan to smooth the edges.

When the cake is cool, flip onto a cake plate and dust with a mixture of powdered sugar and cocoa powder. It tastes good, it covers up any glitches and it looks so pretty!

Raspberry Sauce
1 cup raspberries - frozen or fresh
1/3 cup sugar

Simmer raspberries and sugar over low heat until the berries are all broken down and the sugar is melted. Keep simmering until the sauce has thickened to like maple syrup - about 5 minutes. 

With a mesh sieve, strain the sauce, pressing all the raspberry goodness out with a rubber spatula. Or, if you like seeds, keep them. In a pinch, heat a nice pre-made jam over low heat until it's saucy. 

Spoons sauce onto a plate and place the cake on the sauce. YUM!!

I had fun taking pictures of this cake. :)

Things made this time last year...
Creamy Polenta with Sausage and Mushroom Ragu - cold evening, 30 minutes, awesome.

 

Flavored Kale Chips

Chicken and Curry Kebabs and Carrot and Zucchini Fritters

Baked Oatmeal with Bananas and Raspberries

Mornings in our house are a blur of clothes, hair, toys, dogs, cats, COFFEE. I try to cook ahead on the weekends and make our mornings (and lunches) easier. This is one of my favorite make-ahead breakfasts. I get four servings out of this and I can take it to work and eat it cold or warmed up. It's hearty and healthy and adaptable to what sort of fresh or frozen fruits I have on hand. The edges are dense, sort of like a muffin, but this recipe has no flour. The middle gets soft and more like cooked oatmeal. I can stretch out the servings by adding a side of yogurt. This also makes a great lunch if I've had something else for breakfast. YUM! But terribly hard to photograph.

Baked Oatmeal - inspired by Budget Bytes
Makes 4 large servings
Preheat oven to 350

2 very ripe bananas, mashed - about 1 cup of mash
2 eggs
2 tablespoons brown sugar - totally optional, and very good without the added sugar
2 cups of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
2 1/2 cups oats
2 cups raspberries - I use frozen
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a baking dish you can cover with a lid or tinfoil. Chop nuts and set aside.

Mash bananas and stir in eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar (if using) baking powder and baking soda. Stir to combine and then add in oats and raspberries. Stir to combine and pour into the prepared baking dish. Top with chopped nuts and bake covered for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes. 

This is delicious warm, and I like it just as well cold. This is a super adaptable recipe!

A few variations on this recipe...

• Omit raspberries and using one mashed banana add 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Heaven. 
• I've used blueberries, strawberries and blackberries in this recipe. All delicious, but raspberries are my faves. 
• I've used chopped apples in place of the berries. 
• I've used apple sauce instead of bananas.
• I've used pumpkin puree in place of the bananas and added pumpkin pie spice to the cinnamon already in the recipe.  
• New parents - this is a wonderful thing to have around as you fight off exhaustion and a severe need for calories. 

 
Things made this time last year...

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

 

Maple Pecan Pie

 

Chicken and Dumplings

 

Chicken and Veggies with Biscuit Topping