Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe Makes Most Decadent Dessert For Birthday and Valentine's Day

Imagine the richest, most deeply decadent, chocolate cake possible. In your  mind, replace the flour with more gourmet chocolate. Make it luxurious and silky with eggs; make it sweet with white sugar and vanilla. Make it adult with liberal quantities of brandy. Make it sinful with heavy, whipping cream. Now you're imagining the flourless chocolate cake served at Fyfe's Corner Bistro in Madison, Wisconsin.

Unfortunately the cake pictured here is not from Fyfe's, but it was made with their recipe. And with this recipe I can make this chocolate dessert any time I want! True, at Fyfe's they serve it on an elegant platter decorated with a dusting of powdered sugar and abstract designs painted in chocolate. But although my plate is plain, and my topping buttercream frosting from a spray can, the flourless chocolate cake inside is a perfect match to Fyfe's.

How lucky is the recipient of this flourless chocolate cake. This marvelous person, a confessed chocoholic, will soon receive this cake as a birthday gift. If the birthday were to fall this Sunday it could be a Valentine's Day gift as well, for the denseness of chocolate inside is akin to the richness of truffles. So now answer this, do you ever crave chocolate but live too far from Fyfe's Corner? Then get Fyfe's flourless chocolate cake recipe by clicking on "continue reading..."

Perhaps my flourless chocolate cake differs a little bit from Fyfe's when appearance is considered. I lacked the springform pans the recipe requested so the sides of my cake don't look quite as smooth as Fyfe's. I could have trimmed the sides, but then I would have ended up with less cake. Now that would have been dumb. I could have sprinkled powdered sugar and paid a small fortune for a strawberry garnish during a Wisconsin February, but I'm more of a smiley face sort of person. So I drew a smiley face on my cake, and in honor of friendship and our upcoming Valentine's Day holiday, I encircled it in white hearts. You see, just because the cake is haute gourmet, the baker needn't be also.

In fact, you'll be surprised when you read the recipe how easy it actually is. I nixed the double boiler part and melted the chocolate and butter in the microwave. Just before they were fully melted, I added the brandy and then nuked the mixture for another minute more. I'm always nuking butter to soften it, and find chocolate nukes well too. (Oh, I hope the chefs from Fyfe's aren't reading this. I'm probably doing something haute sacrilegious in the cooking world.)

Anyway, like me, you can find this flourless chocolate cake recipe and other gourmet recipes from Madison, Wisconsin's most upscale restaurants in the Madison Originals Cookbook. Fyfe introduces their recipe by writing, "This decadent dessert has been affectionately dubbed by both Fyfe's staff and patrons as "Chocolate O," or simply "Choc O". It has been a mainstay of our menu since we opened our doors. The synergistic blend of dark Belgian chocolate and rich, fondant glaze combine for a truly stimulating experience. An aged Tawny Port pairs nicely with this cake." So here's their recipe:

Cake

• 1 pound dark Callebaut chocolate
• 3/4 pound unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup cognac
• 11 eggs, separated
• 1 1/2 cups sugar, (DIVIDED IN HALF!)
• 2 Tablespoons vanilla

Glaze

• 1 pound dark chocolate
• 2 Tablespoons brandy
• 1 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tablespoon canola oil

"Melt chocolate, butter, and cognac in double boiler or bain-marie. Set aside, letting mixture come to room temperature. Combine egg whites with 3/4 cup sugar, whip into soft peaks, then set aside. In a large bowl, mix remaining sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, and tempered chocolate. Gently fold in egg whites. Pour mixture evenly into two parchment paper-lined spring form pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until knife comes clean from cake. Let cool, unmold, and trim the tops of each cake until they are level. Combine glaze ingredients. Let cool. Glaze one cake, then stack the second on top of it and finish glazing process. Refrigerate to set up. Serves 10 - 12."

I lack parchment paper. I've never found it in the large discount grocery store I shop in. It's likely there, but I've never been motivated enough to hunt for it. Instead I always use Helen Myhre's trick for removing cakes from pans. Before pouring in the batter, I grease the pans with butter then sprinkle flour over the butter. My pans have sliding attachments on them that you can swipe along the bottom of the cakes to release them. The cakes generally come out clean. This flourless chocolate cake came out disappointedly clean; I was hoping for gobs of chocolate cake stuck to the bottom so I wouldn't have to wait for the birthday girl's invitation to share in a piece. But unfortunately only a few pea-sized crumbs remained. But these were enough to convince me that once again I had made the most decadent flourless chocolate cake on earth. Can't wait until tomorrow when I give her the cake!

Comments

[Amanda]

Yes, this cake is the perfect gift for a loved chocoholic. I'm sure she'll enjoy it.

[Chocolate Cake]

Mouth watering treat. Gonna prepare for my mom's birthday..
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Viva-Magazine-Your-Premium-Womens-Natural-Health-Magazine/262734921452?ref=ts

[Amanda]

I bet he will. How can we go wrong with chocolate, butter, and sugar?

[Healthy Food Recipes]

my hubby's birthday is coming up and I think that cake fits for him.. I know he'll love that..