This past weekend a couple of friends of ours declared their love for one another and got married! The wedding was held along a river in Vermont. It was picture perfect and the food was the best wedding food we’d ever had. The day prior to the wedding, the couple held a picnic & bonfire with local veggies and cheese. They had asked their friend Laura and I to make their favorite flourless chocolate cake for dessert.
The cake was served at room temperature along with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar and fresh whipped cream.
Laura had made a stencil with Mark and Kelly’s initals (the groom and the bride) for the cakes. They looked so good and tasted even better. It was a perfect day for the picnic, and at night, there was a bonfire to send us off.
Flourless Chocolate Cake
The Gourmet Cookbook, adapted by Laura Chang
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2 sticks (1 pound) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
6 large eggs
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus additional for dusting
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Put rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 10-inch springform pan, and (optional) line bottom with buttered parchment or wax paper.
Chop chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler or metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until smooth. Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture. Add eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Sift cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Pour batter into pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until top has formed a thin crust and toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out with moist crumbs adhering. Cool cake in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then remove side of pan. Invert cake onto plate and reinvert onto rack to cool completely.
Dust cake with cocoa powder before serving. (Cake keeps, after being cooled completely, in an airtight container, for several days.)
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This can also be made in 8-inch cake pan, using half the ingredients and baking about 30 minutes.