Running to Bake: Christmas Baking Series #5: Flourless Chocolate Cake

So, I don't know what it is about the month of March but for SOME reason, that's when everyone in my family & hubby's family decided to make babies. I swear, we have like 10 birthdays in the month of December IN MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY. Totally crazy.

Anyway, the first one up this month was my Dad's birthday. I like to make December birthdays separate from Christmas because it really does suck when you get jipped and have to celebrate both on one day. So we (my sister, her boyfriend, hubby and I) went over to my Dad's last night and made homemade pizza and wings.

It was quite the fiasco. My sister and her boyfriend are Gluten Free, so they had to make their dough separately (which took about 1 hour longer than normal because they kept forgetting the special ingredients like Xyantham Gum, Potato Starch and Eye of Newt or whatever). Here they are reading pictures of the recipe for the dough on a phone. Quite entertaining:

Anywho, since it was a birthday celebration, I wanted to make a cake that my Dad would enjoy and that the gluten challenged could digest. Then I remembered this FABULOUS flourless chocolate cake. It's SO GOOD. It's dense, but not too dense. It's sweet, but not too sweet. It's soft and moist and just...yum. Plus, it doesn't taste like it's gluten free because there is no substitutions necessary since there is no flour in it! It's a WIN-WIN for all! (Also, I only have 2 pictures of it because I was on my way out the door right after it was made!)

Basically, the reason why I'm including this as a "Christmas Baking Recipe" is because you could bring it to ANY holiday party and it will be a crowd pleaser OR you could cut them into squares and give them as gifts. It's so totally decadent which is perfect for this time if year! Plus, it goes well with Egg Nog (which is how WE enjoyed it)

Flourless Chocolate Cake

original recipe from Epicurious

Ingredients:

4 oz bittersweet chocolate

1/2 cup salted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 cocoa powder

Sprinkle of cocoa powder and icing sugar

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter an 8" round baking pan. If you have, a spring form pan, that would work perfectly. If not (I don't) cut a round of wax paper to line the bottom of your baking pan and butter that as well.

In a double boiler (or a metal bowl over simmering water in a pot) melt the chocolate and the butter together until smooth. Remove the bowl from the pot/double boiler (CAREFUL, IT'S HOT!) and use a whisk to mix in the sugar. Add the eggs and combine well with the whisk. Sift the cocoa powder into the mix and stir until JUST combined.

Pour the batter into your baking pan. Place pan in the middle of the over for 20 mins. The original recipe calls for 25, but I found that baking it that long dried out the edges of the cake a bit. You want the top to form a thin crust so make sure you're watching after the 20 mins is up.

Take out of the oven when ready and cool for 5-10 mins. You can either serve it like that OR flip it over onto a cake stand or serving dish. Sift some cocoa powder and icing sugar on top.

Enjoy with a cold glass of milk, egg nog or a glass of red wine. Mmmmmm.