Flourless chocolate truffle cake

A decadent, dense, dreamy dessert 

Easter is a time for chocolate. Just ask any Catholic. So with Easter coming up this weekend, I tried a new recipe for flourless chocolate cake that's a.) super easy and b.) guaranteed to knock the socks off any chocoholics at your Easter brunch. 

I admit, I was a little nervous to attempt this. I'd never made a flourless cake before, and this one (and perhaps all flourless cake?) calls for baking the cake in a hot water bath with the pan wrapped in foil. That sounds tricky and like too much work, right? Wrong! If you have a larger pan that will comfortably fit a round cake pan inside, that's half the battle. And once you've wrapped said cake pan in foil, the hardest part is behind you. Really. 

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FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE CAKE

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

KITCHEN STUFF

Large roasting pan + round cake pan that fits inside (I used a large round casserole dish as my roasting pan and a 9-inch round pan for the cake itself. You can also use a springform pan for the cake.)

Aluminum foil 

Parchment paper 

CAKE

1 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

9 TBS (1 stick + 1 TBS) unsalted butter, diced

18 oz. chocolate (I used 12 oz. bittersweet + 6 oz. semi-sweet)

1/8 tsp cinnamon

6 large eggs, at room temperature 

Sweetened whipped cream (optional)

Chocolate ganache (optional)

WHAT YOU'LL DO

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the insides and bottom of a cake pan. Cut a round piece of parchment paper and lay it in the bottom of the pan. Butter the top of the parchment paper. Wrap 4 layers of foil around the bottom/sides of the pan, bringing the foil to the top of the rim (if using heavy-duty foil, just do 3 layers). 

2. In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup water and 3/4 cup sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes, then remove from heat. 

3. In a medium-large saucepan, melt butter over low heat, stirring constantly. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Whisk sugar/water into the chocolate/butter until well blended. Whisk in cinnamon.

4. In a small bowl, whisk eggs until yolks and whites are combined (bordering on frothy). To temper the eggs, pour a little chocolate mixture into the eggs, whisking constantly until combined. Then add all of the tempered eggs to the batter and whisk until smooth. Pour batter into prepared cake pan.

5. Place the cake pan in a larger roasting pan. Add enough hot water to the roasting pan so it comes halfway up the sides of the cake pan. I poured about 3 cups of hot tap water into the roasting pan, but this will vary depending on the width/depth of your pan. 

6. Bake cake in water bath for about 50 minutes, or until center no longer jiggles like crazy when shaken (mine cooked for about 55 minutes). Remove cake pan from water (most of the water will have evaporated) and place on a cooling rack. To keep water from going everywhere, I placed the cooling rack on a cookie sheet. Once cooled, the cake flipped out easily — just loosen the sides with a knife.

7. If making sweetened whipped cream: Beat 1 cup heavy cream with 1 TBS sugar and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp vanilla until stiff peaks form. If making ganache: Pour 1/2 cup heavy cream in a microwave-safe measuring cup. Add 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips. Microwave at 1-minute intervals, stirring between each to melt the chocolate. It will look like hot chocolate at first, but will set up nice n' fudgy. 

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The part about tempering the eggs? I didn't actually do this when I made the cake. But the idea behind tempering is that it gets your eggs acclimated to a higher temp so that they don't scramble. Confession: I found some tiny bits of cooked egg whites in my cake, hence suggesting you temper the eggs. I plan to do the same next time. No the cake won't be spoiled if you skip this step, but why risk it?

This cake turned out like a dense, creamy, dreamy chocolate truffle. It's so smooth and rich, it really doesn't need the ganache frosting that the original recipe calls for. Instead, I made sweetened whipped cream, dusted the cake with cocoa powder, and drizzled the ganache on top instead of coating it. Heavenly.