Flourless Chocolate Cake

This will be my only Valentine's Day themed food post this year.  I rarely make special foods for holidays.  It's even rare that post a recipe for large holidays like Thanksgiving.  I don't prepare my own holiday meals, and I'm usually too lazy to plan ahead and make it just for my blog.

According to wikipedia, flourless chocolate cakes are made from "an aerated chocolate custard."  They are cooked at low temperatures in a bain-marie.  

Bain-marie means Mary's bath.  These is some confusion about which Mary the phrase refers.  One hypothesis is the Virgin Mary.  Bain-maries were first developed by alchemists to gradually heat their potions.

In addition to flourless chocolate cakes, cheesecakes, creme brûlées, Hollandaise sauces, and custards are often cooked in a bain-marie.

This flourless chocolate cake recipe came from allrecipes.com.  I did not add the ingredients in the order the recipe suggests.  It wasn't intentional.  Luckily, it still turned out well.  I served it with a store-bought strawberry sauce.

The ingredients are 1/2 cup water, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 3/4 cup white sugar, 18 ounces bittersweet chocolate, 1 cup butter, and 6 eggs.  Just so you know, 18 ounces is a large mound of chocolate.  I ended up using a bag of chocolate chips and two bars.

I added the sugar, salt, and water to a saucepan over medium heat.  I stirred and cooked the mixture until the sugar had dissolved.

Once the sugar crystals had disolved, I set the syrup aside.

I melted the chocolate in the microwave.  I stirred every 30 seconds.

Once the chocolate had melted, I poured it into a mixing bowl.

I slowly beat in the softened butter one chunk at a time.  It takes a little time but be strong!

I beat in the eggs one at a time.

I gradually poured the syrup into the batter while mixing.  I should have added the sugar syrup before the eggs.  

I poured the batter into a nine inch springform pan.  I lined the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and greased it well.  I also covered the outside of the pan with tinfoil.  The recipe directed me to use a regular cake pan, but I'm a rebel.

I smoothed out the batter.  I put the pan on a sheet and filled the pan with hot water.  My pan wasn't deep, but it was the only one I had that was large enough.  I think a deeper pan would have made the baking process more gentle.

I baked the cake for 45 minutes at 300 degrees.  The middle of the cake was still a little wobbly.   I let it cool to room temperature and then put it in the fridge overnight.  The next day I removed the cake from the springform pan.

As I mentioned earlier, I served this cake with strawberry syrup.

This cake was phenomenal.  It was one of the best tasting things I have eaten in a while.  It was rich, decadent, smooth, and rich.

The chocolate was deep and intense.  The texture was creamy, dense, and tender.

It may look simple, but it packed a powerful punch.  It was devine.  I wish I had a slice now.  This is one of the most satisfying chocolate desserts I have ever eaten.  It was so luscious and excessive.