Flourless Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce is one of my all-time favorite desserts to make and to serve. It is rich, creamy, and intensely chocolate! If you’ve had flourless chocolate cake before, then you know that it has a mousse-like texture and is really not at all like cake. I’ve baked it in a couple of different types of pans, which makes it versatile as well as amazingly delicious.
The ingredients are eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla, butter, and semisweet chocolate. Use your favorite brand of chocolate, but I usually use Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips because I always have them on hand. Trader Joe’s has very good semisweet chocolate as well.
In a small saucepan combine water, salt, and sugar. Bring to a boil and stir just until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals and stir until smooth.
Add the butter to the melted chocolate, one piece at a time. Beat thoroughly with an electric mixer. Then add the hot sugar water and beat again.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla.
The texture will be smooth and shiny. The eggs will give it a slightly gloppy consistency.
As I said before, I have baked this cake in several different sizes and types of pans. This is a 9″ round cake pan. It’s placed inside a larger pan because it needs to bake in a hot water bath, also known as a bain-marie. The surrounding water will provide a gentle, uniform heat for the cake in order to prevent overcooking.
Bake at 300° for 45-50 minutes, or until set. Chill for 8 hours or overnight.
This also freezes well, so it’s great to do ahead for company.
Another pan I’ve used for this cake is a silicone sphere mold. We used these in culinary school a lot. If you’d like to try it, here is a link on Amazon for a set of two. This recipe makes enough for about 18 cakes of this size. If I want to freeze them, I will let them cool after baking, freeze while they are still in the mold, then gently unmold them into an airtight container after they are frozen. They will keep in the freezer for several weeks and in the fridge for about a week.
This cake can also be made and served in individual ramekins.
You can see in the photo above that I added the water for the bain-marie before I placed the pyrex dish in the oven. If you do this, be very careful when you place the pan in the oven so the water doesn’t slosh onto your cake batter. You can actually place it in the oven and add the water then if you want to. Just do what works for you. (Really, it depends on how clumsy you may or may not be. I will readily admit that I’ve sloshed the water before.)
I really enjoy plating this dessert. In the photo above, I used a sauce I made from seedless raspberry preserves, which takes about a minute to make and tastes fabulous. Heat the jar in the microwave for about 30 seconds until it’s pourable. While being careful not to burn your hands, pour it into a squeeze bottle. (I get mine at Walmart.) The manner in which you garnish with the sauce can be artistically planned out, or done with reckless abandon. Have fun with it.
I also added homemade whipped cream and pecans. The piece of chocolate I placed on top is from Trader Joe’s.
Everyone has their Trader Joe’s favorites, and this dark chocolate candy is mine. It’s sold at the checkout and I always buy several tins of it. The dark chocolate is rich, but not bitter, and the caramel is creamy. Each tin contains 16 tiny wedges of chocolate. It’s perfect for a tiny bite of chocolate when you need it. It also was the perfect touch to this dessert.
Here is an example of what the cake looks like when baked in the sphere mold. This red sauce is a raspberry coulis, which is made from fresh raspberries. It is a beautiful bright red and simple to make. Here is my recipe for Fresh Raspberry Coulis.
I paired the raspberry coulis with creme anglaise and added a rolled lace cookie for crunch, which created contrast in flavor, color, and texture.
This is another way to plate it. Practice on another plate first to see what you like.
This Flourless Chocolate Cake requires minimal effort, can be done ahead, and makes an elegant finish to any dinner. Try it for your next dinner party!
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 18 oz semisweet chocolate
- 1 cup room temperature butter cut into pieces
- 6 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°
- Grease a 9 inch cake pan, ramekins, or molds, and set aside.
- In a small sauce pan, combine the water, salt, and sugar. Place over medium heat and stir until completely dissolved.
- Heat the chocolate at 30 second increments in the microwave until melted and pour into a large bowl.
- Add the butter to the chocolate one piece at a time and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Beat in the hot sugar water.
- Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan or molds. Place into a larger pan and fill the larger pan with boiling water halfway up the sides.
- Bake the cake in the water bath for 45-50 minutes or until set. Smaller portions will take less time than that.
- Chill for 8 hours or overnight if cutting into servings. This freezes well.
