I am normally not one to get overly excited about all of the different holidays. Lately, it seems like every day has a title from National Pancake Day to Throwback Thursdays. I've always kinda felt that way about Valentine's Day. I didn't think that I needed a national holiday to tell everyone that I care, how much I love them. And, honestly, it just seemed like another day when I had to make extra treats for school.
This year was different.
I decided to embrace Valentine's Day and I spent the entire day showing the people that I truly care about how much I love them. I snuck up to the school and filled my teenager's car with heart shaped red balloons to surprise her after school. I left boxes of See's candy hearts on my kids' pillows. I even wrote my husband a sappy love letter. But the icing on the cake was this fabulous flourless chocolate cake I made as my gift of love to the entire family.
I still don't think that I need a holiday to show my loved ones how much they mean, but it was okay to take a day out to make an extra effort at showing love.
My family may have gotten a few extra treats, but in the end it was my heart that felt all warm and cozy.
This cake is so amazingly great that you don't need the excuse of a holiday as a reason to make it. This recipe should be in every gluten free cook's recipe book.
Four simple ingredients, some easy directions that you should follow exactly as written, and you will be rewarded with a decadent dessert that will have your gluten free family and friends licking their lips.
Since the essence of this recipe is chocolate, the better the chocolate, the better the cake. But I used what I had in the cabinet which was one-half pound Baker's Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate Squares
One thing that is essential for this recipe is a Springform Pan
Naturally Gluten Free Flourless Chocolate Cake
Gluten Free Mom Recipes
Ingredients:
- 8 large eggs, cold
- 1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped coarse
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces (use Earth Balance for Casein Free)
- 1/4 cup strong coffee
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting the cake and strawberries for decoration
Directions:
1.
Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to
325 degrees. Line the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment
paper or waxed paper and grease the sides of the pan. Wrap the outside
of the pan with 2 sheets of heavy-duty foil and set in a large roasting
pan. Bring a kettle of water to a boil.
2.
Beat the eggs in the bowl of a standing mixer at high speed until the
volume doubles (to approximately 1 quart), about 5 minutes.
3.
Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and butter (adding the coffee, if using)
in a large heatproof bowl set over a pan of almost simmering water,
until smooth and very warm (about 115 degrees on an instant-read
thermometer), stirring once or twice. Alternatively, you can melt it in
the microwave. To melt in a microwave, heat the chocolate in a
microwave-safe bowl at 50 percent power for 2 minutes, stir, add the
butter and coffee, if using, and continue heating at 50 percent power,
stirring every minute, until the chocolate and butter have melted and
are smooth, another 2 to 3 minutes total.
4.
Fold a third of the egg foam into the chocolate mixture using a large
rubber spatula until only a few streaks of egg are visible; fold in half
of the remaining foam, then the last of the foam, until the mixture is
totally homogeneous.
5.
Scrape the batter into the prepared springform pan and smooth the
surface with a rubber spatula. Set the roasting pan on the oven rack and
pour in enough boiling water to come about halfway up the sides of the
springform pan. Bake until the cake has risen slightly, the edges are
just beginning to set, a thin glazed crust (like a brownie) has formed
on the surface, and an instant-read thermometer inserted halfway into
the center reads 140 degrees, 22 to 25 minutes.
6. Remove the cake pan from the water bath and set on a wire rack; cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
7.
About 30 minutes before serving, remove the sides of the pan, invert
the cake onto a sheet of waxed paper and peel off the parchment paper.
Sieve a light sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar over the cake to
decorate. Decorate with strawberries cut in quarters and lined around the outside of the cake.
To serve, use a sharp, thin-bladed knife, dipping the knife
into a pitcher of hot water and wiping the blade before each cut.
For a printable version of this recipe click HERE.
