Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is a chocolate cake with two big Cs. This is by far the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted and I don’t say it to boast of my baking skills, but simply because it brings out the marvelous chocolate taste better than any home-made cake I have ever had. When I say “the best”, I mean both the texture and the taste. This cake is very soft, sticky in a fudge-like way, with a very deep dark chocolate flavour. In my opinion, the perfect result is obtained when adding salt or using salted butter. This is also the most frequent of all the cakes I prepare.

Here I must emphasize this cake should be taken seriously. It does not accept any compromise in terms of two main ingredients, namely chocolate and butter. Any kind of chocolate with less than 70% cocoa is not satisfactory, not to mention those containing hydrogenated fats (only cocoa butter should be listed). As for the butter (unsalted or salted), it should absolutely be not substituted with margarine. The result depends so much on the buttery taste and texture (as you’ll see below, there is no flour), that any other intruder will simply make the cake smell and taste of… margarine. I can’t even imagine the texture it would have, since I have never made it with margarine (actually, I have never prepared any cake with margarine, I simply see no point in stuffing oneself with hydrogenated and much worse tasting -often less healthy – fats, which are nonetheless still fats and still have the same calorie values…). If you are one of those who don’t or can’t eat even small amounts of butter, simply make another cake (for example the Guinness Gingerbread, made with oil). A precious advice for those living in Switzerland: cross the border and buy either German or French butter (it freezes very well, in case you buy big amounts). Beware, once you substitute the Swiss butter, you’ll never want to use it in this cake, so either stick to it or simply stock on French or German one.

The best moment to prepare this cake is at night, after dinner. It has to be refrigerated for at least ten hours in order develop the sticky, fudgy, firm texture and to improve the taste. If you try cutting it and serving after, say, one or two hours, the cake will fall into pieces and will not be as flavoursome as after a night’s sleep in the fridge.

Preparation: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

200g/about 7 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa minimum)

150-200g/about 5-7 oz butter (unsalted or salted, I prefer the latter; if you don’t have the salted butter, the slightly salty result may also be obtained by adding 1/4  flat teaspoon salt)

a pinch of salt (or nothing, if you use the salted butter or add 1/4 teaspoon salt)

150-200g sugar/about 3/4 – 1 cup (depends how sweet you like cakes in general)

1 tablespoon instant coffee diluted in a small amount of water (it can be dry if not granulated, but powdered) or a small strong espresso

1 heaped tablespoon bitter cocoa

(20 crushed walnut kernels)

4 eggs

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Melt the butter and the chocolate in a small pan (do not let it boil!).

In the meantime mix the eggs, the sugar, the coffee, the cocoa, the walnuts and a pinch of salt (it can be done with a fork, not necessarily a food processor).

Add slowly the melted butter-chocolate mixture, stirring continuously.

Line a baking dish with baking paper. Pour the cake mixture and bake for about 30 minutes.

The cake will rise first time just a bit, and then it will rise a lot (it will fall down when cooling). Stop the baking process when you see it has risen a lot. The cake should be very soft, almost liquid inside and solid outside.

Let it cool and then put into the fridge for at least a whole night. Serve cold.