Flourless Chocolate Cake

At the start of the year, I have decided to lessen my chocolate intake by setting limits. I am born with a sweet tooth, and being a homebaker totally complements this as I can whip up a sweet treat anytime I feel like doing so just to satisfy my craving. Working at ungodly hours doesn't help either so there should be something that I should consciously do to stop the weight gain like my chocolate intake. The chocolates that I am allowing myself to eat should be:

1. Artisan like Theo & Philo
2. Organic like Green & Black's or those sold in stores like Healthy Options (or Whole Foods Market in the US)
3. A gift or a present, and should not be commonly sold which I can buy for myself on a whim (In January, a friend who went home from London for a couple weeks hand-carried a small pack of Thornton's which I definitely ate)

Whether I am consistent with these limits or not is an entirely different story and I have noble reasons in deviating from these limitations which rarely happened. And before anyone asks, it's not even a New Year's resolution. I believe that regardless of the occasion, one's will to do such changes should be because one wants to do it and not merely for the reason of having New Year's resolutions just like almost everybody. Kudos to those who have kept their resolutions three months down the road. For those who didn't, hey, you don't have to wait for next year. You can still work on it, no one's keeping score but you.

I'm pretty much on track with this considering that we have boxes of truffles and Royce chocolates in the fridge still waiting to be consumed. I used up some of these truffles to make a flourless cake which we had at midnight after we came home from the Easter vigil mass. It is rich and decadent, but not that overwhelming. One slice is just not enough.

Flourless Chocolate Cake
1 cup chocolate truffles, cut into chunks
1/2 cup butter, cut into chunks
2 tablespoons freshly brewed coffee
4 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
Powdered sugar and cocoa powder to dust

If you are asking, yes, there's no sugar needed for this recipe just like there's no flour. ;-)

1. Preheat oven at 150c. Lightly grease an 8-inch springform pan. Line the bottom and sides with parchment paper and lightly grease the surface. As always, prepare all your ingredients so that you are sure you have everything you need.

2. In a heat proof bowl, combine the chocolate truffles, butter and coffee and melt until smooth. I microwaved mine and checked it every 30 seconds just to make sure I didn't overheat the chocolate mixture.

3. Stir in the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture one at a time. Set aside.

4. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.

5. Fold in 1/3 of the whipped egg whites into the chocolate mixture until incorporated then gently add the remaining in two more additions until the mixtures is thoroughly combined. Be careful not to over mix.

6. Pour the batter to the lined springform pan. Tap the pan to release unwanted air bubbles then smooth the top.

7. So that I won't lose moisture while the cake is baked in the oven, I've put in a 9" x 13" pan filled up with hot water in the bottom part of the oven while the spingform pan goes into the middle part. The steam that will come from the pan of water will help to keep the top of the cake from becoming too dry while baking. Traditionally, the springform pan should be placed inside the water bath (called bain marie), but I still opted to do it my way (cake pan - middle shelf, water pan - bottom shelf) for fear that by the time the cake is done, I might spill boiling water to myself while taking out the cake from the oven. In any case, my way still does the work. Bake the cake for  25-30 minutes, or until the cake has slightly risen.

8. Once done, cool the cake on a wire rack to room temperature. The edges will look like more set than the middle part of the cake and that's what we are looking for. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or until ready to serve. Dust with powdered sugar and cocoa powder just before serving.

You can eat the cake as it is, but it goes really well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream just like Vanilla Almond from the Selecta Gold series.