Ultimate Flourless Chocolate Torte

[paulraphael]

Ultimate Flourless Chocolate Torte

Serves 6 as Dessert.

Flourless chocolate cakes are everywhere. But I couldn't find one that lived up to its potential as the ultimate expression of chocolate intensity. Most of the recipes I've made or found at restaurants put too much emphasis on fluff or on eggs, and not enough on chocolate.

Flourless cakes can run the range from souflés (lots of air) to baked custards (much less air). This recipe is on the custard side. My efforts were all about maximizing the ratio of chocolate to everything else without compromising the texture. If you love dark chocolate, you'll love this. It's ridiculoulsly easy to make, and if you follow the instructions, the texture will be creamy and, while almost dense, will melt away in your mouth.

You can use whatever chocolates you like; I specify my favorite blend so you can get an idea of where I'm coming from. But please use excellent bittersweet chocolate; this recipe puts all the emphasis on the chocolate, and will succeed or fail based on its quality.

• 4 oz /113g Valrhona Guanaja bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
  
• 2 oz /57g Valrhona Manjari bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
  
• 4 oz /113g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  
• 2 whole eggs
  
• 2 egg yolks
  
• 2-2/3 T /32g granulated sugar (2T plus 2tsp)
  
• 1/8 tsp /.5g salt
  
• confectioners' sugar for dusting
  

Prepare in 6" cheesecake pan or springform pan, with 2 layers of foil wrapped around outside, up the sides (or a layer of plastic wrap and a layer of foil). Make sure no seams are near the bottom inch of the pan. Pan will sit in a water bath that comes an inch up sides of cake pan.

Grease pan bottom and dust with cocoa. Or better, line with a greased and dusted round of parchment.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees with water bath on bottom rack. Use a roasting pan or lasagna pan, with about an inch of water in it (a bit less if the pan is small)

Melt chocolate and butter in bowl over hot water. Ideally, melt chocolate slowly, reduce heat, and then stir in cool butter, in small pieces, until mixture is smooth and glassy. Set aside to cool.

In a different bowl, whisk the eggs and yolks until yolks break; Add sugar and salt while beating. Whisk slowly, to disolve sugar, then whisk faster to create a light froth. Do not whip to the point where volume is greatly increased. This is where you will determine the final consistency of the torte. If you incorporate no air, it will be like custard. If you incorporate too much, it will get too fluffy.

Gently stir egg mixture into chocolate (not the other way around) until uniform.

Fill pan (about 1/2 full)

Bake 20+ minutes. It's done when top looks dry and when torte jiggles only in the middle when shaken. Bake no more than needed.

Set pan to cool on cooling rack. When torte is still warm, but cool enough to handle, invert onto serving dish. Best served warm, when fresh, but easily reheated in microwave.

Dust with powdered sugar before serving (unless you're going to frost or glaze it).

Serve plain, or with ice cream drizzled with chocolate butter sauce, or with a tart creme anglaise—ginger, orange/grand marnier, lemon, etc, or with a tart fruit coulis. Can also be frosted with whiped cream that's been sweetened with confectioners sugar and flavored with any of the above seasonings or spirits, or any kind of ganache. If you're topping it with something especially sweet, you can cut back slightly on the sugar in the recipe.

Keywords: Dessert, Easy, Chocolate, Cake

( RG1988 )