Flourless Chocolate Cakes: Tips & Techniques

[RuthWells]

Thanks Andie...we'll give it a go.  The cake was so moist, without being wet.  And yet it had a solid structure.  I have people bring food to me all the time to show me how great it is and am normally not impressed, but this cake was really damn well near perfect.  I'll see if I can't make it this week sometime and report back.

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Oooh, please do report. I am trying to perfect my fourless choc torte for my new baking business, and I'm getting close...... but am not quite there yet. Moist and a solid structure are exactly what I'm trying to achieve.

[JeanneCake]

I want to steal a recipe.  Really, for the first time ever, I want another pros recipe and she won't share it.  It was a flourless chocolate with Kahlua.  Knowing her, she found it in a magazine.  Does anybody have a recipe like that?  It may have been the best flourless I've ever had, and up until now I've sworn by the recipe from theoldfoodie.

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In The Cake Bible, RLB has the flourless Chocolate Oblivion Torte. As far as structure, it's pretty solid and sturdy (not crumbling or melting the way some flourless recipes are) and one of the variations calls for adding Kahlua. It's basically chocolate, sugar, eggs and butter.

[gfron1]

I tried the one Andie linked to above and it was good, but not the same. Her cake felt soaked, but it wasn't. Andie's was a bit dry like flourless cakes like to be. I did wonder if a night in the freezer my fix that?

I ran into the woman yesterday and pleaded for the recipe and she said she would give it to me minus one ingredient - I coulda slapped her - she can take her bad karma and...

Anyway, she started rattling off the ingredient list and it was almost identical to Andie's so there's something about the technique that is different. The only clue I got was that she uses whole eggs, not divided. Any ideas?

[paulraphael]

Flourless chocolate cakes are among the simplest recipes you'll ever work with. The trick to picking one is deciding what texture you want.

A light, fluffy, souflée? A dense, melting ganache? Something in between?

If you narrow it down, it's easy to pick recipes by category.

And also important to use the best chocolate you can get your paws on.

My favorite is on the dense / moist side ... it has enough air to feel cake like, but then melts almost instantly in your mouth.

(this recipe specifies a chocolate blend that I like; you can use any high quality bittersweet chocolate. you may want to adjust the amount of sugar accordingly)

Edited April 9, 2009 by paulraphael (log)

[gfron1]

what you're describing is what I'm going for so I'll give that recipe a try. thanks.

[prasantrin]

I ran into the woman yesterday and pleaded for the recipe and she said she would give it to me minus one ingredient - I coulda slapped her - she can take her bad karma and...

Anyway, she started rattling off the ingredient list and it was almost identical to Andie's so there's something about the technique that is different.  The only clue I got was that she uses whole eggs, not divided.  Any ideas?

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Is she giving you measurements, or only ingredients? If did she get it from a magazine, it would be pretty easy to google measurements plus ingredients to find the same recipe.

[gfron1]

she only listed ingredients unfortunately.

[gfron1]

My favorite is on the dense / moist side ... it has enough air to feel cake like, but then melts almost instantly in your mouth.

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I just realized that you shared your personal recipe (not just a link). Thanks! You can have the stingy lady's karma

[JeanneCake]

Try making Andie's recipe again - using 6 whole eggs and maybe one more yolk and beat with the sugar to a ribbon stage. Just as if you were making a biscuit then continue on and see if that gives you the more solid structure.

You might also want to bake this in a water bath.

I like to use bittersweet chocolate when I make a flourless choc cake.

[ejw50]

she only listed ingredients unfortunately.

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Is she serious? That just seems so ridiculous to me.

"I won't tell you"

"OK I"ll tell you but minus one ingredient"

"But I won't tell you the proportions"

really?

[paulraphael]

You can have the stingy lady's karma

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is that a good thing?

I think it's silly when people are secretive about recipes ... especially for things like this. Maybe someone could have gotten acclaim for a flourless chocolate cake recipe 30 years ago, but today they're older than old news. It's like trying to patent slightly reshaped cast iron skillet.

Anyway, if that recipe is close but not quite what you're looking for, let me know. These things are easy to tweak and almost impossible mess up, as long as you don't overcook.

Edited April 10, 2009 by paulraphael (log)

[gfron1]

she only listed ingredients unfortunately.

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Is she serious? That just seems so ridiculous to me.

"I won't tell you"

"OK I"ll tell you but minus one ingredient"

"But I won't tell you the proportions"

really?

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uhhh...yeah. Rather pathetic ain't it. I even reminded her that pretty much all of my recipes are on my blog for anyone to access. I figure anyone can have a recipe - it comes down quality ingridients and skills, not a list on a page.

and yes Paul, that would be good karma - not the crap that she has, but the stuff she could have had.

[gfron1]

uhhh...are you all ready for this?

She came in today making a big point to tell me that her husband thought that she should charge me for the recipe but that she wanted to support the comradery of the kitchen. She made me swear I wouldn't sell her recipe. I won't sell it, but HERE it is.

If anyone wants to pay me for it, feel free. The printout she gave me actually had the food network logo on it!

[isomer]

That is truly incredible. People never cease to amaze me...

[prasantrin]

uhhh...are you all ready for this? 

She came in today making a big point to tell me that her husband thought that she should charge me for the recipe but that she wanted to support the comradery of the kitchen.  She made me swear I wouldn't sell her recipe.  I won't sell it, but HERE it is. 

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I think you should pay the woman $5, and then write to The Food Network and report that she's selling their recipes.

[paulraphael]

That's just awesome.

And Emeril, no less!

[JeanneCake]

uhhh...are you all ready for this? 

She came in today making a big point to tell me that her husband thought that she should charge me for the recipe but that she wanted to support the comradery of the kitchen.  She made me swear I wouldn't sell her recipe.  I won't sell it, but HERE it is. 

If anyone wants to pay me for it, feel free.  The printout she gave me actually had the food network logo on it!

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Tell her you'll pay her what SHE paid for it.... zip!

[RuthWells]

Unfreaking believable.

[ejw50]

uhhh...are you all ready for this? 

She came in today making a big point to tell me that her husband thought that she should charge me for the recipe but that she wanted to support the comradery of the kitchen.  She made me swear I wouldn't sell her recipe.  I won't sell it, but HERE it is. 

If anyone wants to pay me for it, feel free.  The printout she gave me actually had the food network logo on it!

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haha that is pretty funny! Sad but funny.

[oli]

uhhh...are you all ready for this? 

She came in today making a big point to tell me that her husband thought that she should charge me for the recipe but that she wanted to support the comradery of the kitchen.  She made me swear I wouldn't sell her recipe.  I won't sell it, but HERE it is. 

If anyone wants to pay me for it, feel free.  The printout she gave me actually had the food network logo on it!

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Now,I am wondering after all that, will it still taste the same as what she gave you a sample of?

[gfron1]

Here's a lil' update on this quest. I tried my compadres...I mean Emeril's recipe and it turned out a bit dry. I overbaked, so I'll have to try it again. I did, however, then move on to Paul Raphael's recipe which he graciously shared with me. I scarfed one for breakfast the morning after it was made and sold the rest for the next two days. Everyone who bought one said it was the best they've ever had in their lives. As far as what I was looking for, it was good enough that I could leave well enough alone...but of course I won't. It was really a great recipe. Over at my blog you'll see that I had to adapt the chocolates since I don't work with Valrhona except on special occasions.

[ChrisN]

I made a flourless chocolate cake recently and had a problem. The cake looked fine while it was still in its pan, but when inverted onto another plate, there was a layer that looked almost like butter (but wasn't). The chocolate part of the cake tasted fine once that layer was scraped off, but I'm not sure what happened or how to stop it. I have used this recipe before without a problem. Any thoughts?

CN