That Cake

Yesterday was a Civic Holiday here in Ontario. Since everyone had the day off, my family took the opportunity to celebrate my mother’s birthday. I was given the job of bringing dessert. Mom asked me to make a recipe she’d clipped from the paper, and I obliged, but since I had the niggling impression it would be less than stellar, I decided to surprise her with a second new-to-me recipe, Jodi‘s flourless chocolate cake. Provided by a fellow writer / ranter / chocoholic, I was guaranteed success.

One brownie point to me for correctly identifying the newspaper dessert as a dud. Bland, uninspired, the recipe went straight to the shredder.

Two brownie points to me for providing an alternative.

Three brownie points lost for being a moron with chocolate. While the resulting cake tasted fine, it had the consistency of overcooked pudding. My theory that flourless cakes would firm up when cooled proved wrong. Very, very wrong. It wasn’t until I reviewed the recipe that I realized I’d misread the baking time. Don’t ask me how, but the 350F morphed into 35 minutes. I’m sure if you bake this for the required 45 minutes, it will be perfect.

All is not lost. No stranger to kitchen disasters, I’ve become a master of improvisation. I can redeem a brownie point or two by freezing the leftovers and sprinkling bite-sized chunks over vanilla ice cream. Drizzle the sundae with Bailey’s Irish Cream and I might break even. No panic. This is just another opportunity to realize my culinary mantra, “When in doubt, add booze.”

Jodi simply called her creation “That Cake”. With her permission, I pass it onto you, complete with some of her comments, which indicate she reads my blog faithfully. Three brownie points to her for sharing the recipe. Three for reading my blog and a bonus point for being funny.

Final score: Jodi 7, Charmian 0

Three brownie points to anyone who makes this cake. Go on. Try it. What have you got to lose?

That Cake

• 1 tbsp ground almonds, plus another bit to dust the pan with
• 11 ounces of dark chocolate
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 large eggs (freerange, white, brown, duck or emu–doesn’t matter)

1. Grease an 8 or 9 inch spring-form pan and lightly dust with ground almonds.
2. Melt chocolate, butter and sugar in a double boiler over low heat, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and let cool a wee bit. (I actually cheated and melted it slowly in the microwave on medium power in 30 second bursts, and it worked fine.)
3. Beat eggs and 1 tbsp ground almonds together til foaming frothy, then fold into chocolate mixture. Stir til thickened, which will take a couple of minutes.
4. Pour cake into pan and bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until top is set and beginning to crack.
5. Let cake cool completely before attacking. You can do this. Resistance is not futile. Dust with icing sugar or cocoa if you wish, add raspberry sauce, good vanilla ice cream, or caramel…and for a finishing touch, pour yourself a tall glass of Tuscan Whole Milk!