This is not the first flourless chocolate cake on this blog, but it is by far the new best. It’s not as dense and heavy as the others, and is super smooth and creamy. There’s a sliiiight hint of cheesecake, despite the relatively small amount of dairy, but mostly it’s just CHOCOLATE. Until now I had thought for years that the flourless chocolate cake at Giorgio on Pine (in Philly) was kind of the best possible, but now… hmm.

The one thing I changed about the recipe was instead of using dark and semisweet chocolate, I used Ghriardelli bittersweet chips for both the cake and the ganache, and it was the right level of sweetness for me. (Not that long ago I only ever wanted milk chocolate??)

Cake:

• 14 ounces dark (or bittersweet) chocolate chips
• 1 pound salted butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 large eggs

Ganache:

• 6 ounces heavy cream
• 6 ounces semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate chips

Little bit of estimating involved because our (salted) butter comes in logs and my scale is somewhere buried in the basement…

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10″ springform pan. If your pan is like mine (untrustworthy), you might also wrap the bottom in foil, just in case, and later be glad you did. In a large bowl, whisk all the eggs until combined. You don’t need to beat to a specific color or texture, you just want to break up all the yolks.

In a heavy pot, melt the chocolate and butter over low heat until smooth.

Aaaand you’re done, just drink this.

Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, then the half-and-half, vanilla, and salt until evenly mixed.

Slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the eggs, whisking the combination constantly while you pour, and continuing to whisk until evenly combined.

I was glad I had used our largest bowl.

Pour the mixture into the prepared springform.

Bake 45 minutes, or until almost set. The whole surface of mine was still jiggly at 45 minutes, but by 50 only maybe 1/3 of the surface was still jiggly, which was just right.

Let cool, in the pan, to room temperature, then refrigerate until cool. The whole cooling process will take a few hours.

Sometimes you defend against cats…

…other times you’re worried about humans.

When the cake is chilled, remove the sides of the pan and place the cake on a wire rack over a piece of wax paper or foil.

In a small pot, heat the cream over medium until it begins to steam and just starts to simmer. Remove the pot from the heat and add the semisweet chocolate, stirring until evenly melted. Pour the ganache over the cake, letting any excess drop off onto the wax paper.

Let set, refrigerating to speed the process if desired.

If desired, you can beat up the remaining cream you probably have to make whipped cream to serve with. Pro-tip from my mom – if you add some pudding mix (she uses white chocolate, I’m sure cheesecake or vanilla pudding mix would be good too) to sweeten your whipped cream, the liquid won’t separate out and you can keep it in the fridge for days.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

From Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking by Kelli Bronski and Peter Bronski.

Cake:

• 14 ounces dark (or bittersweet) chocolate chips
• 1 pound salted butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 large eggs

Ganache:

• 6 ounces heavy cream
• 6 ounces semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10″ springform pan. Wrap the bottom in foil if needed. In a large bowl, whisk all the eggs until combined. You don’t need to beat to a specific color or texture, you just want to break up all the yolks.

In a heavy pot, melt the chocolate and butter over low heat until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, then the half-and-half, vanilla, and salt until evenly mixed. Slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the eggs, whisking the combination constantly while you pour, and continuing to whisk until evenly combined.

Pour the mixture into the prepared springform, and bake 45 minutes, or until almost set. Let cool, in the pan, to room temperature, then refrigerate until cool.

When the cake is chilled, remove the sides of the pan and place the cake on a wire rack over a piece of wax paper or foil.

In a small pot, heat the cream over medium until it begins to steam and just starts to simmer. Remove the pot from the heat and add the semisweet chocolate, stirring until evenly melted. Pour the ganache over the cake, letting any excess drop off onto the wax paper. Let set, refrigerating to speed the process if desired.

If desired, beat remaining cream to make whipped cream for serving.