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.
Ingredients:
Add the butter, eggs, and vanilla, whisking until just combined.
Add the sour cream, again whisking until just combined. Fold in the mashed bananas, stirring gently until just combined.
Pour the batter into the greased bread pan, smoothing the top.
Bake 45-50 minutes, until the loaf passes the toothpick test.
Cool in the pan 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Ingredients:
In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, mashed banana, milk, oil, and vanilla, and whisk to combine.
Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
Pour the batter into the greased bread pan and bake 50-60 minutes, until the loaf passes the toothpick test. (Be careful when you’re testing it that you’re not just sticking your toothpick into a melted chocolate chip, and thinking that that means the batter is uncooked!)
Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.








Ingredients:
Add the egg and beat until incorporated.
Add the flour mixture by thirds, alternating with halves of the milk, beating after each addition (flour, milk, flour, milk, flour).
Divide the batter between the 2 prepared cake pans. This is a very thick batter, and doesn’t spread much while baking, so you’ll need to spread it evenly or have extremely lumpy cakes.
Bake 30-35 minutes, until the cakes pass the toothpick test. Cool in the pans 10-15 minutes, then gently turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting, add all the ingredients and beat together until smooth. Beat several minutes further to incorporate more air into the frosting, until the color has lightened noticeably. Place one cake on a plate/platter, and frost the top. Add the second cake, and frost completely. If you have some random chocolate sprinkles, feel free to throw them on top too! Yum!


Line a 9X13″ pan with parchment paper and spread the polenta in it. Cover with another piece of parchment and press down to spread it evenly. Leave covered and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, remove the polenta to a cutting board and cut into 8 evenly sized pieces.
Add any other desired toppings, and cover with the other 4 pieces. If the side of the polenta that was against the pan is smoother than the side you pressed flat, try to make that side the outside of the sandwich for more even grilling.
When you flip them, be careful to try to scrape all the way down to the pan so that you don’t spatula-off the crispy brown bits from the outside of the polenta. Once the outsides are crisped and the inside is gooey, enjoy!



Drizzle in the butter while stirring until the mixture is fully mixed.
Spoon into the mini muffin tins, filling the wells 3/4 full.
Bake 10-15 minutes, until slightly puffed and the surface springs back when touched.
Let cool completely in the pans, then turn out and enjoy (maybe with vanilla ice cream?!).

Ingredients:
Add all the remaining ingredients except for 1/4 cup of the ketchup (so, add 1/4 cup), and stir together, only stirring as much as necessary to combine.
Gently divide into 6 portions and shape into circle patties about 1 1/2″ thick, squeezing as little as possible. Place the patties on the greased rack.
Spread the remaining ketchup over the tops of them, then bake 25-30 minutes, until no longer pink in the center.

Ingredients:
In another bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. (You can also combine the dry ingredients in a large ziplock and shake well to combine if that sounds more fun.)
Continue to beat about 10 minutes, then transfer the batter into the greased bread pan, smoothing the top of the batter to be roughly even.
Cover loosely and let rise in a warm place approximately 1 hour.
Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn out to cool completely on a wire rack.
Ingredients:
In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup of the cream and the sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar completely dissolves, then remove from the heat and whisk in the gelatin mixture.
In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, vanilla, and remaining 1/2 cup cream. Add the warm cream mixture and stir to combine.
Divide the mixture evenly among the greased ramekins, then cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
Accompany with chocolate, berries, or anything else that strikes your fancy.
