Flourless Chocolate Cake

An evening of celebration!  One of my close friends just graduated!  So of course it is important to take time to celebrate such an accomplishment.  The party was a 1920s themed so I started cruising the Internet for party recipes from that decade.  When I realized that my options were dishes like "Nuts and Date Salad Mayonnaise" or "Jellied Tomato and Pimiento Salad with Olives and Celery Hearts," I decided that perhaps a throw back dish would not be quite the hit I was looking for.  Also, as a side note, did you know that all of the following foods were introduced in the 1920s?

Eskimo Pies, Baby Ruth, Wonder Bread, Betty Crocker, Land O'Lakes, White Castle, Quaker Oats quick oats, Girl Scout Cookies, Gummi Bears, Mounds, Welch's grape jelly, Popsicles, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Yoo-Hoo, Caesar Salad, Wheaties, Graham Crackers, Mr. Goodbar, Safeway, Milk Duds, Gerber's baby food, Pez, Kool-Aid, Rice Krispies, Velveeta cheese, Peter Pan Peanut butter, Oscar Meyer wieners, Snickers, Twizzlers, 7-Up

Some pretty prominent foods and institutions came into being during the 20s!  But today, many of these packaged, prepared foods are not quite the delicacies they used to be, so I just decided to fall back on my personal favorite:  Chocolate!


I am so pleased that I got to do a party cake especially since it usually takes the excuse of a special occasion to make a cake rather than just choosing to eat one all by yourself!  This is the first time I made the following recipe.  It has been modified from various different sources and it turned out so well that I want to make this cake over and over again!  It has that moinst, dark-chocolate richness that melts in your mouth.  Plus, it is so simple that it does not take more than an hour of active cooking time.  Thus, twice as fabulous!


Flourless Chocolate Cake


5 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbs vanilla extract (esspresso is a great substitute for vanilla!)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

powder sugar and fresh fruit for decoration


1. Preheat oven to 375°F.   Butter a 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with a cut out round of parchment paper.

2. Bring water to a slight simmer in the bottom part of a double boiler.  While the water is heating up, chop up the butter and 5oz of your favorite dark chocolate into small pieces and put them in the top part of the double boiler.  Melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until soupy and smooth.  (No stress if you don't have a double boiler, I don't either, so I used a pot and then put the chocolate and butter in a smaller sauce pan with a long handle.)

3. Remove top of double boiler from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture until the sugar is well incorporated.  Let the mixture stand for five minutes to cool.  (you don't want to cook the eggs in the next step!)

4. While the chocolate is cooling off, break four eggs into a medium mixing bowl and whisk well.  Add the sweet chocolaty goodness to the eggs and whip briskly until everything is incorporated.

5. Sift 1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined.

6. Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven 22 minutes, or until top has formed a thin crust.  Test by poking a fork in the center; if the fork comes out clean, the cake is done!  Cool cake in the pan for about 5 minutes then invert it onto a serving plate and remove parchment paper.  (While it is cooling, this is a great opportunity to wash and prep the fruit you will decorate the cake with).

7. Let cake cool completely before you dust cake with powdered sugar.  Finally, top it with fruit. 

Voila!  You're done!  If by chance there is cake left after the party, it will keep for quite a while in the fridge or freezer.  So def keep it around for future leftovers snacking!



The cake at the party