Chocolate Heaven

This is most likely the first and last time I will EVER bake this cake. Why? you ask. Because when you see the ingredient list, your heart will begin to palpate quickly the same way mine did when I put together this small cake. This recipe is not for the faint of heart. No, it is for those who give their heart to others completely, for those who care deeply.

This is a flourless chocolate cake of proportions I will only make for those truly needful of such decadent pleasure.

And on this day, not even Valentine's Day was so deserving of such a recipe, Happy Birthday to my dear Candice. :) Early it may be to write this up but needful.

Flourless Chocolate Cake
*the recipe came from the Gluten Free Goddess but I've made some changes for those without food processors/blenders or don't want to clean up such machines

16 oz of semi-sweet chocolate (or any chocolate you wish)
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup very hot strong coffee or espresso
2 tbl cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup (16 tbl) of unsalted butter
8 eggs, room temp
1 tbl homemade vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a 9 inch cake pan, if the sides are only about an inch high, line with parchment or foil with overhanging edges for the cake to rise. If using a 10'' cake pan, ignore the following, I also prepped two silicone baking cups of a large muffin size for excess batter.

In a double boiler (for those without a double boiler, place a glass bowl above a small pot with an inch of simmering water), melt together the chocolate and cubed butter. When it's all melted, add both sugars and hot espresso in batches, mixing thoroughly. Take the chocolate mixture off the double boiler and sift in 2 tbl of cocoa powder. When this is incorporated, begin to add your eggs one by one, whisking briskly to prevent the egg from cooking (you don't want scrambled eggs in your cake). The batter will get thicker with each egg. Right before the last egg, add the vanilla and whisk to incorporate everything.
Pour the batter into your pans and bake for 55-60 minutes at 350. Your skewer should go in cleanly and come out with a few moist crumbs.It's perfect with a drizzle of homemade ganache and sifted powdered sugar and a large glass of milk or mug of hot coffee - after all, you're bound to have made extra coffee when brewing for the cake.

If making this for a birthday as I did, make a batch of chocolate ganache.

Chocolate Ganache
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
4 oz of semi-sweet chocolate
1 tbl butter
1 tbl irish whiskey (or any other flavoring you wish)

Heat together cream and butter until the butter is melted and the mixture hot. Pour in the chocolate and let sit for 5 min. Stir together and add in the whiskey. Drizzle over the cake, using a spatula to help spread the chocolate.

I flipped the cake upside down to have a flatter surface for writing and frosting. But feel free to just cut a slice, drizzle ganache over the top and ignore making a pretty cake in favor of eating it. :)

Bliss in a Bite

Heaven and hell meet in this delectable treat of rich ganache, crumbly crust and pure melt in your mouth goodness. What are calories when the pleasure of spooning melted chocolate overrides any other desire or feeling of guilt?

Perhaps this isn't the best recipe for one's waistline, but in all seriousness, what does it matter when sitting in a lecture hall for 8+ hours a day isn't particularly flattering either? o.O Exactly. So just sit, take a spoon into your hand, watch the light slowly die from the shuttered blinds and immerse yourself in a little you time. ;)

Ganache Tart

Walnut Crust
2 - 6 oz. bags (approx. 3 cups) of walnuts, or any other nut you like
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 stick (8 tbs) unsalted butter

Chocolate Ganache
1 cup whipping cream
16 oz (2 2/3 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 tbs unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla (or almond extract, whiskey, irish cream, something to give it a little extra flavor)
Preparation

Walnut Crust
Using a food processor (or blender, like I did), pulse the walnuts into a fine grind. This is the basis of the crust and yields a nutty, crumbly crust without much trouble. Placing the ground walnuts into a bowl, add the sugar, mixing a bit. Melt the butter in the microwave and pour into the walnut mixture, mixing until all of the nuts are coated in butter. Taking a tart shell (or aluminum dish - anything oven safe), pat the mixture into an even layer, going up the sides to create a crust for the ganache filling. (I had enough to make one large tart and 4 individual muffin tin sized tarts)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and bake for 10 minutes or until the tart shell is slightly brown on the edges. Remove and let cool.

Ganache
Heat the cream and butter together in a small pot until the butter is melted and cream is warmed through. Turn off the stove, take the cream mixture off the heat and pour in the chocolate. Let sit for 5-10 minutes as the heat of the cream softens and melts the chocolate. Stir until completely incorporated and smooth. Add in the vanilla at the end.

*You may use other combinations of chocolate, such as dark, white. milk chocolate. However, the ratio of cream to chocolate will change slightly due to the water and fat content in the different types of chocolate. This is where I stop paying attention to measurements and add cream/chocolate depending upon the texture of the ganache mixture.

Assembly
Pour the ganache mixture into the tart shell. Tap on the counter lightly to even out the chocolate. Decorate with slivered almonds or extra chocolate chips placed at evenly spaced intervals along the circumference of the tart.Cool in the fridge for 1-2 hours or until the ganache has set up. Slice with a knife dipped into warm water to prevent the ganache from sticking. If the ganache begins to get too soft, cool in the fridge for a few minutes before resuming slicing.