We got a blitz of snow yesterday. Brrrr!!!! I guess this was winter’s last little hurrah before spring. Here’s to hoping. Well, pretty as all this snow was, I was in serious need of chocolate today and this Sunday is Valentine’s Day after all. And what is Valentine’s Day without chocolate??? I’ll tell you, it’s just another cold blustery gray February day. So bring on the chocolate!
This is the recipe for Ian’s Flourless Chocolate Torte. Ian is a retired chef who has owned, operated and sold numerous restaurants over the course of his career and now resides in Mexico. Every so often he gives private small group cooking classes in his beautiful home. It is so much fun! His recipes are easy to follow and always delicious. Going to his cooking classes is a real treat.
What’s the difference between a cake and a torte? The main ingredients in a cake are sugar, eggs, butter, and flour. A torte uses little to no flour and uses ground nuts or breadcrumbs instead of flour.
This particular recipe is a favorite of ours. It’s so good in fact, a couple years ago my mom and I made it one afternoon and forgot to let it rest for an hour after it came out of the oven. We flipped it out onto a wire cooling rack and it was so moist it started to quickly ooze through the rack! In a sheer panic and without hesitation, we both started gobbling it up with our fingers as it plopped onto the counter from under the cooling rack. It’s that good. Of course, we then had to make another one… dang it. Heh heh.
Usually I’ll make it just as it is without the ganache. Warm it up, sprinkle powdered sugar on it, and maybe put a scoop of vanilla ice cream with it. That’s probably why I thought of it today, because the snow reminded me of powered sugar on the cake. But with Valentine’s Day coming up, I thought, What the heck. Let’s jazz it up with an easy chocolate ganache and strawberries! I know, I know… chocolate and strawberries are a Valentine’s Day cliche, but so what, it’s delicious. Think classic, not cliche.
The fun thing about this recipe is you can keep it simple…
Or by adding a few raspberries, you can create an elegant dessert…
Or you can really guild the lily and go hog wild…
Oh heck ya! Now that’s what I’m talking about!!!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
More Chocolate Recipes You’ll Love!
Flourless Chocolate Torte
Ingredients
- 12 oz chocolate chopped
- 8 oz butter
- 4 ounces strong coffee
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup almond or hazelnut meal
- 7 large eggs separated
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
Ganache
- 8 ounces semi sweet chocolate chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
Special Equipment
- cake pan or mini cheesecake pan
- electric mixer
- scale
Instructions
-
Grease 9 inch pan and preheat oven to 350ºF
-
In a double boiler, melt chocolate, butter, and coffee. Stir until smooth.
-
Remove bowl from heat and stir in sugar, ground almond meal, vanilla, and salt.
-
Stir in egg yolks one at a time.
-
Beat egg white until stiff peaks and fold into chocolate.
-
Pour batter into pan and bake until firm, about 1 hour.
Ganache
-
Heat the heavy cream until it steams.
-
Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and is completely smooth.
-
Let cool slightly and pour over cooled torte.
-
Serve warm with whip cream and berries.
Recipe Notes
Variation: Replace strong coffee with 2 ounces of rum and 2 ounces of kahua