not your mom's chocolate cake

I'm a sucker for chocolate - especially dark chocolate. And while I like cake, I prefer a good truffle or a brownie. The more dense, fudge-like texture is definitely more my thing. A few months ago, after having this at a restaurant in downtown Minneapolis -- with a yummy glass of red wine (yum!) -- I had fallen in love with my new favorite 'cake' -- a fourless chocolate cake.

I know what you're thinking - a cake without flour?! Trust me, you'll be pleasantly surprised. It tastes great - and is very rich. Make it when you have a bunch of people coming over because a little really goes a long way. If you're like me, you also are knowing a growing number of people whose diets don't allow for gluten. That's one of the other great things about this type of cake -- it's gluten-free!

I can't take the credit for any part of this recipe, as I found it online and followed the directions nearly exactly - but am posting it here for convenience. But in an effort to give credit where credit is due, the original can be on AllRecipes.com.

Flourless Chocolate Cake
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
18 (1 ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter
6 eggs

Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch round cake pan and set aside.
In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the water, salt and sugar. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside.

Either in the top half of a double boiler or in a microwave oven melt the bittersweet chocolate. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer.

Cut the butter into pieces and beat the butter into the chocolate, 1 piece at a time. Beat in the hot sugar-water. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Have a pan larger than the cake pan ready, put the cake pan in the larger pan and fill the pan with boiling water halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
Bake cake in the water bath at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 45 minutes. The center will still look wet. Chill cake overnight in the pan. To unmold, dip the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for 10 seconds and invert onto a serving plate.

My only notes on this would be that I don't have a double boiler, so melted the chocolate in the microwave and that worked just fine. Also, patience is a virtue! I didn't let it chill in the refrigerator as long as it should have because I wanted it NOW! Wait... it will come out of the pan more smoothly if you do. I learned the hard way, so don't make my mistakes. :)

And finally, it's VERY chocolate-y, so consider adding a little bit of other flavor - I drizzled a bit of carmel over it. Would also be good with whipped cream, ice cream, or some kind of fruit / fruit glaze. Enjoy!