Flourless Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce

Knowing I wouldn’t have lots of time to prepare dessert for Easter Dinner, I whipped through my tried and true recipes for one that is easy, but looks like you slaved for hours. Aha! This cake fit the bill. It’s a rich, delicious flourless chocolate cake, with an easy caramel sauce that you drizzle over it. When Phillis Carey made this she talked about how easy it was to make. It truly is – you melt chocolate and butter, then combine with sugar, cocoa and eggs. That’s IT. Pour it into a greased and parchment bottomed springform pan and bake. Done. Then you just have to make the easy caramel sauce, which can be made up to a day ahead.

The flavor? Rich chocolate, no question. Low calorie? No, certainly not. Delicious? Oh yes. You need ice cream on the side, though, to cut the richness. And you can easily cut smaller servings to feed about 16 people if you need to. A small, very small, wedge is sufficient. We fed 9 on Easter and there were still 5 or 6 slices leftover. And I think the slices were too big for a dessert following a rich dinner.

You’ll be very happy you tried this. I’ve made this several times, always to good reviews. When it was first served to me at the cooking class, Phillis told us it’s better warm – so if you can, re-warm the cake in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes. If you have leftovers, don't refrigerate them. They'll keep at room temp for about 4 days, sealed up well.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce
Recipe By: Phillis Carey, cooking instructor
Serving Size : 10 (or up to about 16)
CHOCOLATE CAKE:
1 cup unsalted butter
8 ounces semisweet chocolate -- ScharfenBerger preferred
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder -- sifted
6 large eggs
CARAMEL SAUCE:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup heavy cream -- at room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 T. rum or 2 tsp vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 10-inch springform pan and line bottom with parchment paper.
2. Stir butter and chocolate in a 4-quart saucepan over low heat until melted.
3. In a large bowl mix sugar and cocoa powder. Add eggs; whisk until blended. Whisk in chocolate-butter mixture and pour batter in prepared pan. Bake about 40-45 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake in the pan, on a rack.
4. Caramel Sauce: Stir sugar, water and lemon juice in a heavy medium saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil - without stirring - until syrup is a deep amber color, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and add the heavy cream. The mixture will bubble vigorously. Return to a low heat and stir in any bits of caramel that aren't dissolved. Add butter and run or vanilla and whisk the mixture until smooth. This can be made one day ahead.
5. Cut the cake into wedges and serve drizzled with the warm caramel sauce with a scoop of ice cream on the side. If desired, using a baking sheet, you may re-warm the wedges of cake at 350° for about 10 minutes.
Per Serving: 650 Calories; 40g Fat (52.5% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 75g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 216mg Cholesterol; 59mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain (Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 7 1/2 Fat; 4 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
Printer-friendly PDF recipe.

Regal Chocolate Sauce

As a confirmed chocoholic, I know my chocolate. And chocolate sauces. I don't buy ready-made. Why bother to buy it when you can make it so easily? Maybe twice a year I make this sauce, my favorite, Regal Chocolate Sauce, and when it's gone, it's gone. When the grandkids visit I sometimes buy the Hershey's squirt bottle, which they love. But, this sauce is far and away my favorite.

Year ago I was in a Newcomer's Club, and the group decided to publish a cookbook of members' recipes. A couple of my recipes are in the book, plus this one, from a friend I made in the club. Over the years I've tried several other variations. The Los Angeles Times did an in-depth investigation into home made chocolate sauces some years ago and I tried a couple of them. Nope. Didn't measure up in my book. I have tried recipes using heavy cream, a lot more butter, corn syrup instead of sugar, and various types of chocolate including milk. A friend shared her mother-in-law's coveted recipe. Nope. Not that one, either. Why do I bother to try all these others? I have the best recipe already. It's incredibly easy. What I like about it is that it doesn't get chalky as it ages in the refrigerator. And you can make it in the microwave in a Pyrex measuring bowl, or heat it on the range if you want to have more control. You never want to overcook pure chocolate. Then pour it into a glass containier, cool and refrigerate. Then when I need it, I merely remove the lid and heat briefly - very briefly - in the microwave, until it's just thin enough to pour and you're done.

I've even tried the recipe using Scharffen Berger chocolate, and Valrhona too. They are good, and you can certainly substitute them for the German chocolate. What is it about the German chocolate? I'd forgotten what was unique about it:

German's Chocolate dates back to 1852, when an American named Sam German created a sweet baking chocolate bar for the Baker's Chocolate Company. This new chocolate had sugar added to it, as a convenience for bakers. But that all important apostrophe and "s" were soon dropped from "German's." In 1828, Dutch chocolate maker C. J. Van Houten invented the cocoa press. This machine squeezed cocoa butter out of the beans and treated the cocoa with an alkalizing agent to improve the color and flavor. The process became known as "dutching," and cocoa processed this way is called Dutch chocolate.

So, Dutch chocolate, because of the use of an alkalizing agent is a milder form of chocolate. I'm a dark chocolate fan, so it's interesting that I prefer the milder chocolate in this sauce. And speaking of Dutch chocolate, you may not have heard about this fabulous liqueur, Vermeer Dutch Cream. It's very similar to Bailey's, but it's chocolate based rather than coffee/chocolate. It is made with Dutch chocolate. You have to seek out a retailer for it, as it's a bit hard to find. It would make a great gift to a friend who is a chocoholic, or try it yourself. (As with Bailey's, you should keep it refrigerated, and shake it up each time you intend to use it.) Note that the bottle has a Vermeer painting on the front, The Girl with a Pearl Earring, the one that inspired Susan Vreeland to write the novel about her (wonderful book, by the way, if you haven't read it). Here's a photo of the bottle, below.

So, back to chocolate sauce - try my Regal Chocolate Sauce. You can use any form of chocolate you like. Try it on a little bit of good-quality vanilla ice cream with a few toasted almonds on top. Oh yes. (Photo at top courtesy of Kraft Foods; photo at bottom from Vermeer Dutch Cream's website.)

Regal Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from a friend I met in the 1970's
Servings: 6
4 ounces German chocolate squares
3 tablespoons water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 dash salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine chocolate, water, sugar and salt. Cook and stir over low heat until sauce is smooth. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve hot or cold over ice cream. Makes 3/4 cup.
NOTES : It keeps in the refrigerator for months, and is easy to reheat (at medium power setting) in the microwave.
Per Serving: 144 Calories; 9g Fat (48.7% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 20g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 5mg Cholesterol; 65mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Fat; 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
To view a printable recipe, click on the title at top.