Flourless chocolate cake questions

[foodisfood]

So, I found this recipe on the website I work at for flourless chocolate cake and I want to make if for my ladyfriend. Does this recipe seem good to you? I didn't get to try it... maybe help with some aspects of it?

1. Could you suggest a good chocolate to get?
2. Any good variations? Maybe using some sort of raspberry sauce?
3. Is it possible to mix in any sort of jelly or jam product or does that sound silly? I really like chocolate and raspberry (if you couldn't tell).

HELP!

Thanks to everyone who responds!

<3 steven j.

 

[Sedagive]

1. Valrhona or Scharfenberger are both excellent chocolate.
2. A nice raspberry sauce would be delicious with this cake.
3. I wouldn't try to mix any jam or jelly into the cake itself. Better to go with a sauce.

The recipe looks good and I'll bet it's really tasty. If I were going to make this for a "ladyfriend", I'd probably make a practice one first, just to make sure I have the technique down.

 

[merstar]

Overall, the recipe's balance of ingredients sounds good, although a little too sweet, at least for me, but I like my chocolate cakes bittersweet. However, the instructions are not very good. First of all, the cake pan size is not indicated. Secondly, the oil and sugar for coating the pan sound weird - I always do a light coat of butter, which is pretty standard, and dust with cocoa powder (you can dust with flour, but cocoa powder is a better choice). There are a few other spots in the instructions that are not thorough, but if you're a seasoned baker, you don't have to worry - just fill in the gaps. Lastly, check the baking time earlier than stated.

Scharffen Berger 70%, Ghirardelli 60% (haven't tried their 70% yet), and Trader Joe's Swiss 71% are all good choices.

I agree with Sedagive and wouldn't mix any jam or jelly into the cake. If you want a raspberry flavor in the cake itself, add a little raspberry liqueur, such as Framboise. Another thing you could do is split the cake into two layers, and fill with a raspberry mousse.

 

[QUEEN-GUINEVERE]

Hi, Merstar
I have a 5 star flourless chocolate cake recipe for you, but at the moment cannot find it! (puppy knocked over the recipe file! ) Also have a recipe for the white chocolate raspberry, but that contains approx. 1 cup of flour because white chocolate really is not "chocolate", so it needs "help" along the way!

I would not put raspberry sauce or jam, jelly, or filling, or any other fruit IN the cake and would suggest using that for serving, as a sauce or decoration for plating. Besides raspberry, orange is another flavoring that goes extremely well with chocolate. You can use Grand Marnier, which makes an AWESOME cake! There is the suggestion of layering the cake and using a filling or mousse. While this may be fine in other cakes, in this cake, you cannot do this. This flourless cake, or any other flourless cake recipe, can NOT be layered.

There is a reason for coating the springform pan for this cake with the oil and sugar. BTW, the size is either a 9 or 10 inch, your choice. The reason for using the oil and sugar is this: There is NO levening in this cake (no baking powder or soda), except that the eggs will act as the levening. You will beat them until they are light, foamy, and triple thier volume. There is a reason for doing this! Then, when you pour this batter into the oil and sugar prepped pan, the sugar acts like the rungs of a ladder, allowing the batter to "climb" the sides of the pan, thus, giving your cake height! So, no subbing with using cocoa powder to prep this pan! As a pastry chef, when my students would return for the next class with the cake they were scheduled to make, it would amaze me at the vast variations of the cake which would return!!! Not one of them were the same! Going around the room, questioning each student what they did to the recipe, answers would be just as different....no, I did the "regular" way, shortening and flour.....no, I used butter and flour....I used no-stick spray...etc.... Well, there you go! There are the reasons for your failures!

So, follow the directions as they are written! I'll do my best to get that recipe to you later today, ok?, so check back here later this afternoon!

Happy Baking!

 

[merstar]

Hi, Merstar
I have a 5 star flourless chocolate cake recipe for you, but at the moment cannot find it! (puppy knocked over the recipe file! ) Also have a recipe for the white chocolate raspberry, but that contains approx. 1 cup of flour because white chocolate really is not "chocolate", so it needs "help" along the way!

I would not put raspberry sauce or jam, jelly, or filling, or any other fruit IN the cake and would suggest using that for serving, as a sauce or decoration for plating. Besides raspberry, orange is another flavoring that goes extremely well with chocolate. You can use Grand Marnier, which makes an AWESOME cake! There is the suggestion of layering the cake and using a filling or mousse. While this may be fine in other cakes, in this cake, you cannot do this. This flourless cake, or any other flourless cake recipe, can NOT be layered.

There is a reason for coating the springform pan for this cake with the oil and sugar. BTW, the size is either a 9 or 10 inch, your choice. The reason for using the oil and sugar is this: There is NO levening in this cake (no baking powder or soda), except that the eggs will act as the levening. You will beat them until they are light, foamy, and triple thier volume. There is a reason for doing this! Then, when you pour this batter into the oil and sugar prepped pan, the sugar acts like the rungs of a ladder, allowing the batter to "climb" the sides of the pan, thus, giving your cake height! So, no subbing with using cocoa powder to prep this pan! As a pastry chef, when my students would return for the next class with the cake they were scheduled to make, it would amaze me at the vast variations of the cake which would return!!! Not one of them were the same! Going around the room, questioning each student what they did to the recipe, answers would be just as different....no, I did the "regular" way, shortening and flour.....no, I used butter and flour....I used no-stick spray...etc.... Well, there you go! There are the reasons for your failures!

So, follow the directions as they are written! I'll do my best to get that recipe to you later today, ok?, so check back here later this afternoon!

Happy Baking!

Hi Queen Guinevere,
I think you meant your post to be directed to the original poster, "foodisfood." I have lots of flourless chocolate cakes that I've been baking for years, so as much as I appreciate your offer, I think the original poster might benefit more from your cake recipe. But thank you anyway!

That's very interesting about the oil/sugar coating - I've never seen that before. I've always used butter/cocoa powder, and have had good height with my cakes, but will have to try the oil/sugar in the future, and compare the results. Thanks for the info.

 

[foodisfood]

Thanks for the help guys!

Sadly, I had some trouble with the eggs. I couldn't get them to fluff. I think I just did the timing wrong or something... that and I only had a whisk to beat them. At any rate, the cake was not fluffy, and the worst part of it all was that my oven is slowly dying so it does not cook things fully and the center of my cake was mushy and the outside was crispy.

needless to say I am going to have to give it another shot.

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[africhef]

your cake is not a total flop. revive it with some crushed nuts and a little or a lot of cointreau roll into little balls place in freezer then dip into some tempered chocolate. truffles that is what i do with all my ends and left over cakes, but i store it all in the freezer and add a little cointreau every time. so by the time christmas rolls around i have truffles for my friends.

 

[PieSusan]

Search for Maida Heatter's Countess Marie Toulouse Lautrec's Flourless Chocolate Cake. It is the cake you find in restaurants. It is in her Book of Great Chocolate Desserts and is decorated with raspberries and chocolate curls. I have made it many times. Since the main flavor is chocolate, use a good quality one and one that you like to eat. It is dead simple to make. Like most chocolate desserts, make it the day before the night you hope to serve it. I believe chocolate desserts taste best the second day.