Recipe Question: Flourless Chocolate Cake

Recipe question of the day: What do you recommend for a flourless chocolate cake recipe?

There are many versions of this gluten free recipe. Some are more crispy or silky, "fall" or hold there shape, are firmer or souffle-like, with interiors that are slightly moist or molten. Those that I like the best have a crispy exterior with a soft dense interior. The following recipes strike a nice balance of flavor and texture. Always use the best ingredients that you can. This is especially important for the chocolate. A deep, rich chocolate flavor requires a high quality chocolate of at least a 70% cocoa solid.

An informative video, good recipe, and nice plating for a Flourless Chocolate Cake can be found at the How2Heroes.com web site. How2Heroes.com is an informative site with many videos from professional chefs for home cooks and bakers. Be sure to sign up for their newsletter.

Additional Tips for this recipe:
1. A tart or cake pan with a removable bottom (like a springform pan) can be used instead of the freestanding ring. Alternately, a regular cake pan cake be used, but it is trickier to remove the cooled cake. It may be easier to cut slices and remove them from the pan one at a time. (Inverting the cake onto a flat plate, then re-inverting it onto a display play may crush the delicate crust.)
2. If you only have one mixing bowl, beat the whites with some of the sugar first, as described in the recipe. Then you can beat the yolks without cleaning the bowl. If you do it the other way around, thoroughly clean the bowl to remove any trace of the egg yolk mixture. (The remaining fat content of the yolks will keep the whites from fully whipping to a high volume.)
3. The inside of the cake ring/pan can be coated with oil and sugar, as shown in the video/recipe, or coated with butter and dusted with cocoa powder. The cocoa blends into the surface of the cake and adds additional flavor.
4. Don't over beat the egg whites. (In the video they are almost too over-beaten and dry. This makes it hard to fold into the batter evenly without leaving white streaks and lumps.)
5. It is natural for the this type of flourless chocolate cake to "fall." The edges are nice and crispy, and the middle is soft and moist. Yumm!!
6. Make the same day you are serving if possible. If you make it a day ahead the flavor will still be wonderful, but the crispy edges will soften. Still delicious.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze is found on the Whole Foods web site. This is a firmer cake that does not fall as much. The rich chocolate glaze provides a beautiful lustrous presentation with an additional flavor and texture element.

For another delicious ganache covered cake, try the Queen Mother Cake, found on Saveur.com.

Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake can be made in a blender! Find it at Healthy Blender Recipes. From the About page: "... recipes are wheat-free, gluten-free, refined sugar free and vegetarian. The majority of the recipes are vegan, dairy-free, and soy-free." The Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake is vegetarian, soy free and gluten free. Special ingredients include fair trade coffee, ground hazelnut meal, and agave nectar. The picture alone makes me want to get the blender out.

Related articles online:
Pie Pans vs. Tart Pans at finecooking.com.
Springform pan, definitionn at whatscookingamerica.net

I hate spending time (sometimes weeks!) trying to find ingredients. Here are some hard to find items related to this article from Amazon.com:

• Kaiser Bakeware Basic Tinplate Nested Springform Pans, Set of 3 
• Norpro Silicone 9 Inch Springform Pan with Glass Base
• Bob's Red Mill All-Natural Hazelnut Meal/Flour, 14-Ounce Packages (Pack of 4)
• Cafe Altura Organic Coffee, Sumatran Dark Roast, Whole Bean, 32-Ounce Bag
• Madhava Agave Nectar 100% Pure Organic Sweetener, Amber 11.75 fl oz (333 g)
• Dark 85% Chocolate Organic (10 Bars) 3.50 OuncesDark 85% Chocolate Organic (10 Bars) 3.50 OuncesDark 85% Chocolate Organic (10 Bars) 3.50 OuncesDark 85% Chocolate Organic (10 Bars) 3.50 OuncesDark 85% Chocolate Organic (10 Bars) 3.50 OuncesDark 85% Chocolate Organic (10 Bars) 3.50 Ounces
• The Green & Black's Organic Ultimate Chocolate Recipes: The New Collection
• Dagoba Organic Chocolate Bars, Eclipse, 2-Ounce Bars (Pack of 12) 

Best Recipe: Payard's Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies

There is a wonderful French-style bakery a few miles from my home. One of my favorite treats is their flourless chocolate cookie. It has a crispy cracked crust with tiny chocolate chips in the soft, chewy center - Yum!! When I asked about the type of cookie, I was told that it was a meringue. Hmmm, I thought. Meringue? These did not look like the tasty little meringue's like those on Joy of Baking, or "Mom's Chocolate Chip Meringue" cookies on SmittenKitchen. These are very tasty, but not the kind of cookie I was looking for.

After several hours of searching on Epicurious.com, Food Network.com, and Google, for meringue cookie recipes without finding what I was looking for,  it occurred to me that I needed a different approach. I changed the search terms from "chocolate meringue" to "flourless chocolate" cookie. Now I had a new set of recipes to sort. After several minutes of skimming result pages it became obvious that the number one recipe that was referenced the most was famous Chef François Payard's Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies. This was it - my search was over.

Oh, are these delicious!This has now become my go-to cookie for fast and wonderful cookies that get raves every time they are served. For those of you in NY, go to Payard’s Upper East Side pâtisserie and buy a few dozen for yourself. If you happened to buy Payard's latest book last year, it is featured  in Chocolate Epiphany: Exceptional Cookies, Cakes, and Confections for Everyone.Tasty treats can also be found on his online e-Boutique.

For those of you like me, who live far from NY, you can find this cookie recipe, and links to related articles, online in the New York Magazine article, Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies, April 13, 2008.

I have made these cookies a dozen times in the last 2 months for family and gifts, with toasted walnuts and pecans, tiny bittersweet chocolate bits, and plain. They are always very good. If you are not familiar with this style of recipe, it doesn't look like it will work with the ingredients called for. Persevere, they are wonderful.

New Finds: Deodorized Cocoa Butter, Writing Spoon, World Wide Vanilla Beans

Intriguing items have been catching my attention in various blog articles this week: deodorized cocoa butter, a stainless steel writing spoon, World Wide Vanilla Beans.

Image via Wikipedia

Deodorized cocoa butter:

I was totally fascinated by the idea of alternative chocolates as presented in the article Like Ketchup for Chocolate, posted by Dave Arnold. Noted in the article, for purposes where you want the silky feel of chocolate, but not the scent, deodorized cocoa butter is needed. Create a silky delight with the scent and flavor of your choice, a signature couverture.

After a quick Google search, I found an informative supplier: Cocoa Supply, South Hackensack, NJ.

"Deodorized cocoa butter is used in recipes where you don't want to add the strong cocoa flavor and aroma that Natural Cocoa Butter has. Widely used in the cosmetic industry, it is great for creams and balms, as well as any recipe where you want to blend other flavors."

I have not ordered from Cocoa Supply, but they are now on my wish list, along with a Santha wet grinder.

Writing Spoon:

While reading blog articles about molecular gastronomy, and following up on resources sited, I came across a most interesting spoon: a stainless steel spoon with a tip that resembles a calligrapher's pen nib. This remarkable spoon can be found on Le Sanctuaire.com, where a short video of the spoon in artistic motion can be viewed.

Writing Spoon description: "An innovative design from Julia Mariscal, each piece is hand-made of 18/10 stainless steel. This spoon has a tip that resembles that of a fountain pen. Just dip it in coffee, chocolate, or sauce, and use it for writing. Great for the table and also for plating in the kitchen! Dishwasher-safe. Made in Spain."

World Wide Vanilla Beans:

Image via Wikipedia

I have used and been delighted with Madagascar vanilla beans, Tahitian vanilla extract, and Mexican vanilla beans. Previously, I had not heard of those from Uganda, India and other places until recently. The Boston Vanilla Bean Company sells several varieties including Uganda vanilla beans and Indonesia vanilla beans. Beanilla.com additionally has vanilla beans from Tonga and India. The product descriptions provide insight into the differences between the various types.

Example description of the Organic Indonesian vanilla bean from Beanilla.com:

"Our 100% Certified Organic Indonesian Vanilla Beans are sweet with a unique woody flavor. The flavor is perfect for richer deserts and recipes that call for chocolate, caramel, or other deep flavors. They are very plump, pliable and have a flavor similar to our Indian vanilla variety. These vanilla beans are Australian Certified Organic (ACO), which means that you can ensure that these vanilla beans were produced in harmony with nature, keeping harmful chemicals out of our land, water and air.

Length: 16-17cm (approx. 6-7 inches)
Color: Very Dark Brown/Black
Place of Origin: Indonesia
Botanical Name: Vanilla Planifolia, Organic
Amount: 1 Whole Vanilla Bean
Flavor: sweet, woody, and a hint of smoke"

I'll keep looking for interesting items to share. Disclaimer: I do not work for these companies. These are my observations and found examples.