It’s Passover! That means many of us Jews don’t eat anything with flour for eight days. But it doesn’t mean no dessert; we just eat flourless desserts instead! Flourless chocolate cake is hands down one of my favorite desserts, regardless of whether it’s Passover or not. It’s just like normal cake except gooier and fudgier, the consistency of the perfect brownie.

Yield: One 9-inch cake; serves 8 to 10 people

Ingredients

• ⅔ cup (1 stick + 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
• 6 ½ ounces dark chocolate (70% is ideal)
• ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 eggs
• ¾ cup granulated sugar

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit on convection bake (or 340 if you don’t have a convection option).
2. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter the paper.
3. Melt the butter, chocolate and salt in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted, then remove from heat.
4. Separate the eggs and put the yolks into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add half of the sugar and whisk until the mixture is pale and fluffy and has doubled in volume.
5. Fold the yolks into the melted chocolate until the mixture is marbley and not fully incorporated.
6. Wash out the electric mixer bowl and dry thoroughly. Add the egg whites and remaining sugar and whisk on high speed until medium-soft peaks form. Don’t overwhip! The consistency should be similar to the chocolate and yolk mixture.
7. Fold the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture until just mixed, then pour the mixture into the pan.
8. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the top of the cake is just starting to crack. Place the pan on a wire cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes. Don’t be alarmed if the cake sinks; it’s supposed to.
9. Remove the sides of the pan and serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Recipe adapted from The Violet Bakery Cookbook by Claire Ptak

See previous baking blogs here.