Flourless Chocolate Cake

I have heard of flourless chocolate cake for some time, but had never actually tried it.

Then, this weekend, the unthinkable happened.

I ran out of flour.

Between my normal baking and caring for my sourdough starter, I ran out of all purpose flour. I still had other varieties (bread flour, whole wheat flour, white whole wheat flour, rye flour, rice flour... yeah... no shortage of varieties...), but for baking desserts, I generally use all purpose. And that's what I didn't have.

Daddy offered to pick some up for me, since he and little miss were out doing errands while little man napped, but I decided that this was just the opportunity I needed to finally try something new.

I searched around and found several recipes, but they were all pretty similar, so, using this one as my guide, got down to work.

It's actually super straightforward.

Melt chocolate and butter.

Add sugar...

And eggs. And cocoa powder. And I added a dash of vanilla extract (because I always love vanilla) and a sprinkle of cinnamon to brighten the whole thing just a bit.

Once all of that is just combined, it goes right into a pan...

And comes out 25 short minutes later looking like this:

As you can imagine, with no flour or leavening agent to speak of, this cake doesn't rise.

What it "lacks" in cake rise and fluffiness, it more than makes up for in fudgey richness.

So from now on, no flour = no worries! This is definitely a keeper.



Flourless Chocolate Cake
(slightly adapted from epicurious.com)

4 ounces chocolate, chopped (I used chocolate chips, semi sweet, and a generous 1/4 cup)
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Line the bottom of an 8-inch round cake pan with a round of parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a double boiler (or a bowl over a pot of barely-simmering water), melt the chocolate and butter. As soon as it is all melted, remove from heat and stir in sugar.
Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated.
Stir in vanilla extract.
Sift cocoa powder and cinnamon and mix until combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes.
If you have a nice serving dish, invert the cake onto it after it has cooled for about five minutes, in the pan, on a wire rack

Enjoy!