So any dessert that starts out with “1 lb. chocolate” has to be good, right? Right! Tonight my best friend Amanda and her husband Travis came over for dinner and I decided to give this dessert a shot. I think it is safe to say that everyone really enjoyed it. I was concerned before serving it that it wouldn’t be sweet enough, but the raspberry sauce is a perfect accompaniment to this not-so-sweet chocolate cake. I think the sauce was my favorite part of the whole thing, but that’s probably just because I love raspberries so much.
I used bittersweet chocolate for the cake, and opted not to use the raspberry liqueur in the sauce but otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. I did run my sauce through a mesh sieve to remove the seeds for a smoother and prettier result. Delicious!
Chocolate Decadence
Ingredients:
For the raspberry sauce:
2 ½ cups fresh or thawed frozen unsweetened raspberries
½ cup superfine sugar
¼ cup framboise or other raspberry-flavored liqueur
For the cake:
1 lb. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
10 Tbs. (1 ¼ stick) unsalted butter
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
whipped cream, for serving
Directions:
To make the raspberry sauce, place the raspberries, sugar and framboise, if using, in a blender or in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Puree until smooth. If you prefer a seedless sauce, pass the puree through a sieve.
To make the cake, position a rack in the middle of an oven and preheat to 425ºF. Butter an 8 or 9-inch springform pan or a layer cake pan. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper or waxed paper cut to fit precisely. Butter the paper and dust with flour; tap out any excess.
Place the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl or the top pan of a double boiler. Set over a pan of gently simmering water but not touching the water. Stir occasionally until melted and combined completely. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl. Using an electric mixer set on high speed, beat until light, fluffy and tripled in volume, 5 to 10 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the flour. Using a rubber spatula, fold one-third of the egg mixture into the chocolate to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg mixture, taking care not to deflate the batter. Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for exactly 15 minutes. Let cool completely to room temperature. Do not refrigerate or the cake will stick to the pan. Invert the cake onto a flat serving plate and peel off the paper.
Cut into small wedges and serve each wedge atop some of the raspberry sauce. Top with whipped cream. Makes one 8 or 9-inch cake.
Source: Williams Sonoma
