Flourless Chocolate Cake with Almond Sweet Cream

This flourless chocolate cake tasted as good as it looked and baking the cake was almost as easy as eating it.  If you like chocolate then you will LURVE this cake because the chocolate flavor is really intense due to the inclusion of high quality bittersweet chocolate.  I used Ghirardelli 70% Cacao Extra Bittersweet Baking Bar, which boasts 70% cacao dark chocolate.  In case you don't know, 70% cacao equals an unmistakable, highly nuanced, deep, dark chocolate flavor that veers decidedly more toward the bitter than toward the sweet. True chocolate lovers, this is the chocolate you have been looking for to punch up your favorite chocolate recipes to even higher level of scrumptiousness.

This cake was the grand finale to a fun weekend supper that we shared with our neighbors.  Usually, I would garnish a cake like this with a few berries and a dusting of cocoa powder or confectioner's sugar but I didn't have any berries at the time.  I did have half a bag of sliced almonds so I whipped up a little sweet cream sauce flavored with almond to drizzle over the cake and topped it all of with a small handful of freshly toasted almonds.  The cool, nutty cream made an amazing combination with the dense, moist, bittersweet chocolate.  In fact, I think I prefer the cream sauce to the fruit that I always used before.

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE with ALMOND SWEET CREAM
printable recipe

8 ounces best quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces (not the unsweetened kind)
1/2 pound unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract AND 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
6 eggs
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

8 ounces heavy cream
3 tablespoons confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line the bottom of a 10 inch springform pan with a buttered piece of wax paper or parchment paper, cut to fit.

Melt the chocolate and the butter in a double boiler over medium heat.  The water in the bottom of the double boiler should be barely simmering.  Stir the chocolate mixture frequently and slowly to encourage even melting.  Remove from the heat when the mixture is completely smooth.

Whisk in the sugar.

Add the vanilla extract and the 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract.

Whisk in the eggs, once at a time.

Sift over the cocoa powder and whisk until combined.

Pour batter into pan.  Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out with little moist, dense crumbs on it.  Coll cake in the pan for 15 minutes.   Remove the springform collar and invert the cake onto a plate. The top of the cake should now be on the bottom.  Carefully peel off the buttered paper. Then, invert the plate onto a baking rack so that the top of the cake is facing up.  Cool cake completely.

Pour the heavy cream into a large bowl.  Beat on high with a hand mixer until the creams thickens a lot but is still liquid.  Beat in the confectioners sugar and remaining almond extract.

To serve, cut the cake into 12 wedges and place each piece on a plate.  Drizzle each piece of cake generously with the almond sweet cream and garnish with a spoonful of toasted, sliced almonds.