Decadent Dessert Wednesday: Flourless Chocolate Orange Cake

This dessert is my favorite standby. When I am trying to make a dessert to wow the masses at a dinner party but am short on time and/or want to exert minimal effort this is the first dessert that comes to mind.

I jotted down this recipe while in the library browsing through the cookbook titled  All the Presidents' Pastries: Twenty-Five Years in the White House, A Memoir by Roland Mesnier & Christian Malard. While looking through the ingredients I realized that I normally carried all of these ingredients in my pantry except for the orange, which was easy enough to purchase and/or omit. So here it is:

Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks (170 g) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
flour, for dusting
6 ounces (170 g) bittersweet chocolate
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (220 g) sugar
zest of one large orange
4 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
1/2 cup (55 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
candied orange peel and vanilla ice cream, to serve, optional

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
• Butter and flour a 10-inch (25-cm) round cake pan (I prefer to use a springform pan). Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, then butter and flour the parchment paper.

• Gently melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Stir the butter into the chocolate to melt, and stir until smooth.
• Remove from the double boiler and whisk the sugar and orange zest into the chocolate mixture. Add the eggs and egg yolks and whisk well.

• Sift the cocoa powder over the chocolate mixture and whisk the batter until totally smooth.
• Pour the batter into the pan and bake for approximately 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top has formed a good crust.
• Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto a serving platter. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve with candied orange peel and vanilla ice cream.

Viola!

I know, I know. My presentation could be a little better. It normally is, but it was calling my name while it was still warm and oh-so gooey, so I slapped it on a plate and snapped a quick pic. In the past, when I have made this for dinner parties, I have made them in individual ramekins and turned them out individually onto plates and dusted them with powdered sugar. I find that this presentation is more visually appealing when I present them to friends.

When I've served this my guests assume that it takes hours to prepare. Even when I try to convince them of how easy-peasy it is, they often don't belive me..... they think I'm being modest, it's funny really. It is so rich and smooth and the flavor that the orange zest adds is a pleasant surprise when all you are expecting is a chocolate flavor.

So, give it a whirl. Try different variations and have fun with it!

-L