You might say that this is my season of chocolate – since the nip in the air arrived in Boston, I’ve been baking up chocolate in cupcake, brownie, and cake form. I’m sharing this recipe for a gorgeous Flourless Chocolate Ganache Cake that will certainly impress guests at your next holiday gathering.

Recipe

Ingredients

Cake

12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chopped (I used semi sweet chocolate chunks from Trader Joe’s) – this amounts to a little more than 1 package, so I usually buy two to have enough for the ganache too.
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter)
1/4 tsp fine salt
6 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Ganache

6 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup or 180 mL heavy cream (I used heavy whipping cream)

Topping

10 strawberries, ~7 sliced thinly for decoration, ~3 whole to fill center of the bundt cake

Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Homemade Whipped Cream

1 cup or 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp powdered confectioners’ sugar

Instructions:

*Cake & Whipped Cream recipes adapted from Food Network, Ganache recipe from NY Times Cooking*

Total Baking Time: 1 h 25 m

Prep Time: 30 min before baking, 15 min for toppings during baking or after cooling

10-12 servings

Cake

Preheat oven to 325 F
Thoroughly spray your pan with non-stick cooking spray, or use your preferred oil/butter. I used a bundt pan because it is what I had, but I also like the way it looks for presentation!
Using a 6 quart or similar pot, fill it with about 1-1.5 inches depth of water and turn the heat to medium.
Place a heatproof bowl (I used a 1.5 quart glass pyrex) in the pot – it should be suspended in the pot and barely not touch the water. This mimics a double-boiler.
Add chocolate, butter, and salt to the heatproof bowl and stir until melted. This may take about 5 minutes or so. I stir with a silicone-coated whisk.
Beat eggs and sugar with a mixer until light and thick on higher speed for about 8-10 minutes.
Fold the melted chocolate into the whipped eggs until evenly combined. I used a silicone spatula for this.
Pour batter into the non-stick coated pan and bake for about 1 hr and 25 minutes until the center is wet but not gooey, and inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Remove cake from the oven and cool on rack.
Prepare ganache, whipped cream, and sliced strawberries to top the cake at the end of baking time or while the cake cools.

Ganache:

This is the easiest and delicious. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. I achieve this by starting at medium and then lowering to low/simmer heat within a few minutes. It should just begin to froth.
Add chocolate to a heat-safe bowl and pour hot cream over the chocolate
Wait 15 seconds for the cream to settle over and warm the chocolate, then use a whisk to combine until smooth
You can use the ganache right away and it will set over the cake nicely

Whipped Cream

Whisk cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until fluffy – this takes about 10 minutes or a little less on medium to high speed with a standing mixer

Baking Bloopers

No one is perfect. Thank goodness, this cake is forgiving.

I thought I had a springform pan, but it turned out I only had a bundt pan, so I made do. I baked this the afternoon before our early Thanksgiving lunch this year. Although I loosened it from the pan with a knife before I left it to cool and set overnight (out of convenience – not required), when it came time to flip the cake over, it broke into three big pieces.

Not to worry – this cake is forgiving because the deep, velvety blanket of ganache can beautifully cover a multitude of accidents. Like a child’s simple jigsaw puzzle, I put the ring of chocolate cake pieces next to one another and sealed it with ganache – no one ever had to know, and I only share this so that you too can be at ease *just in case.*

Doubling as a Thanksgiving dessert and birthday cake, the visual appeal of this dessert is matched by a just-right richness that leaves you wanting more.