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.