Flourless Chocolate Cake

I made this chocolate cake for Christmas dinner and it was delicious! I found this recipe on Epicurious and adapted it to be dairy-free, as well as gluten-free. It turns out super moist and rich, so a small piece goes a long way.

Cake
10 ounces of dark (dairy-free) chocolate
1 1/4 cups dairy-free margarine or coconut oil
10 egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 6 Tbs granulated sugar
2 tsp Mexican vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
10 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. The recipe recommends using a 10-inch springform pan, but I don't have one. Instead I used a deep baking dish that was well oiled and lined the bottom with parchment paper.

Melt the chocolate and the margarine in a double boiler until melted smooth. Then set aside to cool to lukewarm.

Beat the egg yolks and the 1/2 cup sugar until thick and pale yellow. (About 5 minutes.) Then beat in vanilla and salt. Gently fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Note: if the chocolate is too warm, you will cook the eggs and end up with a chocolate omelette. Set aside.

In a clean bowl with clean beaters, beat egg whites and remaining 6 Tbs of sugar, adding the sugar 1 Tbs at a time. Beat until soft peaks form.

Then gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture until well mixed, but still light and fluffy. Pour batter into pan.

Bake for 45 minutes and then begin checking with a cake tester. Cake will rise significantly like a souffle. Cake is done when tester comes out with moist crumbs attached. It took about an hour and ten minutes to bake tonight.

Let cake cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of the pan to loosen and then invert cake onto a plate or serving dish. The cake WILL FALL to less than half it's original height. Don't worry, this is what makes it so moist and rich!

The recipe says to let the cake cool completely and top with a chocolate ganache, but we weren't crazy about the ganache the first time. Also, the recipe calls for brandied cherries to serve on the side, but we had fresh raspberries the first time, and fresh pomegranates this time. Here is my quick recipe for the sauce.

Sauce
1 cup of fresh berries or fruit - we used raspberries or pomegranates (I like a tart fruit sauce with the sweet chocolate cake)
1 cup dark rum
1/2 cup brown sugar

Heat rum and sugar in a pan until boiling. Let boil down for a few minutes, then add fruit. Boil for just a couple minutes until fruit is soft, but not soggy. Drizzle sauce on top of a piece of cake and enjoy!