Chocolate Truffle Cake

Winter is "birthday/anniversary season" in our house.  It starts at the end of November, when Abby's birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving.  Our wedding anniversary is in mid December and my birthday is on Christmas.  Then we have daughters' birthdays just after New Year, on Valentine's Day and on the 2nd of March.  Bruce's birthday is mid-February and both of my parents birthdays, plus both of his siblings have birthdays in there as well.  So along with the REGULARLY SCHEDULED BIG HOLIDAYS,
we celebrate all of our birthdays from the end of November until March 2nd.  So I am posting dessert recipes as you all begin your New Year Resolutions to eat more healthy.  Sorry!!!  Save this for when you are not eating as healthy; like your summer birthday.

We get tired of birthday cake (really any sweets after the long holiday season) so I have fruit tart.  Some of us choose just ice cream and some pie.  Rachel chose to celebrate her birthday with this rich (once a year) Chocolate Truffle Cake.  It really is just a flourless cake.
It's easy to make and has only 5 ingredients; 6 if you count the raspberry sauce.

Don't skip the pan preparation or your cake will not come out......EVER.  I lent a pan once to a friend to make this cake and she returned it with dimples and dents all over the bottom of the pan after trying to bang the cake out with knife handles and who knows what else.  She never did get the cake out in one piece and I had to throw the pan away.  It was pretty amazing looking but so out of shape it was unusable.

I like to strain my eggs after beating them to remove the chalazae ( the little twisty white things that center the yolk in the shell).  They will ruin the smooth texture of the cake but you can leave them in if you want.

Your batter will be grainy at first ( like a brownie ) but keep whisking and the sugar will melt and 

the batter will become smooth like this after a bit.

Pour your batter into the pan and smooth the top.  I like to give the pan a few "whacks" on the counter to bring any air bubbles up to the surface before baking.  

Excuse the poor lighting.  It was dark!!! All of my photos need some better lighting.  You can put a candle in it for "The Birthday" (and you might want to center your cake a bit better than I did.

I serve this with a sauce made from my homegrown raspberries (albeit frozen at this time of year) and some unsweetened whipped cream.

You'll only need a small piece.  This is rich, flourless cake!

Chocolate Truffle Cake

8 ounces of dark sweet or semi-sweet chocolate

1 cup of butter, room temperature and cut into tablespoons

1 ½ cups of granulated sugar

5 eggs, beaten until foamy

Ganache:

12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate

1 cup of heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350º F.

Prepare an 8-inch cake pan.  Out of parchment paper, draw and cut a circle for the bottom of the pan.  Measure the sides of the pan and cut strips to completely cover the sides of the pan plus 1 inch for overlap.  Butter the bottom and sides of the pan lightly.  Push the strips against the side of the pan, overlapping the ends slightly.  Push the circle into the bottom and smooth it out.  Make sure the parchment strips and circle completely line the pan.

Cake:

Melt the chocolate and stir until smooth.  Remove from the heat and cool for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the butter, bit by bit; beat with a wire whisk until smooth and incorporated.  Add the sugar, beating 1 minute with the wire whisk.  Add the eggs and beat until the batter is well mixed.  Pour into the pan and set the pan into a slightly larger pan.  Pour hot water into the larger pan so it is about 1 inch deep. 

Bake for about 1 ½ hours until the cake is cooked through.  Cool for 1 hour.  The cake should fall in the middle. 

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. 

Ganache:

Boil the cream and take it the pan off the heat.  Add the chocolate, stirring until the chocolate is melted.  Refrigerate it until it is spreadable.  I do this while the cake is cooling. 

Invert the cake onto a plate and remove the parchment.

Spread the ganache on top and sides of the cake and refrigerate it until serving.

Take the cake out of the refrigerator about 20 minutes before serving and put a pool of raspberry sauce under a slice of drizzle some on top of a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream.

Raspberry sauce (optional):

Put about 4 cups of raspberries (fresh or frozen) into a pan.  Add about ¼ cup of water.  Heat until boiling.  Cook for a few minutes and then strain through a mesh strainer, pushing the pulp through but leaving the seeds in the strainer. Discard seeds and add sugar as desired.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

*This sauce is great over any cake and even poured over fresh fruit.  I serve it over breakfast grapefruit.