Flourless Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce

I brought this dessert to a dinner party last night and it was a big hit.  The cake is very rich, so a small slice is sufficient for a portion, and the raspberry sauce is lovely.  I never would have tried this recipe (12 ounces of chocolate???), but my cousin Miriam served it to me on a visit about a year ago, and it was excellent, so I decided finally to try it myself.  The original recipe calls for a 10" cake pan, and claims to serve 16.  There were only going to be six at dinner, so I reduced the recipe by 2/3, to fit into an 8" cake pan (which is why some of the measurements below are a bit odd) and thought I'd still have plenty left over.  With 5 of the 6 of us having an extra sliver for a second serving, I had just one serving left at the end of the meal.  So, I'd say the 8" version serves 7-8 people.

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH RASPBERRY SAUCE

adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/8149/flourless-chocolate-cake-i/ and http://allrecipes.com/recipe/142149/raspberry-sauce/

 serves 7-8

CAKE (measurements for 10" cake pan version in parentheses)

1/3 c. water (1/2 cup)

rounded 1/8 t. salt (1/4 t.)

1/2 c. white sugar (3/4 cup)

12 oz. bittersweet baking chocolate (18 oz.)

10-2/3 T. unsalted butter (1 cup)

4 eggs (6)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Grease an 8" round cake pan and set aside.

In a small sauce pan, combine the water, salt, and sugar.   Heat over medium heat and stir until completely dissolved.  Set aside.

Melt the chocolate.  (Original instructions call for double boiler or microwave, but I used very low heat in a heavy saucepan, and that was fine.)  While the chocolate is melting, cut the butter into about 20 pieces.

Pour the chocolate into a bowl for mixing.  With an electric mixer, beat the butter into the chocolate, one piece at a time.  Beat in the heated sugar-water.  Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Put some water on to boil.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  (Don't worry that it fills most of the pan--it will not rise further.)  Put the cake pan into a larger pan and add boiling water halfway up the side of the cake pan.

Bake the cake in the water bath for 45 minutes.   The center will still look wet.  Leave the cake in the pan, and chill overnight in the refrigerator.  When ready to serve, unmold the cake by sitting the cake pan in hot water for 10 seconds, and then invert onto a serving plate.

RASPBERRY SAUCE

1 pint fresh raspberries (could likely be adapted for frozen berries)

1/4 cup white sugar

2 T. orange juice

2 T. cornstarch

1 cup cold water

Combine the raspberries, sugar and orange juice in a saucepan. 

Whisk the cornstarch into the cold water until smooth.  Add to the raspberry mixture in the saucepan and bring to a boil.

Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the desired consistency is reached.  The sauce will thicken further as it cools.

Puree the sauce in a blender (hand-held immersion blender works well).  Serve warm or cold.  The sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

If you have sauce left when the cake is gone, you can use it on ice cream or stirred into plain yogurt.