Oui, c’est vrai…It is The Best Chocolate Cake!
Many of my holiday gifts this year were for kitchen fun. Popover pans, whisks, and measuring cups were only a few of the many exhilarating toys I received. This sinfully decadent, immensely rich chocolate cake is from the Chez Panisse dessert cookbook, which I also received as a gift.
I have wanted this book for a long time, and often spent hours browsing through its 350 pages while sitting on the floor at the bookstore, avoiding the dirty looks of the floor keeper who has seen me there too many times, and insinuated with nefarious gazes that it was time for me to either buy or clear the way. I am as thrilled to not have to go there as she is not to see my face again.
I’ve been talking wonders about this cake to everybody I’ve seen or talked to lately. From my friends, Aaron and TJ—who is sadly moving to DC—to my mom in Morocco who gets so excited over the phone when we’re talking about food that I have to turn down the volume setting on the phone while holding it five centimeters away from my ear.
This a chocolate cake that I loved and consider the best chocolate cake I have ever had (after my mom’s, of course). It is the rich and dense kind you’d only enjoy at a Paris or Vienna bakery. Lindsey Shere describes it in her book as the result of combining many French recipes of gâteau au Chocolat.
The Best Chocolate Cake
6 to 8 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 cup salted butter
- 7 ounces semisweet chocolate
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- 6 eggs, at room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 3/8 cup brown sugar
- 3/8 cup cake flour
- 3 tablespoons ground almonds
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
Directions:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter an 8- or 9-inch springform pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
Step 2: Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the chocolates, stirring constantly over low heat until melted. Set aside.
Separate the eggs and beat the egg yolks and sugar to combine. While the chocolate is still warm, whisk the egg-sugar mixture into it and stir in the flour and ground almonds.
Step 3: Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat them until creamy and voluminous.
Step 4: Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture until there is no more white visible, but without deflating the egg whites. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
Step 5: The cake will crack around the edge but still be a little wiggly in the center. It will continue to cook after you take it out of the oven. Cool completely before unmolding.