Flourless Chocolate Torte
For someone who doesn’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day - I certainly love any excuse to share a chocolate recipe! And I LOVE a flourless chocolate torte. It just FEELS like a fancy dessert. It’s so pretty when you serve it - and really - who wouldn’t love getting one for Valentine’s Day!? But the best part? It’s only 6 ingredients and you can have it prepped and baked in under an hour! WHAT!? I know. You’re so welcome.
By eliminating the flour, we seriously reduce the number of calories in this dessert - so for those of you who are still on, or back on, your New Year’s resolution, this dessert will fit right in! Focusing on the dark chocolate (hello antioxidants!), all the other ingredients are supporting cast members. Just make sure you get baker’s chocolate and not chocolate chips, they’re formulated differently and won’t work the same.
The most amount of kitchen skill you’ll need is the ability to separate eggs (hint: just flip the egg back and forth between the two halves of the shell, the white will drop out into the bowl underneath and only the yolk will remain, toss it in a separate bowl). Otherwise it’s just mixing. The whites get beaten until nice and foamy - this is what will give us SOME rise to the cake. The chocolate is melted with butter so it’s smooth. And the yolks get mixed with sugar, salt, vanilla and espresso powder! The espresso pulls double duty in this dessert. On top of being a complimentary flavor to chocolate, it helps give the cake that fudgey texture. BUT - I ran it by a pastry chef friend of mine - if you don’t like espresso, or you’re avoiding caffeine, you can swap it out for cocoa powder instead. That will give the cake even MORE chocolate flavor, but it may not be AS fudgey - it will however still be delicious.
Once your cake has baked and cooled, snag some fresh berries (which are on sale everywhere this week for this exact reason) and dust the top with powdered sugar! Slice and serve. You could also serve this up “a la mode”. Whatever you love likes, right? Personally I’ll take mine with a nice dessert wine snuggled on the couch - but that’s just me.
I hope you guys enjoy this recipe with any and EVERY one you love! Check out the video below - Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Flourless Chocolate Torte
Makes 1, 9 inch torte
YOU WILL NEED: 9 inch tart or springform pan
4oz. semi-sweet baker’s chocolate
2oz. bittersweet baker’s chocolate
1 stick (8 Tbs.) butter + more for greasing
3 eggs, separated
1/2 C. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
1/4 C. espresso powder (or sub cocoa powder)
cocoa powder for dusting
*fresh berries, powdered sugar, vanilla ice cream - optional for serving
Preheat the oven to 375°. Butter the bottom and sides of your pan. Cut an 8-inch round of parchment paper and place it in the bottom of the pan. Butter the parchment paper. Dust the pan, bottom and sides, with cocoa powder. Wrap the outside of the pan in foil and set aside.
In a heatproof bowl, combine chocolates and butter. Place bowl over a small pot of water and set over medium heat, creating a double boiler. Allow chocolate and butter to melt together until completely smooth. Set aside to cool.
In the meantime, beat egg whites until they are fluffy and the beaters leave a peak when you pull them out of the bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow. Add in salt, vanilla and espresso and mix again. Pour chocolate in and mix well.
Finally, gently fold in the egg whites with a spatula until they are just incorporated. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
Bake at 375° for 25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before removing the sides of the pan. Top with fresh berries and a dusting of powdered sugar. Serve with love ;)