About Flourless Chocolate Cake

There are three different stories about how the Flourless Chocolate Cake was invented. Two common threads of all the stories are that it was invented on the Isle of Capri, and the cake was an accident.  A woman making the cake for American gangsters forgot to add flour, or a sous pastry chef working on no sleep mistook flour for cocoa powder.  The last of the legends has a baker completely messing up the recipe and adding the almonds instead of flour.  Whatever mistake was made to create it, we should all be glad it happened. Restaurants serve it with a scoop of vanilla gelato, pastry shops serve it in a variety of ways.  The richest way was to serve it with a layer of ganache on top, then a sprinkling of the requisite powdered sugar.

Ingredients

4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus additional for sprinkling

Method

Preheat oven to 375°F and butter an 8-inch round baking pan. Line bottom with a round of wax paper and butter paper.

Chop chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler or metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until smooth. Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture.

Add eggs and whisk well. Sift 1/2 cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven 25 minutes, or until top has formed a thin crust. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes and invert onto a serving plate.