Flourless Chocolate & Guinness Cake on St. Valentine's Day

It all started at the Periodicals section of our local Barnes&Noble. I opened Food Network Magazine Special Chocolate issue, and I just could not put it down. The recipe for Towering Flourless Chocolate Cake looked so good! It asked for lots of chocolate and also some Guinness beer, both Dave’s favorite so that very minute I knew what I would make for my husband on St. Valentine’s Day. 

Last year I had kept it low key making just heart-shaped cookies so this year I was thinking about treating him to something unusual.

The cake consists of two parts - a cake itself and a meringue. To make a long story short, I should admit that the meringue part didn’t work out for me. I must have done something wrong. The cake failed on the presentation part (I had to substitute meringue for some chocolate sauce) but it was absolutely delicious. A little too bitter for me - I know that dark chocolate is good for you but my heart and my taste buds do belong to milk and white ones. The sauce however added to the sweet part of the final product. Dave liked it and he could not believe it contained some of his favorite beer. 

The cake itself was very easy to make, and was perfectly baked in 35 min and has a great rich chocolate flavor. If you are a chocoholic, this recipe is just for you. I am going to give this recipe another try and win on the meringue part. So far I am sharing the original Food Network recipe and the photo of what I managed to achieve this time. 

Towering Flourless Chocolate Cake (Food Network recipe) 

Ingredients (serve 8-10)

For the cake:

• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for the pan
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 6 large eggs
• 3/4 cup turbinado sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup stout beer (such as Guinness)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the meringue:

• 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Put the bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the bowl touch the water). Stir until the chocolate melts, then remove the bowl from the pan.
3. Put the eggs, turbinado sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set the bowl over the same pan of simmering water and whisk until the mixture is warm, about 2 minutes. Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer; beat with the whisk attachment on medium speed until tripled in volume, about 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, bring the beer and vanilla to a low boil in a saucepan. Reduce the mixer speed to low; beat in the beer mixture, then the melted chocolate, until combined, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in the butter until incorporated.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs, about 35 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack 1 hour, then run a knife around the edge of the pan and remove the ring. Let cool completely.
6. Make the meringue: Microwave the chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second intervals, stirring, until the chocolate melts.
7. Whisk the granulated sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar, salt and 1/3 cup water in a heatproof bowl. Put the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water; beat with a handheld mixer on low speed, then gradually increase the speed to high and beat until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Remove the bowl from the pan; continue beating until the meringue is cool and fluffy. Fold in the vanilla, then fold in the melted chocolate until swirled. Spread the meringue on the cake.

You can also find the recipe and the right corresponding picture here. 

We had the cake as a dessert after a nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant. But what really surprised me was my breakfast made by my honey and brought to bed with some flowers. Isn’t it cute? 

Hope you all had a great St. Valentine’s Day.