as you may have gathered, i like a lot of the folks i work with…good peoples, i tell’ya. there are, however, some that really stand out– one of the absolute sweetest people i have ever met celebrated her birthday last week, but since we were at conference, we shall celebrate on monday. so, happy birthday, sherrin! you truly are an amazing, strong, caring, hard-working gal who deserves amazing things! since this is a cake, and i can’t very well slice into it in advance without ruining it, i am really hoping that this cake is amazing…
her husband, geoff, told me that she loves really indulgent chocolate cakes, so my first thought was molten lava cake, however that is best served right out of the oven. i considered making them on my lunch break and bringing them in nice and hot, but these days i don’t get to take lunch everyday, and usually when i do it is pretty late in the day, so i decided on flourless chocolate cake. i really have no idea why i have held out so long, as this was incredibly easy to make! there were so many options out there, but this one got great reviews on allrecipes, so i gave it a go. i would typically be tempted to make a raspberry glaze, but i was informed that although she loves berries (she is the #1 fan of my blueberry treats), she likes her chocolate sans fruit. i topped it with a very basic chocolate ganache, which made way too much…i didn’t want to waste it, so i ended up piling it on thick. pro: lots of extra chocolaty goodness; con: not as smooth and glossy as i would prefer. let’s get a nice close look at that massive amount of ganache:
Recipe, from AllRecipes:
cake-
Ingredients
- 4 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch round cake pan, and dust with cocoa powder.
- In the top of a double boiler over lightly simmering water, melt chocolate and butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Slices can also be reheated for 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave before serving.
ganache-
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 10 (1 ounce each) squares semisweet chocolate (if you don’t have them, you can use a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips)
Directions
- Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Combine chocolate with butter in the top of a double boiler, over simmering water. Stir frequently until melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
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AHH, i love ganache! I use a similar recipe for my angel food cake. One of these days I will be in on a Monday.
lol, yeah, seriously, you need to plan your office visits around my baking [o; i do bake on other days tho, so hopefully they align!
I can’t wait! Geoff told me about your tweet! I still haven’t gotten on twitter yet! You are so thoughtful Sharon! I am so excited! xoxo
I was just at my desk eating my lunch and decided to take a look on your site. Now my mouth is drooling for some of your cake. I read the directions and it sounds really easy. I will have to try it. I did make the lemon pound cake (that was amazing) so I will have some of that when I get home before I try the cake. I wish I worked in your office – lots of good treats going on there! YUM
You are right–Sherrin is one of the world’s sweetest people. Thank you for indulging her!
I just made this, it’s delicious! My only problem was I didn’t grease my pan enough and it stuck. We just ate it out of the pan so it wasn’t a problem!
that is some good thinking! [o; glad you enjoyed it!
if you haven’t discovered parchment rounds yet, i highly recommend looking for them at a store near you…though they don’t help with the sides