My Kind of Idiot Cake – Flourless Chocolate Cake

My eldest brother, Haider, is a pretty cool guy. Am I biased because he is my brother? Of course not, don’t be silly. Pfft. He also makes my love of chocolate seem like an occasional indulgence. Let’s just say cereal and granola are not really his idea of a good breakfast. Once upon a time I made him a batch of brownies that drove me NUTS. It would not bake and after an hour in the oven I gave up. I ended up pulling the gooey mass out of the oven and was strongly considering tossing it, but the logistics of throwing hot brownies away seemed a little daunting. Turns out that the gooey mess with its crackly top was according to him the most delicious thing I had ever made. Its deep chocolate flavour seemed to get better with every decadent mouthful and the wafer thin subtly crunchy layer on top made it pure magic. No matter what I did I could never make it again. Clearly I did something very wrong/right that day and could never figure it out.

When I started making David Lebovitzs flourless ‘idiot’ cake (original post here) I did not think I would be taken back to my teenage self beaming from the praise of an adored older brother, but folks, we have a winner. The paper thin crackly layer, the luscious chocolate rolling in my mouth, this truly is a dessert my brother would love. The good news is that now I can actually make it again.. and again.. and again. Oh and the really good news? That it is SO easy. I think it took me 15 minutes, and that accounts for time I may have spent ‘cleaning’ the spatula with the chocolate on it. It literally is melt chocolate and butter, whisk eggs and sugar, combine. Bake. Let this be our little secret okay? Next time I make it I am going to doll it up with berries and crème fraiche and pretend like I spent the entire day making it. Psst.. I do apologize for the sub par pictures, I made this at night not expecting to want to blog about it, but then I thought how selfish of me to keep this to my self, what if David Lebovitz had done that etc etc 🙂 Chocolate Idiot Cake Adapted by David Lebovitz from Ready for Dessert (Ten Speed Press)

• 10 ounces (290 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 7 ounces (200 g) butter, salted or unsalted, cut into pieces
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup (200 g) sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Butter a 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan and dust it with cocoa powder, tapping out any excess. Wrap the outside of the pan with foil unless you are 100% positive that no water will leak through the water bath  I have a Paderno glass bottomed spingform and I always wrap that baby up. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler (or microwave), stirring occasionally, until smooth. Remove from heat. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar, then whisk in the melted chocolate mixture until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan and cover the top of the pan snugly with a sheet of foil (I may have forgotten to do that – yummy anyway!) Put the springform pan into a larger baking pan, such as a roasting pan, and add enough hot water to the baking pan to come about halfway up to the outside of the cake pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. You’ll know the cake is done when it feels just set, like quivering chocolate pudding. If you gently touch the center, your finger should come away clean. Lift the cake pan from the water bath and remove the foil. Let cake cool completely on a cooling rack. Serve thin wedges of this very rich cake at room temperature, with creme anglaise, ice cream, or whipped cream. Storage: This Chocolate Idiot Cake can be wrapped and chilled in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. Note: I know I have not posted a lot of Pakistani/Indian food lately – will fix that soon!