Hubby was the one who suggested the flourless chocolate cake and volunteered us to make it.
So, the night before our Seder, 11PM rolls around and there is no flourless chocolate cake. There is only me watching TV and husband drinking scotch and playing online poker. Guess who ended up making this cake all by her lonesome, after having to harass him just to print out the recipe.
Normally, I would not have a problem with this at all. I actually prefer to bake by myself for the most part. However, after I followed the directions of the recipe to a T, he proceeded to tell me the myriad modifications and suggestions that a friend had on the recipe he suggested, which of course I was unaware of because someone was too busy to bake a cake with me. Oh, but don’t worry, it was all trivial things like exclude certain ingredients, bake it at a different temperature, bake it for a different amount of time, bake it in a water bath, and check the internal temperature otherwise it will be overcooked. Who needs to know details like that?
You know when you are watching something bake, and it just doesn’t look like you think it should? And then you get all paranoid and keep checking it like every 3 minutes, and then you start to get upset about it and convince yourself that it is ruined before it even exits the oven? No? Oh, nevermind then. I swear that is not what happened to me.
So, I pouted around while this cake was baking because I was mad at him for not telling me about the changes and at myself for not reading the article. (Note to myself – relax. We are talking about a cake here.)
When it came out of the oven, I was still displeased with the cake. It was definitely over baked. I was still a little angry and annoyed so I berated the cake naming all its flaws, while he tried to convince me that it would be fine and I was acting ridiculous. If the cake had feelings, they would have been hurt. Once it cooled and I removed it from the pan, I cut off the over baked edges and wrapped it up. Maybe it would not be so bad.
Next day, the cake gets some powdered sugar and a dousing of strawberry sauce and it was actually kind of good. A bit over baked and somewhat chalky, but far from inedible. My family gobbled it up and clearly had no idea of the trials and tribulations I endured baking it the night before.
I think the strawberry sauce was the saving grace. It masked any chalkiness and it provided a much needed cut to the richness of the chocolate.
He has a great tutorial and all his tips and modifications are there. His cake looks much better than mine did, so I would like to make one again at some point and follow his suggestions.
Here is my recipe for strawberry sauce:
Strawberry Sauce
2 large cartons Strawberries, hulled and halved
3 tbsp sugar
juice of half a lemon
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until the strawberries are soft and begin to breakdown.
Then place the mixture in a food processor and process until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve.
Chill until ready to use.