Chocolate Torte: Two Flourless Cakes

Swiss Dark Chocolate

By Cat, Jan 2008 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

A cake without flour?  How does that work?  Is this a new-fangled food?  Well, the Europeans have been perfecting flourless cakes, also called tortes, for centuries, using a large quantity of eggs instead of flour for structure.  Many also use ground nuts, such as the Scandinavian recipe below. Some may use breadcrumbs as well, but since bread is made from flour, I would not consider that ‘flour-less,’ though still a torte. For the most part, these are richly dense cakes.

The Original Sacher Torte

My first exposure to a real chocolate torte was the famous Austrian Sachertorte, from the Hotel Sacher in Vienna (photo, left, from Wikimedia Commons). After a good friend spent her honeymoon in Europe, a package arrived on my doorstep from Vienna. Inside was a wood box, about 8″ square, with “Hotel Sacher” printed in black ink on the top. Inside was a small Sachertorte, still fresh and wonderful, along with a gift card telling about this famous cake. I was in heaven for a week as I consumed this wonderful treat. Thanks again, Terra.

For an interesting read about the difference between “cake” and “torte,” see Pro Flowers (blog (3)).

• Includes: 1. Flourless Chocolate Cake; 2. Flourless Chocolate Cake, Scandinavian Style
• See also: 1. Using a Springform Pan, and an Alternative; 2.  Cakes & Tortes Menu;

Flourless Chocolate Cake

The Daily InterLake newspaper recently reprinted a flourless chocolate cake recipe that originated in the Baltimore Sun (1).

The original recipe calls for ¼ cup water and ½ tsp instant coffee granules, but I much prefer making a strong French-press coffee.  It also calls for semisweet chocolate morsels (45 – 50% cocoa mass) and ⅓ cup sugar.  I prefer to use bittersweet chocolate (at least 75% cocoa mass), chopped into chip-size pieces. You may wish to use more sugar, up to ⅔ cup, or ⅓ – ½ cup sugar plus ⅛ – ¼ tsp pure stevia extract powder. I don’t recommend substituting stevia for all the sugar, as sugar is need to help the eggs hold stiff peaks.

I prefer Dutch process cocoa, as it is sweeter than regular baking cocoa.  It is treated with an alkalizing agent (such as baking soda) to reduce the bitterness of the original cocoa, and also reduces the caffeine content. Or you can use half Dutch process and half regular baking cocoa. The choice is yours.  But be sure to use Organic free trade, so the farmers get their fair share.

This recipe serves 12 -14.

Ingredients & Equipment:

• 12 oz Organic free-trade bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• ¼ cup strong coffee (drip or French press)
• ½ cup Organic free-trade baking cocoa or Dutch process cocoa
• ⅓ – ⅔ cup Rapadura or Sucanat sugar
• 6 eggs at room temperature
• powdered sugar (for dusting), preferably Rapadura brand, or Make Your Own Unrefined Powdered Sugar
• sweetened Whipped Cream
• 9″ springform pan *
• bakers parchment
• 2 quart enameled cast iron saucepan or double boiler
• 2 large mixing bowls
• wire rack

* NOTE:  Instead of a springform pan, you can grease sides and bottom of a round cake pan, then lightly flour the bottom and sides.  Cut a round of bakers parchment paper and press onto the bottom; cut a long 4″ wide strip (or 2 shorter strips) and press it around the insides of the pan to make a collar.

Method:

1. Remove eggs from fridge and allow to warm to room temperature, then separate yolks from whites in separate mixing bowls.
2. Grease the bottom of the springform pan,* then line bottom with bakers parchment; set aside.
3. Brew strong coffee using a Melita-style drip or a French press (drip coffee is fine grind; French press coffee must be coarse grind)
4. Preheat oven to 350°F.
5. Break chocolate into ¼-½ inch pieces
6. Place chocolate, butter, and brewed coffee in a medium, heavy-duty saucepan over medium-low heat (or in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water).  Heat, stirring frequently, until melted and smooth.  Do not over-heat.
7. Stir in cocoa and sugar until smooth.  Remove from heat.
8. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl; set aside.
9. In the other large mixing bowl, beat the eggs for 5 minutes or until volume doubled.
10. Fold ⅓ of the beaten eggs into the chocolate mixture.  Fold in remaining eggs, ⅓ at a time, until thoroughly incorporated.  This folding is best done by hand–literally.  Use your hand and fingers (you get to lick them afterwards).  Or with a rubber or silicone spatula.  Do not use a mixer.
11. Scrape batter into prepared pan.  Bake for 35 to 37 minutes, or until cake has risen (center will move, or appear underbaked), and edges start to get firm and shiny.
12. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack (center will sink slightly).  Cover cake and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Assembly or Serving Suggestions

• About 30 minutes before serving, remove side of springform pan by first running a knife around the edge of cake.  Invert cake on sheet of parchment paper, peel off parchment pan liner, and turn cake right side up on a serving platter.
• Dust with powdered sugar.  Serve with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.

Flourless Chocolate Cake, Scandinavian Style

This recipe is adapted from Cacaoweb (2).  Like the previous recipe, it calls for semisweet chocolate (45 – 50% cocoa mass), but I prefer to use bittersweet chocolate (75% cocoa mass).  I think the recipe includes enough sugar (¾ cup) for using bittersweet chocolate, but you can add more if you wish. You can also use ½ cup sugar and ¼ tsp pure stevia extract powder to cut down on the sugar. But I don’t recommend using all stevia because it does not help the eggs to hold stiff peaks.

This recipe was originally written in European measure (grams) rather than ounces and cups; my translation to English measure is rough; feel free to experiment.

Ingredients & Equipment:

• 12 oz (340 g) Organic free-trade bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
• 5 Tbsp (about ⅓ cup) butter
• 5 Tbsp (about ⅓ cup) milk
• 5 Tbsp (about ⅓ cup) finely ground almonds or almond meal/flour
• ¼ tsp almond extract (optional)
• ¾ cup (170 g) Rapadura or Sucanat Sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• confectioners’ or powdered sugar (for dusting)
• sweetened whipped cream
• 9″ springform pan *
• parchment or waxed paper
• 2 quart enameled cast iron saucepan or double boiler
• 2 large mixing bowls
• stand or hand electric mixer
• wire rack

* NOTE:  Instead of a springform pan, you can grease sides and bottom of a round cake pan, then lightly flour the bottom and sides.  Cut a round of bakers parchment paper and press onto the bottom; cut a long 4″ wide strip (or 2 shorter strips) and press it around the insides of the pan to make a collar.

Method:

1. Remove eggs from fridge and allow to warm to room temperature.
2. Break chocolate into ¼ -½ inch pieces.
3. Grease the sides of the pan, then line bottom with round of bakers parchment and butter the top side of the paper; set aside.
4. Preheat oven to 375°F.
5. Beat sugar/stevia with egg yolks at room temperature, until they are a creamy yellow.
6. Put chocolate and butter in top of double boiler over simmering water; stir until chocolate is smooth.
7. In one large bowl, beat egg yolks with half the sugar.  Fold in the melted chocolate mixture and the ground almonds, almond extract (if using), and baking powder.
8. Beat egg whites in separate large bowl until frothy (stand mixer works great).  Gradually add remaining sugar and beat to stiff peaks.
9. Fold the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture by hand (literally using your hands and fingers works best, and you get to lick them when you’re done!)
10. Scrape batter into prepared pan.  Bake for 40 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (or you may prefer to slightly under-bake as in previous recipe).
11. Remove to rack to cool a bit. Note that as the torte cools, it will collapse in the center.

Assembly or Serving Suggestions

• About 30 minutes before serving, remove side of springform pan by first running a knife around the edge of cake.
• Dust with confectioners’ sugar.  Serve with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream. Garnish with fresh strawberries (whole or sliced), or fresh raspberries.

References

1. The Daily Inter Lake newspaper (Jan 2, 2008), originally from The Baltimore Sun as submitted by Carol Tischer of Longview WA (Dec 26, 2007)  (articles.baltimoresun.com/2007-12-26/news/0712220043_1_flourless-chocolate-cake-chocolate-mixture-sweetened-whipped-cream)
2. Cacaoweb recipe (cacaoweb.net/flourlesschocolatecake2.html)
3. Pro Flowers blog on cake vs torte (proflowers.com/blog/difference-between-torte-and-cake)
4. Sachertort recipe from Viking Cruises (vikingrivercruises.com/why-viking/community/viking-recipes/desserts/sachertorte.html)