Here I am in Cyprus some days off from teaching and it was my birthday last week, so I decided to bake myself something chocolate. Now I didn't have enough flour to bake a cake, and I didn't want to dress up, since I am in my lovely warm and snugly pj's watching so you think you can dance, so therefor I decided to search out a recipe for flour-less cakes... Waala.. found a great one from Emeril, and with a few of my alterations it was just great... so here it is.. try it and let me know...
Chocolate-hot pepper flourless cake
2 sticks of unsalted butter
8 ounces of dark chocolate, chopped (I didn't use bakers just a regular dark chocolate bar)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted ( you can also add a bit of coffee to this mix)
3 tablespoons of chili flakes (or chili powder)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of brown sugar ( I prefer brown to white, and since I used chocolate bar already sweet it worked great)
1 cup of heavy cream
2 tablepoons of confectioners' sugar
1/2 tablespoon of grated ginger (fresh, crystallized, whatever you have will work)
1/2 tablespoon of grand marnier and / or grated orange peel (I like a bit or liqueur with my chocolate)
1/4 tablespoon of nutmeg (or cinnamon )
Preheat oven to 350F
Butter the bottom of a 9 inch pan and set aside
in a double boiler melt the chocolate over low heat. Remove from heat and beat in the cocoa, chili flakes, salt, ginger and grand marnier or orange peel
Whisk together the egg yolks with 1/2 of the sugar, when thick fold in the chocolate mixture and mix well.
Whisk the egg whites until thick, add the remaining sugar and beat to form a light meringue. Fold in the chocolate mixture delicately in order not to deflate the meringue.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake until the edges are set about 45-55 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool
Remove from the pan and place onto a cake plate.
In a bowl, beat the cream adding confectioners sugar and nutmeg or cinnamon until the cream holds soft peaks.
Serve cake with sweetened whipped cream and garnish with cocoa powder/ ground flavored coffee... enjoy!
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