Flourless Chocolate Cake

Here is Amy's recipe with further attribution at the bottom. A few tips:

Flourless Chocolate Cake

½ cup water
1 1/3 cups sugar
8 Oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine – food processor is the way to go for this
4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped fine - ditto
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and brought to room temperature
5 extra-large eggs, at room temperature (or 6 large eggs)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (You can save some dollars by not turninig on the oven until you hit the beating the eggs stage). Butter a 9-inch round cake pan (I use a springform) and line it with a round of parchment paper cut to fit. (I didn't use a springform and it was fine and came right out of the pan. I did line the bottom with wax paper).

In a heavy saucepan, combine the water with 1 cup of the sugar Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Boil for 4 minutes, or until a candy thermometer reads 220 degrees F.

Take the pan off the heat and immediately add the chocolate pieces, stirring until they are melted and smooth. If the mixture stiffens, don’t worry; it will loosen up again when you add the butter. Add the butter immediately, bit by bit, stirring until all of it is used.

Place the eggs and the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on high speed for 15 minutes. If you want to prevent splattering, drape a dishtowel over the mixture and bowl. Or perhaps Cody would help with any splatters.

When the 15 minutes are up, turn the mixer down to low. Add the chocolate mixture, stirring only until it is fully incorporated. Do not overbeat or air bubbles will form? (With our Kitchen Aid I didn't put it on the highest setting but about 2/3 of the way up and it still was really strong and increased the volume of the egg mixture incredibly without spilling over).

Spoon and scrape the mixture into the prepared cake pan. Set the pan in a slightly larger baking pan and pour boiling water around it. Do not allow the sides of the pans to touch. (I had a little bit of chocolate that stuck to the original pan, so don't worry about that, but you will be able to get a really chocolatey mixture anyway). When you mix the chocolate in to the egg mixture, make sure you take a spatula and incorporate it nicely. It will go from a light tan almost to a really chocolate intense batter.

Place the cake in the oven and bake it for 25 minutes. Insert the sharp point of a knife into the center of the cake; if it comes out clean, the cake is done. If it does not come out clean, continue baking for up to 10 minutes. Don’t bake the cake for longer than 35 minutes.

Remove the pan from the water bath and immediately unmold in onto a cookie sheet. Remove the parchment paper. Invert a serving plate over the cake and turn it right side up onto the serving plate. Serve warm, cold or at room temperature. Whipped c ream is mandatory.

From Beat This! by Ann Hodgman