Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is one of my favorite desserts to make. I served it at book club last week and it was a hit. This cake looks beautiful served with a little whipped cream or a light dusting of powdered sugar.

This is what the cake looks like right out of the oven.


The cake puffs up while cooking, but as soon as you take it out of the oven it will begin to fall. That's okay, that's what it's supposed to do! The picture below is from about 30 seconds later, before it fell another inch or more.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. swemisweet chocolate chips
6 large egg whites
6 Tbs. unsalted butter, plus more for pan
1/2 c. sugar
6 large egg yolks

Preheat oven to 275 degrees, with rack in center of oven. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Place butter and chocolate in a large bowl. Microwave in 30-second increments, stirring each time, until melted. Cool slightly. Whisk in egg yolks. In another bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, beat until stiff and glossy. Whisk 1/4 of the egg whites into chocolate mixture. Gently fold mixture into remaining whites. Pour into pan, smooth top. Bake until cake pulls away from pan and is just set in the center, about 45-50 minutes. Do not underbake (I usually end up cooking mine 55 minutes.) Cool completely before removing sides of pan.