Pragmatic Flourless Chocolate Cake

This past thanksgiving I spent my time feeling grateful for the simple pleasures of country living. Having joined my friend Liz, who lives in a super rural town in northern New Hampshire, I experienced the rare joy of living with barely any electricity, free of my daily duties to my cell-phone and computer. My activities reminded me of what it may have been like to live in a rural township say fifty years ago: days and nights consisted of the basics, cooking on an old fashioned wood stove, sewing, reading, and sharing family stories.

By far, my favorite thanksgiving dish was dessert—I’ve got a nasty sweet tooth. Liz’s mom made an effortlessly rich, slightly salted dessert titled “Pragmatic Flourless (Liz has a gluten intolerance) Chocolate Cake.” I liked it so much that I asked for the recipe and she gladly jotted it down straight from memory. I was startled to find that like MFK Fisher’s description of Bertie, whose unique sense of cooking could never fully translate to others, Liz’s mom had an equally innate wisdom about baking that made her methods difficult to trace and comprehend. As an unskilled, overly cautious baker, I found her “common sense” cake instructions to be incredibly cryptic. Still, noting my confusion, she made many amendments to her recipe, allowing for different approaches and alterations. The funniest part of her recipe is her own set of instructions, which she seems to often not follow.

I will copy the recipe just as she did for me:

Pragmatic Flourless Chocolate Cake:

12 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips or bar, chopped (or whatever you have)

1 C + 1 T butter in chunks (or ghee—no milk solids)

1¼ C sugar

6 eggs (I use brown, I usually use 5 eggs depending on amount of other ingredients)

1 C unsweetened cocoa powder

1 T milk

1 T honey (or maple/date syrup)

A smidgen of vanilla extract (or almond whiskey/coffee)

A sprinkling of course salt (or hot pepper, or nutmeg)

Preheat oven 375

Spray 9” springform pan

Line bottom with circle of parchment, spray paper too (or oil what you have, line whole thing with oil and butter)

2/3 of choc (8 oz.) + 1 C butter in saucepan on med low heat (or in microwave)

Stir, melt, blend— Remove from heat

Add sugar, mix well

Add eggs, 1 @ a time, whisk/fork

Sift in cocoa, stir till blended to appropriate state (Although, I always forget to sift)

Pour in pan, bake 35-40 min

Until risen, with thin crust, just firm in center

Cool 10 min, invert on plate, remove pan, cool completed

Chocolate Glaze:

Melt 4 oz chocolate

3 T butter, stir until smooth, add milk, honey, vanilla, cool slightly

When cake has cooled, pour this glaze on center, smooth on top and sides

Chill uncovered (I always cover because I want it to get a bit soggier) 30-60 min before serving