Flourless Chocolate Cake with Whiskey & Date Ganache
Flourless Chocolate Cake!
Decadent, delicious and ready to dive into.
Are you saying no, no and no?
Well no to you, because this recipe for the flourless chocolate cake is one i’ve used for many years, at home and in the cake cafe i used to have. Ok, maybe with a lot of adaptions. Adding a bit of this and a bit of that to give it different flavour and texture. Far from a bad recipe, this easy adaption means that it’s a recipe thats good, in fact more than good. It’s a recipe that you can make your own.
And if you’re not into gluten free recipes, keep reading because you’ll want to make this again and again and again and possibly again. It’s full of a heavy dark chocolate taste, thick and rich in the mouth and with the date and whiskey ganache on the top, i swear you’ll be making up any excuses to get your fix.
The date and whiskey ganache was made with Annandale Distillery Man O’ Sword Whiskey. Why you ask? Well maybe you’re not asking but i’m going to tell you anyway. It’s because i was gifted some by Annandale distillery to have a play with, and play with i did. What i came up with was this rich and slightly smokey ganache which added to the top of this flourless cake which really completes it.
When I mentioned to the lovely Mr G (my chief taster of all things made in my kitchen) that I had “A Wee Dram” of the peaty Man O’ Sword from Annandale Distillery to play with and I wanted to match it with dates and chocolate, he was far from convinced.
That was until he’d tasted the moist flourless chocolate cake with the heady combination of date and Man O’ Sword Whiskey ganache spread thickly on top of the cake.
He started off with a tentative lick of the mixing spoon, then an index finger to scoop up any stray dates covered in the smoky ganache.
At one point, I had to physically restrain him from diving headfirst into the mixing bowl before I had a chance to take some photographs.
As a recipe developer, I’m lucky enough to be sent a varied selection of food and drink products to work with.
Some are amazing and some, well, let me just say, some are not worth taking up room in my pantry.
Not so this tipple.
This I can’t get enough of to cook with. Have you tried it yet?
Once this recipe is out there, and everyone realises that it’s incredible to cook with as well as drink………well, you get the idea.
Let me once again mention the beautiful plates provided to me by the talented Linda Bloomfield. Go check out her stuff.
Enjoy your sweet life
Lee
Flourless Chocolate Cake with, Man O’ Sword Whiskey & Date Ganache
What You Need
8 Large Eggs – Room temperature
50g Castor Sugar
140g Butter –Cut into small pieces- See Tip Box
500g Dark Chocolate-70% Cocoa- Chopped into small pieces– See Tip Box
Butter for greasing the tin
Unsweetened cocoa powder for preparing the tin
Loose bottomed cake tin
Foil & Cling Film
Non-stick Parchment
A nice hot bath
Date & Whiskey Ganache Topping
3 tbls Man O’ Sword Whiskey (If not this, use your favourite)
200g Dates – Pitted & chopped into small pieces
100g Dark Chocolate – Chopped into small pieces
120ml – Double Cream
30g Butter – Cut into small pieces - See Tip Box
its coming out of the tin
How It’s Done
Cake
Place the eggs and castor sugar into a bowl of an electric mixer. Set the mixer on medium speed and let it run until the mixture has tripled in size and is pale and fluffy- 5-10 Minutes.
Add the chopped chocolate and the butter to a microwavable bowl and heat in 30 second bursts until the chocolate and butter has almost melted – See Tip Box
Once melted, mix really well until you have a thick glossy chocolate mixture. Let it rest for a few minutes to cool a little.
Transfer the chocolate mixture to a large bowl and begin to fold the egg mixture into the chocolate.
Don’t fold all of the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture in one go. Gently fold in the egg mixture in three batches. Once combined, set it aside until you’ve prepared the tin for the oven.
Heat the oven to 180c
Use some butter and rub it all over the inside of the loose bottomed cake tin then dust the inside with the cocoa powder. Cut out a circle of non-stick parchment and place it in the bottom of the tin.
Transfer the cake mixture into the tin and wrap the outside of the tin in cling film then a double layer of foil. Make sure the layers are pressed together well to stop any water getting through to the tin.
Place the prepared cake tin with the cake mixture into a roasting tin, then fill the roasting tin 2/3 full with boiling water – See Tip Box
Carefully place the water bath into the oven and cook until the cake is firm around the edges and still lightly wobbly in the middle. - See Tip Box
Once cooked, remove from the oven, take the cake tin out of the water bath and place the cake tin onto a flat surface.
Run a thin spatula around the inside edge of the cake tin to loosen the cake slightly and leave to cool in the tin.
One slice or two?
Topping
Place the chopped dates into a bowl along with the bourbon. Give them a good mix and set aside for at least 30 minutes. Give the mix a couple of stirs as it rests just to give it a helping hand.
Place the chocolate, cream and the butter into a microwavable bowl.
In 30 second blasts, melt the butter, cream and chocolate and when melted, mix together until you have a glossy ganache.
Pour the date and bourbon mix into the ganache and mix it all together.
While the cake is still in the cake tin cooling, put the whisky and date ganache on the top of the cake and spread it around so it’s evenly distributed.
Place the cooling cake into the fridge to set up and cool completely - approximately 2 hours or overnight.
Once set and cool, run the spatula around the inside of the tin to loosen the cake, push up the loose bottom and remove the cake completely from the cake tin.
Take off the bottom of the tin and place your cake onto a serving plate of your choice
Serve straight away, store it in the fridge until needed or freeze.– See Tip Box
Tip Box
Chocolate – There are relatively few ingredients in this dessert, so use the best dark chocolate you can find and make sure it has a high cocoa content.
o Chop the chocolate into small pieces. This makes it easier and quicker to melt.
· Melting in microwave – When melting the chocolate and butter in the microwave, be very careful not to over-heat it. Use only 30 second bursts to heat the chocolate and other ingredients. Mix well in between bursts before heating for another 30 seconds.
o The tip here is to stop heating it just before all the lumps have gone, let it stand for a minute or more. This gives the small lumps of chocolate a chance to melt in the already warm chocolate and prevents the chocolate splitting.
Eggs – Room temperature.
Butter – I like to use salted butter when I cook, but if you prefer unsalted, add a pinch of good sea salt instead.
Water Bath – Cooking the cake in a water bath will make sure that the cake cooks more evenly than without. Make sure you don’t get any water in the cake tin as this will make the cake inedible.
Cooking – Be careful not to overcook the cake. Take it out of the oven when the cake is firm around the edges and still a little wobbly in the middle. The cake will carry on cooking after you take out of the oven.
Freeze – If you want to freeze this cake you can. Either as a whole or (as I like to do it so I can take out only what I need) sliced into individual pieces. When freezing, lay the cake slices onto pieces of non-proof parchment about double the size of the cake. Double wrap in cling film. Keep frozen for up to 3 months.
Just dive right in
