[Sca-cooks] Flourless chocolate cake, was History -- pecan pie recipe

lilinah at earthlink.net lilinah at earthlink.net
Fri Nov 20 23:10:32 PST 2009


Jaume wrote:
>Hm. It seems to me that the lack of a clear name other than "flourless
>chocolate cake" (which is kind of broad) masks the fact that there
>seem to be at least two and quite possibly several distinct desserts
>here.

Yup, i've described two. There could be some other versions.

>The one I'm most accustomed to is very dense, and I wouldn't describe
>it as "airy" at all. The flavor is usually intensely chocolate (much
>more so than any normal cake),

The one my mother made was, as i said, intensely chocolate, much more 
so than any normal cake. I don't like normal cake.

>and the slices are generally quite
>small owing to the richness of the dessert. It's usually served
>un-iced, though I've encountered a restaurant version that had a thin
>layer of tempered chocolate covering the exterior. The texture is hard
>to compare to much else - in some ways it's similar to both ganache
>and cheesecake, though it's not really like either. I think of it as a
>cake in name only, but certainly something very good.

I've had some. Cannonball. Lead balloon. Never again.

Nothing like a cake. And calling it flourless chocolate cake is a 
misnomer. It's really a lot of fat and a lot of sugar. Heavy.

>It sounds like yours is significantly closer to a normal cake in
>texture,

Nope. Not in the slightest. There is, after all, no flour in it, and 
no chemical leavening. Nothing like a regular cake.

The large squares from Crixa are from the same batter as my mother's, 
but are not iced. Icing would make them collapse, they are so light. 
They've got a lot of whipped egg white to make them light, and the 
chocolate is blended with the yolks, so it isn't dry.

My mother's, as i described it, was made in a jelly roll pan, so 
quite thin. The flat thin rectangle was spread with dense homemade 
whipped cream, then rolled, like a jelly roll. This way there wasn't 
anything to collapse - and the resultant roll was quite delicious 
without icing. It was still light and barely substantial.

Nothing like a regular cake. I do not like normal cake. And i really 
don't like normal frosting - ugh, standard commercial stuff is 
hydrogenated fat and sugar, gack. Even a good homemade is too sweet, 
and often too pasty.

>which would also explain the tendency to ice it.

Nope, you have got it wrong. You need to experience the tender, 
delicate, intensely chocolate-y wonderfulness of a proper flourless 
chocolate cake.

>It also
>sounds absolutely delicious and I would dearly love a recipe. Having a
>celiac mother, more possible holiday baking projects that she could
>help eat are always welcome.

I'll see if i have it on this computer and send it along in another 
message. Otherwise, i'll have to track it down.
-- 
Someone sometimes called Urtatim


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