Raspberry truffle cake

This post is in honor of one of my close friends, who happens to enjoy raspberry-chocolate flourless cake more than any other baking product I make.

Truth be told… Flourless cakes are kind of a novelty to me. Only a few years ago, when at a restaurant ordering chocolate lava cake, did I get a proper introduction to this delectable type of concoction.  My first reaction was: you can make cake without flour? How does that work?
Although, it has to be admitted that flourless cakes are more closely related to dessert than to the general variety of regular self-raised cakes… sort of like the popular British pudding cake.

Intrigued, I tried a very simple recipe, the raspberry truffle cake, starring in today’s blog post.
I thought it would be really difficult, with lots of steps. I could already see myself having to launch a hunt all over the Twin Cities in order to find the special ingredients needed for the recipe… But no, no such thing! It is surprisingly simple and quite fast to make. (Will you be impressed with me if I tell you that I even beat the egg whites to a white, spumoni foam without using an electric beater? And I don’t even have muscled arms…!)

Anyway, apparently, flourless cakes found their way into Passover menus of Jewish communities around the world, given the religious restriction against foods that are considered leaven. Grains such as rye, spelt, wheat, barley, and oats, which can ferment, cannot be used to make baked goods to be eaten at Passover.

Ground nutmeats, potato starch, and other ingredients are used instead to give consistency, and voila, that’s how tortes and flourless cakes came into being to charm our palates with their sweet delights.

One of the oldest recipes for chocolate flourless cake is the Torta Caprese - flourless chocolate cake from  the Isle of Capri.  I found out that there are at least three different stories about how the Torta Caprese was invented. The common threads of all these stories are that it was invented on the Isle of Capri, and that the cake was an accident. Either the women making the cake for American gangsters forgot to add flour, or an anonymous sous pastry chef working on no sleep mistook flour for cocoa powder, or, as the last legend goes, an unnamed baker completely messed up the recipe by adding ground almonds instead of flour.

Whatever mistake was made to create it, we should all be glad it happened!  In the recipes that call for ground almonds, the almond flavor blends with the chocolate to create a dense, decadent and delicious dessert that is often served with a scoop of vanilla gelato... or with a layer of ganache on top, among a variety of ways. Some varieties of flourless chocolate cake have evolved to add hazelnuts, mint, or a berry fruit - as is the case in the recipe posted here today. My recipe here doesn't even call for ground almonds... making it a more affordable choice if you're keeping an eye on what you're spending.

At any rate, if the secret to a good flourless cake lies in messing up the recipe... then, my friends, I seem to have fallen in with the right sort of crowd: I too made a mistake in the recipe here below, adding the raspberries to the overall batter, instead of saving it for the sauce. The result was really a tad too sweet, but hey, it’s an original! And everybody liked it and did not notice much.

I’m posting here the original recipe, from Better Homes & Gardens. And may originality cause you to add an unplanned ingredient while you bake… Who knows... you might spring on a discovery of a brand new dessert, unique all on its own.


Raspberry truffle cake

Prep: 25 min.

Bake: 25 min.

Cool: 2 hours

Chill: 4 hours

Makes: 12 servings



Ingredients:

16 ounces semisweet, high quality chocolate, cut up
½ cup butter
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 ½ teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon raspberry liqueur (optional)
4 eggs, separated
12 ounces seedless raspberry jam (about 1 cup)
Fresh raspberries and mint leaves, for garnish
Whipped cream or bourbon-vanilla ice-cream (optional)



Directions:

1.    Grease an 8-inch springform pan and set aside.
2.    In a large heavy saucepan, combine chocolate and butter until melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
3.    Stir in sugar, flour, and if desired, the raspberry liqueur.
4.    Beat in eggs yolks, one at a time, until combined. Set aside.
5.    In a medium mixing bowl, beat eggs whites with an electric mixer on high-speed until stiff peaks form.
6.    Fold into the chocolate batter mixture.
7.    Pour batter into prepared pan.
8.    Bake in a 350 F oven during 25 to 30 minutes or until the edges puff. Don’t worry if the cake seems soft after baking; it firms up when chilled.
9.    Cool, covered , for 4 to 24 hours.
10.    To serve, allow cake to come to room temperature(takes about 45 minutes). Heat the raspberry jam until melted and drizzle it on each dessert plate, using some to top each cake slice too.
11.    If desired, garnish each serving with fresh raspberries, mint leaves, and a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.

P. S.: I think learning about the origins of flourless cake merits a trip to Italy, with the excuse to try the original Torta Caprese... wouldn't you agree?  To the left you can see Marina Piccola, near the Isle of Capri. Look at the amazing varieties of blue in the color of the sea!