Valentine Flourless Chocolate Cake

When I think of Valentine's Day chocolates, strawberries, and champagne immediately comes to my mind. We love dark chocolate and strawberries and this is one of the best cake we have ever eaten.  Belleau Kitchen is hosting a Random Recipe challenge for the month of February. I'm going to submit this recipe and participate for the first time. This is from Miss Sophie Dahl's book. I was so glad that this is the random page that I got. It's perfect just in time for Valentine's Day. I'm going to submit this to What Kate Baked  and  Lavender and Lovage. They are hosting a challenge as well for the month of February and the theme is Romance.

Butter for greasing
2 cups of broken semisweet chocolate (or 1 cup each of dark and milk chocolate, plus extra to decorate (optional) (I use my favourite Ghirardelli chocolate)
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup boiling water
2 sticks of salted butter, cut into cubes
6 eggs seperated
1 teaspoon of instant coffee (I left this out since my kiddies can't have them)
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

To top the cake

1 package of fresh strawberries
7oz tub creme fraiche (I've used heavy whipping cream)

Preparation method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

For the cake, grease and line the base of a 23cm/9in springform tin with baking parchment.

Blend the chocolate and sugar in a food processor until a fine powder forms. Add the boiling water, butter, egg yolks, coffee powder and vanilla extract and blend until well combined.

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed, then, using a metal spoon, gently fold into the chocolate mixture.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin, then transfer to the fridge for 2-3 hours.

To serve, remove the cake from the tin and place on a serving plate or cake stand, spread the crème fraîche or heavy whipping cream on top, then decorate over with the strawberries. To decorate, grate some chocolate over the top, or dust with icing sugar (optional)

{Sophie Dahl} I love this cookery book.