FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE AMARETTI CAKE

Amarante

Fri, Mar 17 2017, 1:27 pm

This is a spin on the traditional flourless chocolate cake. Cookies can be made ahead. Cake freezes well. And cookies are delicious on their own

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE AMARETTI CAKE

Excerpt From: Shoyer, Paula. “The Holiday Kosher Baker

Serves 12 to 16

Whenever I eat creamy flourless chocolate cakes I find that I am always missing a crunch. In creating this dessert, I solved that problem with a crust of crushed homemade almond cookies. The cookies are super easy to make and can be made several days (or much earlier) before you make the cake. And yes, you are allowed to make just the cookies and eat them, too!

Amaretto Cookies

One 8-ounce (230g) bag slivered almonds (about 1¾ cups)
1 cup (200g) sugar
1 tablespoon potato starch
2 large egg whites
1 tablespoon almond extract, optional

Chocolate Cake

12 ounces (340g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick; 113g) margarine, plus extra for greasing pan
6 large eggs, separated
½ cup (100g) sugar.

PREHEAT OVEN to 325°F (160°C). Line a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

SPREAD THE ALMONDS on the cookie sheet and toast for 20 minutes, shaking the pan after 10 minutes. When the almonds are golden and fragrant, remove them from the oven and slide the parchment off the pan onto a wire rack. Cool for five minutes.

PLACE THE TOASTED ALMONDS into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process until the nuts are ground to a powder. Place into a medium bowl. Add the sugar, potato starch, egg whites, and almond extract, if using, and mix until combined. I like to use my hands, but a wooden spoon is a neater option. Line two cookie sheets with parchment.

WET YOUR HANDS and take walnut-size clumps of dough and roll them into balls about one inch (2.5-cm) in diameter. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheets, about two inches (5cm) apart. Bake for 30 minutes, or until set. Slide the parchment off the cookie sheet onto a wire rack and let cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days or freeze for up to three months.

PREHEAT OVEN to 350°F (180°C). Put a piece of parchment paper on the counter and trace a circle around the bottom of a 10-inch (25-cm) spring-form pan. Cut out the circle and set it aside. Place a large piece of foil on top of the bottom circle of the pan and fold the excess foil under the bottom of the pan. Attach the bottom piece to the sides of the pan, lock the sides in place, and then unwrap the foil and bring it up the sides on the outside of the pan. Take another piece of foil and wrap it around the bottom of the pan and up the sides again; this will prevent water from leaking into the cake as it bakes in a water bath.

USE SOME MARGARINE to grease the top of the foil in the bottom of the pan. Press the parchment circle on top of the foil. This step makes it easy to slide the finished cake onto your serving plate. Grease the parchment circle and the pan sides.

TO CRUSH THE COOKIES, place half into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process until the cookies are mostly crumbs, with a few ¼ to ½-inch (6mm to 1.25-cm) pieces remaining. Pour these pieces into the bottom of the pan and spread to cover. Set aside. Place the remaining cookies into the food processor and crush, as you did the first half. Set aside to use for the top of the cake.

MELT THE CHOCOLATE and margarine together, either in a double boiler or microwave oven, for 1 minute and stir, heat for another 45 seconds and stir, and then heat for 30 seconds more and stir. Continue to heat in 15-second increments, or until all the chocolate is melted. Add the egg yolks and whisk well.

IN A SEPARATE BOWL, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff. Turn the speed down to low, add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and, once all the sugar is added, turn the speed up to high for one minute.

FOLD THE EGG WHITES into the chocolate mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared pan over the cookie crumbs. Lift the pan about two inches off the counter and then drop it down on the counter to release any air bubbles. Sprinkle the other half of the cookie crumbs on top of the batter. Cover with aluminum foil.

PLACE THE CAKE PAN into a larger roasting pan and then add boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the cake pan. The easiest way to do this is to place the roasting pan with the cake pan in the oven and then bring the boiling water over to the oven and pour into the roasting pan around the cake.

BAKE for 40 minutes, or until the mixture is mostly set (you can tell by lifting the top of the foil and gently jiggling the pan). Remove the cake from the water bath (leave the water-filled roasting pan in the oven, after you’ve turned it off, until the pan is cool enough to be removed safely) and let the cake cool completely. Place the cake in the freezer a minimum of four hours or overnight.

OPEN THE SPRINGFORM and remove the sides of the pan. Use a metal flat-blade spatula to separate the parchment circle from the foil bottom, and slide the parchment and cake onto a serving plate. Heat a long knife and use it to cut perfect slices. As the cake sits out and warms up, it will soften and become creamier. Store the cake in the freezer for up to three months.