Elizabeth David's Gateau au Chocolat et aux Amandes

* Exported from MasterCook *

Elizabeth David's Gateau au Chocolat et aux Amandes

Recipe By : Therese <MCRUZ@worldbank.org>
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Cakes

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/4 lb bitter chocolate
3 oz butter
3 oz caster sugar
3 oz ground almonds
3 eggs
1 tablespoon rum or brandy and black coffee



Laurie Colwin: A recipe for a perfect flourless chocolate cake appears in
Elizabeth Davids French Provincial Cooking. It calls for almonds ground to a
powder in the blender, confectioners sugar, bittersweet chocolate, some very
strong coffee, egg yolks and egg whites. It is baked in a springform pan and
the egg whites make it rise ever so slightly. As it cools, it slumps. The
texture is of the finest fudge or the densest mousse. It is a pure, rich cake
with a clear, cooked chocolate taste. All it needs is a little raspberry jam
to glaze it and some whipped cream. Ice cream would kill it.

Break the chocolate into small pieces; put them with the rum and coffee to melt
in a cool oven. Stir the mixture well, put it with the butter, sugar and
ground almonds in a saucepan and stir over a low fire for a few minutes until
all the ingredients are blended smoothly together. Off the fire, stir in the
well-beaten egg yolks, and then fold in the stiffly-whipped whites. Turn into a
lightly-buttered shallow sponge-cake tin, of 7 to 8 inches diameter, or a tart
tin with a removable base. Stand the tin on a baking sheet and cook in a very
low oven, 290 deg. F., for about 45 minutes. This cake, owing to the total
absence of flour, is rather fragile, so turn it out, when it is cool, with the
utmost caution. It can either be served as it is, or covered with lightly
whipped and sweetened cream. It is a cake which is equally good for dessert or
for tea-time.





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