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flourless chocolate cake with orange blossom water and strawberry champagne sauce

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5 from 1 review

This is a decadently rich flourless chocolate cake in which the cocoa flavor shines. To counterbalance the cake’s richness, I serve it with a scoop of lightly sweetened orange blossom-infused whipped cream and a gorgeous strawberry champagne sauce. The cake is adapted from my friend Alice Medrich’s Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts.

The pectin in the strawberries will help thicken the champagne sauce. I prefer serving cakes with fresh cream immediately, or the fresh cream starts to fall apart. For this reason, this cake is best put together right before serving.

  • Yield: One 9 in/23 cm cake

Ingredients

For the Cake

8 oz/230 unsalted butter cubed at room temperature, plus extra to grease the pan

8 large eggs, cold

1 lb/455 g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped or chips (55 to 70% cacao)

2 Tbsp orange blossom water

For the Orange Blossom Whipped Cream

1 cup/240 ml heavy whipping cream

2 tsp orange blossom water

2 Tbsp sugar

For The Strawberry Champagne Sauce

1 1/2 cups/360 ml champagne

2 cups/about 400 g strawberries, hulled and diced

2 Tbsp sugar

a few extra fresh strawberries, halved for garnishing

Instructions

For the Cake

  1. Place a wire rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F/180C. Line a 9 in/23 cm springform pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Grease with butter and keep aside until ready to use.
  2. Place the eggs in the bowl of a stand electric mixer, and using the whisk attachment, whisk the eggs on high speed for about 6 to 7 minutes until the eggs have doubled in volume and appear pale yellow.
  3. While the eggs are whisking, place the butter and chocolate in a large heat-proof bowl and place it over a saucepan containing simmering hot water. Stir with a silicone spatula until it is completely mixed.
  4. Pour half of the whisked eggs into the bowl containing the chocolate, and using an outward-to-inward movement, fold the mixture to incorporate. Add the orange blossom water and the remaining whipped eggs and fold until combined and no visible flecks of the eggs can be seen. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes until the center of the cake is firm to touch. Allow the cake to cool to room temperature in the pan. Then, run the knife between the cake and the pan using a sharp paring knife and release. The cake can be made 2 days in advance or frozen for up to 3 months, wrapped tightly with clingfilm, and left in the refrigerator. Serve the cake at room temperature.

For the Orange Blossom Whipped Cream

  1. Place all the ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Whisk the ingredients using an electric mixer for about 5 minutes on medium-high speed until the cream becomes stiff. (Do not over-whisk, or you’ll end up with butter). This can be prepared at least one day in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

For the Strawberry Champagne Sauce

  1. Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, and then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 4 minutes with occasional stirring until the strawberries have become soft.
  2. Remove from stove and, using an immersion blender or food processor, blend until smooth. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve set over a medium bowl, and discard the solids in the sieve. The sauce will be thick. Taste to adjust sweetness if desired. Refrigerate and serve chilled. This sauce can be 2 days in advance and stored in an airtight container or frozen for up to 1 week.

To Serve

  1. Serve the cake chilled topped with orange-blossomed-infused whipped cream and the halved strawberries. Drizzle with the strawberry champagne sauce. Serve immediately.

Notes

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