Happy Chocolate Cake Day!

After I had made this flourless chocolate cake I heard from friend Desba that January 27th is Chocolate Cake Day which was confirmed by Tastespotting. And you know what is so weird? Yesterday, I just had to make a chocolate cake. Now I never make cakes. I took a cake decorating class with my amazing friend Colleen and it was an absolute nightmare! That was over three years ago and since then I have made two cakes: 1) my sister Shannon’s prosperity cake and 2) the cake that saved Halloween.

Now if I had waited until today to make the cake I would not have time to photograph it and put it up. I listened to my foodie instincts which were going off like alarm bells yesterday screaming, I want chocolate cake! Considering how down in the dumps we have been lately I actually allowed myself to indulge. I pulled out a recipe I have been wanting to try for a year now: Nigella’s Chocolate Cloud Cake. A flourless and dense chocolate cake, perfect for the January blues.

You begin with melting chocolate over a double boiler and then adding softened butter to melt into the hot chocolate.

You separate some eggs and add the yolks with two eggs and some sugar into a bowl and mix it together. Nigella’s recipe calls for orange zest and Cointreau but I did not have those so I added Baileys instead. Temper the melted chocolate and butter into the egg mixture. That just means, add it slowly while whisking.

You whip the egg whites with some sugar until they are at a soft peak stage.

You put one third of the egg whites into the batter and fold together (I prefer to use a whisk) and then, like in the photograph, you add the remainder of eggs whites and just combine! Do not over mix or the cake will deflate.

See all of those bubbles? That is a good thing. Do not tap them out, gently put the cake into the oven (the recipe says 180C which I converted to 350F) for 35 minutes.

At first the cake will have wonderful lift and then:

Dum, dum, dum… it will fall! Which is what you want. Now you have a place to put the whipped cream. I only made 1 cup of whipped cream, not two like the recipe calls for. One was enough. I whipped mine up with some icing sugar, Baileys and a little skim milk powder to help give the whipped cream some stability:

I sprinkled some cocoa powder on top and voila! Chocolate cake!

This recipe requires a scale, Nigella does not use cup measurements, but other than that, it is very easy. There are some steps to follow but when it comes to cake making, the dense richness of the cake is totally worth the extra effort. I give this recipe four and a half wooden spoons.

It seems silly and a bit crazy to bake an entire cake just for me and my husband in the middle of the week. There is no way that we can eat this entire cake all by ourselves but I had to listen to the Foodie Goddess voice inside who demanded I make this cake immediately. Now I have a post to share on National Chocolate Cake Day.

Perhaps maybe now you will also be inspired to try making a cake on this special foodie holiday?! Is the Foodie Goddess talking to you too?

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