Flour takes a Passover break, and chocolate steps into the breach.
For those of us who don’t celebrate Passover, it’s a mystery. We know it’s a major Jewish holiday. We’re pretty sure it’s a happy one. We think it goes on for a few days. But more than that—as I said, mystery. Oh, and one more thing: certain foods are forbidden. Like flour. And leavening, as in yeast, baking powder, baking soda…
Now, for those of us who bake, that makes Passover a pretty challenging occasion, culinarily speaking. Start with “no flour.” OUCH. How many baked goods can YOU think of that don’t include flour? A fruit-filled meringue pavlova is one. Lemon soufflé is another. And then there’s…. hmmm…
You can go online and find recipes using matzoh meal in place of flour. Or variations on the meringue theme, incorporating chocolate chips, nuts, and other tasty add-ins. And then there are the recipes where ground nuts stand in for the flour (which works in a low-flour, high-sugar, high-fat, high-egg recipe, such as brownies). But most sound a little forced. Like, too bad we can’t use flour, but we’ll substitute x-y-z instead and it’ll be pretty good.
At the end of the day, there’s one flourless dessert that was born to be flourless. A special treat that doesn’t require compromise, doesn’t need the “almost as good as” label. And that’s Flourless Chocolate Cake.
Chocolate, sugar, eggs, and butter. Vanilla and salt and espresso powder. These simple ingredients create magic together, the alchemy of eggs and sugar providing structure, the vanilla and espresso and salt adding flavor, and the chocolate lending its own special qualities: a bit of structure, sumptuous mouth-feel, and the undefined yet intensely compelling quality we all love: CHOCOLATE.
Serve this dense, rich, flourless/unleavened cake at Passover, where it’s the perfect finale to the Seder. But don’t relegate it to once-a-year status. Although it doesn’t have King Arthur Flour’s favorite ingredient, it’s still one of our favorite desserts.
Begin by melting chocolate with butter. Can you tell this is going to be one rich cake?
Stir the melted chocolate and butter together with the sugar, salt, and espresso powder. Then add the eggs, beating briefly until smooth. The cocoa powder goes in last.
Grease an 8” round cake, and line it with parchment. Cut it to size by laying the pan atop the parchment, drawing a circle around it with a marking pen, then cutting it out. Lay the parchment in the pan, and grease the parchment.
Spoon the fluffy cake batter into the prepared pan.
Twenty-five minutes later—cake! After it’s cooled for 5 minutes, loosen the edges with a table knife or heatproof spatula…
…then turn the cake out of the pan onto a serving plate. Slip strips of parchment under the edges of the cake, to catch any icing drips.
To make the icing, heat chocolate and heavy cream together till the cream is steaming. Remove from the heat, and stir till the mixture comes together (as it’s starting to do here). Keep stirring; don’t give up.
All of a sudden, you’ll have beautifully smooth, creamy chocolate icing, a.k.a. chocolate ganache.
Immediately pour the icing over the cake, using a spatula to spread it to the edge of the cake.
Encourage the icing to drip down the sides. It doesn’t need much encouragement once you push it to the edge!
Garnish the outer rim of the cake with sliced toasted almonds. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream; or just as it is, in all its chocolate-y splendor. If you’re celebrating Passover, I hope you enjoy a lovely family celebration. If not—well, go ahead and enjoy this cake anyway!
P.S. Since I originally posted this blog, readers have chimed in to tell me it wasn’t really OK for Passover, due to both the vanilla and the confectioners’ sugar (which contains cornstarch). So I’ve changed the recipe online, substituting granulated sugar for the confectioners’, and dropping the vanilla. I just baked the cake to test this new version, and it’s umm-UMM GOOD! Thanks to all who pointed out my ingredient errors—I’m getting closer to understanding Passover baking, though I’m not completely there yet. Could someone tell me why cornstarch is NOT OK for Passover, but potato starch is? Just wondering…
See our complete recipe for Flourless Chocolate Cake.
P.S. Re: Vermont’s Fifth Season, a.k.a. Mud Season. Those of us in New Hampshire feel your pain, Susan. New Hampshire doesn’t have Mud Season; “the Granite State” is just too rocky. Instead, we have… spring! Here’s what it looks like at my house these days:
The daffodils aren’t blooming yet, but the crocuses and hyacinths are at their peak. And they open up beautifully—when the sun shines. Which is seldom, in April. We DO have plenty of rain in New Hampshire, like our sister state next door; just not the mud that goes with it.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Very tasty chocolate cake
Nuts just take up space where chocolate ought to be.Put the chocolate in the bag and nobody gets hurt.
Nice post
“I love chocolate. Have you ever seen a chocolate fountain? It is
wonderful! Check this out..”
http://www.sarahs-sweet-fountains.co.uk
April 11th, 2008 at 6:30 am
Thanks for the recipe!! I am going to give it a test run this week before Passover.
April 11th, 2008 at 10:19 am
OMG, that cake looks extremely scrumptious! Wonderful!
Cheers,
Rosa
April 11th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Well - it WAS going to be the traditional sponge cake and strawberries and macaroons. . .I think that this chocolate cake could become a new tradition. Passover is a happy, family-centered holiday with (no surprise) a special dinner at its center. Thanks for the perfectly timed recipe!
Happy Spring - the dogwoods are at peak in Atlanta!
Beth
April 11th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Oh yum! This comes at the perfect moment since I am planning out my Passover menu. I found a great recipe for homemade matzah and this cake is going to be a wonderful addition to this year’s Seder meal!
April 12th, 2008 at 7:03 am
Looks like we’re going to have 3 desserts (and 5 people) for this years seder! My mother always makes an apricot roll and a nut cake but this is what I’m going to bring to the table.
April 12th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Diane, my opinion is—no matter what, there’s ALWAYS room for chocolate!
April 12th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
FYI - this cake is not suitable for Passover as written. It contains powdered sugar which contains cornstarch and should not be used. It is possible however to make your own cornstarch.
April 12th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
For anyone interested in another Passover cake, go check out Susan Purdy’s recipe for Mocha Sponge Cake in her book High Altitude Baking (there is a sea level version in that book as well).
The cake is simply heavenly, and it is made with potato starch instead of flour.
April 12th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
What a perfect recipe for Passover !
I love rich flourless Chocolate Cakes like this one,I’ll try it soon,
I love your Blog ! thanks for this post and for a wonderful+ helpful Blog !
Chanit - Israel
April 12th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
You can also make your own powdered sugar by just putting it in the food processor and let it run until it is the right consistency and it doesn’t require cornstarch.
Then this would be passover friendly indeed if you are observing.
April 13th, 2008 at 2:19 am
As Sharlyne writes regular confectioner’s sugar does contains corm starch which is not permissible during Passover, however there asre to companies that manufature potato starch based confectioners sugar for the Passover holiday; Haddar amd Mishpacha. If you are living in an area with a kosher supermarket you may be able to buy it there or request it for next year.
To make your own confectioner’s sugar you can combine sugar and potato starch in a blender. Place a cup of sugar minus one tablespoon into a blender (or a food processor) and add one tablespoon of potato starch. Pulse. It yields a cup of Passover confectioners’ sugar. It will be more grainy than the regular product but it works fairly well as a stand in for some recipes.
April 13th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
What function does the starch in the confectioners’ sugar actually perform in this recipe? I was going to just grind up some granulated sugar, as Amy suggested above, without bothering with potato starch. But if it serves an important function, I’ll go get some potato starch.
April 13th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Abby, stay tuned, I’m going to make this cake tomorrow morning by grinding up regular sugar. I think it’ll be fine; the cornstarch would have lent a slight bit of structure and “body,” but I think the eggs will stand in just fine.
April 13th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Dan’s birthday falls on Saturday and I’ve been looking around for a good cake to make that we can bring to the seder that night. Thanks!
April 14th, 2008 at 8:29 am
What were the measurements for the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla in the original recipe? I wanted to try it as it was posted originally.
Also, did the consistency of the cake change with the granulated vs. the confectioner’s sugar?
Thanks!
April 14th, 2008 at 10:33 am
I have to publish an apology to P.J. I’m the Jewish woman who sits next to her, who urged her to write a Passover recipe, and who thought the ingredients were suitable… Thanks to everyone for their comments and guidance. I would have never known that cornstarch was on the list of forbidden ingredients.
The downside of all of this is that P.J. had to rebake the recipe this morning, using just regular granulated sugar, no vanilla, and I had the terrible job of needing to taste the results. Delicious! I’ll definitely be baking one this Saturday.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Michelle, originally the recipe called for 1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar. Plus 2 teaspoons vanilla in the cake, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in the icing. I didn’t notice any change in consistency in the cake with the substitution of 100% granulated sugar; I think the chocolate and eggs are the main players, structure-wise, so banishing the small amount of cornstarch (in the confectioners’ sugar) didn’t hurt anything.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
About the flourless chcolate cake, you can now buy confectioners’ sugar that is kosher for passover (has no cornstarch). Also see Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Chocolate Desserts for her Queen Mother’s Cake which uses ground almonds. Wonderful! You can also find it online at http://www.caderbooks.com/exmcake.html
April 16th, 2008 at 11:36 am
The butter in the cake is not eaten on Passover if there is meat served for dinner (including fowl)….no mixing of meat and milk, remember?
April 16th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Cornstarch is added to confectioners’ sugar to prevent it from lumping, I’ve been told. Superfine sugar can be whirled in the blender until it’s even finer, if kosher-for-Passover confectioners’ sugar isn’t available.
If you have access to certified Passover food, such markets usually sell granulated sugar infused with vanillin. It’s the only time of the year I use artificial vanilla, but vanillin sugar passes muster in any flavorful Passover dessert, especially one with chocolate! The Nielsen-Massey pure vanilla paste available from KA and elsewhere appears to contain no alcohol–forbidden during Passover, except for kosher-for-Passover wines–but alas! I just checked the label, and this paste contains a bit of vanilla extract, which means there’s alcohol there after all.
Corn (and cornstarch) is one of the five grains forbidden in their everyday form during Passover. The others are wheat (other than that which is processed under strict, complex standards to make matzo, matzo meal, matzo cake meal, etc.), barley, oats, and spelt. So that’s why Passover baking recipes may call for potato starch and/or ground nuts.
When my sons were little, I bought two pounds of whole spelt from The Baker’s Catalogue to give to the heads of the Jewish nursery school and day school that they attended, and before the holiday they showed this ancient grain around to their students. Hardly any of the grown-ups had ever seen it, either–thanks, KA!
Passover is a time when those of us who are Jewish and who bake frequently must change our ways completely for eight days. Thanks for helping us with new and delightful dishes for the holiday. Marcy Goldman’s book, “A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking,” has a chapter on Passover, and it’s a batter-splattered volume to which I turn all year ’round. Now that Deanna mentions it, though, I’ll have to make that Queen Mother’s Cake again!
April 16th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Ronald, unsalted kosher-for-Passover margarine will do when baking desserts for meat meals…
April 16th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Yum! I am gluten-intolerant and always looking for wheat, barley, rye, and oat-free baking recipes to try out.
April 16th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Passover is the holiday that reminds Jews that onece they were slaves in the land of Egypt and then they left. to wander in the desert for 40 years. Then they travelled to the land an they now know as Israel..
April 16th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
You might also add to turn the ink/pencil/marker side down in the cake pan. Most folks know that but the newer bakers may not think about it. We don’t want marker “ick” in our cake. Looks like a wonderful recipe. I have one co-worker who gets a flourless chocolate cake on her birthday. This one will definitely be the next one to try. Thanks for the blog–it’s really been fun to read and of course the recipes are wonderful to add to my collection!
April 16th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Okay, I’m pretty sure this recipe is illegal in my county, but who is going to tell one me?
I opted for bittersweet chips (the only ones I had on hand), and used only one teaspoon of expresso powder. But I didn’t stop there. I added a bit of vanilla and a bit of orange flavoring, oh, and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. My spices and flavorings were dialing my number and I had to answer the call.
After the mayhem I emailed the recipe (AND, your step-by-step instructions. .. KUDOS and THANKS!) to my family and friends. This will be the sweetest email they receive today.
April 17th, 2008 at 8:50 am
The foods that are forbidden at Passover vary with the branch of Judaism one favors. Everyone eschews wheat (except for matzo), rye, oats, barley and spelt. Not everyone avoids corn, rice, and legumes.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:50 am
The recipe says 1cup-6 oz. chocolate chips. Isn’t 6oz. 3/4 of a cup? Please clarify. Thank you. I want to make it this weekend for guests, no practice time.
April 18th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Sharon, 1 cup of chocolate chips = 6 ounces. 1 cup of liquid is 8 ounces; perhaps that’s where your confusion lies? Best of luck for the cake this weekend.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Delicious cake!!! Very moist and I mixed everything by hand. Also, I baked it for about 20 minutes. It was a hit.
April 21st, 2008 at 2:16 pm
this was the easiest chocolate cake I’ve ever made. I used a springform pan and it was super easy to remove the cake after baking.
Also, I was running late and ended up icing it while still hot–I got good reviews (no one ever really complains about cake being still oven-warm!) but I thought the icing and cake was much better after an overnight in the fridge. So, it definitely can be made ahead.
Thanks for your wonderful posts! Keep ‘em coming!
April 21st, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I put my daughter on the task of making this cake, and for whatever reason, it needed a lot more time baking than it got, because our result was a barely thickened batter. Also, kosher-for-Passover chocolate is pretty low quality, and it produced a grainy ganache. I did not love the result, so I dumped the baked and iced cake back into a bowl and recombined it with maybe a half cup of ground almonds. I baked it again in a cake pan lined with waxed paper for about an hour at 350. That’s a dangerous thing to do to chocolate, which burns easily, but actually the slightly burned bottom enhanced the chocolate-y taste with a bit of caramelizing and added a chewy texture, which one doesn’t find too often in kosher-for-Passover baked goods. It’s like a really rich, chewy brownie.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I made this recipe in the 7″ pan and achieved the perfect height (in my opinion). Had no baking time issues.
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:53 pm
I made the cake for my family and everyone loved it. I was a little worried that it was overdone as I was baking at my father’s house and the oven seemed very hot. It all worked out though! I think I would use a 7′ pan in future to increase the height.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:47 am
I know this is a little late for Passover, but it might come in handy for next year….
Why not replace the sugar and the vanilla with vanilla sugar? There is no alcohol and you can make it easily at home with some vanilla beans, some sugar and some time in the pantry.
April 25th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I made the cake for passover. It was dense, rich in chocolate and delicious.I think a little less sugar would also suffice. I used half sugar and half Splenda. The chocolate ganache was delicious. A very small piece is all anyone needed.
May 28th, 2008 at 2:47 am
ashkenazi jews have the custom to avoid corn on passover, but sephardic jews (from middleeastern countries) do not.
great blog!
July 19th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
It’s a little early for Passover, but I’m curious is it possible to make this with extra light olive oil instead of margarine? A lot of people use margarine but while I do use cocoa powder and chocolate chips I don’t use margarine on Passover. I do use a recipe that remarkably uses only eggs (separated), cocoa powder, salt, oil and not much else but it’s a little, errm, interesting the result. I don’t use canola oil because it’s something observant Eastern European Jews don’t use that on Passover. Yes. This is meant to be confusing because it is!
)
OK - consider me TOTALLY confused! And all I can say about light olive oil is, give it a try and let us know…- PJH
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I’m interested in trying this with a neutral-flavored oil instead of solid shortening, too. Will anyone who has tried making such a version let us know how it worked? If I do it first, I’ll return the favor. Thanks!
August 17th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Shortly after I posted last I made the cake mostly regular (no espresso powder and marg. for the butter and no glaze as it had to be nondairy) for a birthday get-together and just this past Shabbat I tried it again with the light olive oil. It had been awhile since the first try but I couldn’t tell a difference. It was moist, fudgy and rich and I can’t believe it’s kosher for for me to eat on Passover!
Thanks a lot!