Recipe: Flourless chocolate cake

Dear SOS: We recently ate a delicious dinner at Gale’s Restaurant in Pasadena and celebrated birthdays with its flourless chocolate cake, which was very light and heavenly, not dense like many flourless chocolate cakes. Any chance of getting its recipe?

Charlene Quan

Temple City

Dear Charlene: This is a cake to make any chocoholic happy, birthday or not. Gale Kohl was happy to share the recipe for her restaurant’s cake, which you can find below.

1 hour, 10 minutes, plus cooling time. minutes. Serves 12 to 16

Chocolate ganache

1/4 cup (½ stick) butter

1/3 cup (2 ounces) chopped semisweet chocolate

Using a double-boiler (or in a bowl set over simmering water), melt the butter and chocolate, gently stirring, to form the ganache. Hold in a warm place until ready to cover the cake.

Chocolate flourless cake

1 2/3 cups (10 ounces) chopped semisweet chocolate, preferably Callebaut or Valrhona

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon (3 sticks plus 1 tablespoon) butter

7 eggs, separated

7 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons coffee liqueur, preferably Kahlua

Prepared ganache, warmed

Whipped cream or crème fraîche, for garnish

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking pan.

2. Using a double-boiler (or in a bowl set over simmering water), combine the chocolate, cocoa and butter, gently stirring until melted. Remove from heat.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the yolks are very light in color and increased in volume, 6 to 10 minutes. Separately, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, 4 to 6 minutes.

4. Carefully fold the melted chocolate into the beaten egg whites until combined, then fold in the egg yolk mixture. Fold in the coffee liqueur.

5. Place the mixture in the prepared pan. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 40 minutes. The cake will puff as it bakes and then will settle after it comes out of the oven and cools.

6. Cool the cake completely on a metal rack, then drizzle with ganache. Serve garnished with whipped cream or crème fraîche.

EACH OF 16 SERVINGS

(without whipped cream)

Calories 352

Protein 4 grams

Carbohydrates 19 grams

Fiber 2 grams

Fat 31 grams

Saturated fat 19 grams

Cholesterol 137 mg

Sugar 15 grams

Sodium 58 mg

NOTE: Adapted from Gale’s Restaurant in Pasadena.