Flourless, Luscious, Decadent Chocolate Torte Takes The Cake

So it's Valentine's Day. Yeah, yeah. Kiss me, I'm shitfaced.

For some time now I have wanted to attempt a flourless torte. Last night I did a little research and figured it can't be that difficult. As with most baked goods, attention to detail is important. On my way home from a long, tiring, 24h shift, I decided today would be the day I attempted the famous flourless chocolate torte.

Having looked at a few recipes, I had a general idea of what I needed at the market. With a few trips up-and-down the aisles, my checklist was completed.

At home I grabbed BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking. The author, Shirley Corriher, details her trials trying to find the quintessential torte recipe. Ms. Corriher explains that most traditional recipes, with their reliance on so many eggs, result in a drier than desired product. Egg whites act as a drying agent when baked. They can also be a leavening agent. Combine these two processes and you may well end up with a drier than expected torte.

Ms. Corriher thought substituting cream for the butter might yield a creamier torte. She was right. In fact, it was closer to a pudding than a torte. Ms. Corriher enlightens, “the batter needs to be acidic for the eggs to set well.” While the semi-sweet chocolate provides sufficient acidity with the butterfat, the addition of the heavy cream buffered too much of the acid. It’s a complicated chemical process. That’s why when baking, stick to the recipe unless you want to become a lab technician fiddling with various processes. Or better yet, let somebody do the fussing for you, like Ms. Corriher.

An obvious solution to the lack of acid would be to simply add more acid. I know, that’s what you were thinking. The trouble is, milkfat is a powerful buffer. As it turns out, you couldn’t add enough acid and still allow the other crucial chemical processes to occur.

Back to the drawing board? Not yet. Unwilling to let go of her love of cream, Ms. Corriher decides to compromise. Instead of substituting the cream for the butter one-to-one, she splits the difference. Voila! It worked. Yet she wasn’t done tinkering.

Determined to now reduce the number of eggs (fewer eggs, less drying), Ms. Corriher added a little cream of tartar while removing eggs. She was able to pare the recipe down to four whole eggs and the yolks of two more. The creamy, rich, luscious torte was now more cake than pudding.

With my mise-en-place I was ready to begin.  This is the first recipe I have tried from this book.  I like the way Ms. Corriher organizes and explains the more critical procedures.  She takes the time to add just enough instruction so that the chef du jour has an understanding of what is necessary to achieve perfection with each individual procedure.

One of these processes involves stirring together four whole eggs and two yolks then straining the mixture.  I have never seen a recipe call for straining eggs.  Ms. Corriher again explains that straining "removes more goopy stuff than you might think."  Boy howdy she was right.  I never thought there was that much "goop" in there.  Turns out there are these things called chalazae.  These are the protein chains that act like bungee cords to hold the yolk in the center of the egg.  It would make sense that these would be quite strong and therefore undesireable in such a delicate delight as the chocolate torte.

Though the recipe does not specify this, I had to do this in a couple stages.  I strained about half the egg mixture, noticed the sieve was getting boogered up with the chalazae goop so I cleaned the sieve and strained the second half of the eggs.  When I read the recipe, this step seemed superfluous.  I set out to follow the recipe so I did.  Seeing the beautiful, creamy finished product, I now know the error of my thinking.  The goops gotta go!!

Once the goop was gone it was time to add the sugar.  I had my mise-en-place but I didn't have my head on straight.  It was slightly askew.  I missed the part about beating the sugar and egg for 10 minutes.  Initially I was thinking it was to be beat until blended so I fired up the hand mixer.  It wasn't that big of a deal but I could have been performing other tasks while the stand mixer worked the magic on the mixture.  But I didn't do that.  You should though.

I was smart enough to have melted the butter ahead of time.  The recipe doesn't caution about tossing warm butter into the egg mixture.  I don't think it's a deal breaker but wouldn't want to risk ruining the eggs.  I had also done the same with the chocolate though if done properly, the chocolate should be barely tepid when it's finally melted.  The microwave method worked for me just remember to use 50% power or less.

It's almost time for the royal wedding with the whipped cream!  Gently folding in the chocolate made me think of my next culinary venture, mole.  Stay tuned for that.

With the chocolate blended, it's time to whip the cream and get on with this rodeo.  At the cream whipping stage, Ms. Corriher advises "in a cold bowl with cold beaters...."  I have never seen this in a recipe.  Yes I know it's important to NOT use a warm or even hot bowl or beaters but have never seen it advised to use cold bowls and beaters.

Okay, okay we're almost there.  Pan is prepared with the parchment, oven preheated, bain-marie ready to bain.  Let's do it.  Into the oven you go.  I had a little hiccup on getting the top smooth.  It seemed to be almost impossible with the spatula so I spun the pan and tapped it and did everything except take it for a drive around the block.  Still I had a few small peaks in the batter.  C'est la vie.  One of the recollections I had from my research was that this is supposed to be a rustic treat.  Perfection is something that has been bred into the modern breed of torte.  The rustic version suits me just fine.  I'll be finishing it with a topping of creme fraiche and raspberries anyway.

The not-quite-finished product as she awaits a nice chill and then the coup-de-grace.

The author suggests chilling the final product.  I did that.  Though I'm not sure I would do that again.  It was right around 60 today in SoFla.  I'm thinking a few hours on the countertop would have sufficed.

A couple days ago I made up a creme fraiche.  In a sealable jar, add about three tablespoons of buttermilk to a cup of heavy cream.  Let it rest overnight at around 70 degrees.  The next morning it should be set firm.  Stir gently and place in refrigerator.  For the chocolate raspberry tort I added a couple tablespoons of 10X sugar to about a half cup of creme fraiche.  Dump that on a plate with some pureed framboise, topped with a few freshies and you're done.  Cosmic Eats my friend.