This delicious chocolate cake is called eye-opening because one of the
ingredients is coffee. Hey, that saves time, doesn't it? Have your cake
and coffee all in one shot. It's also very rich with Belgian dark
chocolate, but it is friendly to those
who need to avoid wheat or wheat gluten because it is flourless. Using a
food processor will make this recipe a snap for you.
450 g Belgian dark chocolate (16 ounces)
225 g of of brown sugar (about a cup)
110 g of white sugar (about a half cup)
3/4 cup of strong hot coffee
1 cup of butter
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
8 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon of bourbon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).
Cut the butter into pieces and set it aside.
Line the bottom of a 25 cm spring form pan (10-inch) with buttered or
oiled parchment paper. If you don't have a cake pan this large, you can
use a smaller one, but this will extend the cooking time. Make
adjustments and be careful that the edges don't get too brown before the
center of the cake is done. If this starts to happen, cover them with
aluminum foil. Also, in the case that you go with a small cake pan, put
the pan in a shallow roasting pan before baking and put enough water in
the roasting pan to cover about 2.5 cm (one inch) of the sides of the
cake pan.
Break or chop up the Belgian dark chocolate into chunks and place them
into a food processor bowl. Use the pulse feature to break the chocolate
up into very small pieces. Add the white sugar to the chocolate pieces
and pulse some more until the sugar and the chocolate grainy - like sand
grains. Make sure the blend is uniform.
Pour the very hot coffee gradually into the processor's feed tube while
you continue to pulse. Keep this up until the Belgian chocolate is all
melted.
Add the pieces of butter and the unsweetened cocoa powder to the mix,
and continue to pulse to blend everything. Add the 8 eggs and the
bourbon vanilla extract and continue to process until everything is
smooth. You should end up with a liquid, creamy batter.
Pour the creamy batter into the pre-lined spring form cake pan and use a
big section of aluminum foil to wrap the exterior of the cake pan. If
you are using a smaller cake pan, this procedure will be a little
different in that instead of putting the foil around the cake pan, you
will be placing it in a shallow roasting pan with a little water in it.
Place the pan in the middle of the oven and bake at 180 degrees C. (350
degrees F) until it puffs up and becomes cracked. This should take about
an hour, give or take a few minutes. Keep your eye on it. A knife
inserted into the center should tell you if the cake is done. If it's
mostly clean, your cake is done baking.
Remove the cake pan from the oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack.
It will lose some of its puffiness, but this is normal. After it has
cooled down some, you can flatten it out a bit to cause it to be more
even if you want. Just use a spatula and be gentle with it.
After the cooling is complete, refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours
and as long as 8 hours. Remove the it from the refrigerator and take it
out of the cake pan. It is ready to serve. If you like, you can sprinkle
with powdered sugar or top the slices with some chocolate sauce. You can
also serve it with some fresh fruit.
