Flourless Chocolate Cake

A friend of mine is gluten-intolerant, and she had a birthday recently. And I happened to be in town. And I needed some stress relief/distractions from real life. Sounded like an excellent reason to bake. I adapted this recipe from Allrecipes.com. I baked in a water bath--poor decision. Water seeped in, so after the stated baking time, I ended up taking it out of said water bath and baking it an extra 10-12 minutes to try to get rid of the excess moisture. I have made this recipe before without the water bath, and it turned out fine, so I think I will return to that method for next time! Without further ado, here is the recipe:

• 1/2 c. Chambord
• 3/4 c. white sugar
• 12 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacao)
• 6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli again)
• 1 c. salted butter or margarine (add a pinch of salt if your butter is unsalted)
• 6 eggs

Combine Chambord and sugar in a small saucepan. Heat and stir over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved.

Melt chocolate in a large, microwave-safe bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and beat them in, one at a time. (Two notes on this: 1., an electric mixer makes this much easier. 2., light margarine will not work--it has too high of a water content and will make your chocolate seize. Trust me, I learned the hard way.) Once the butter is incorporated, beat the Chambord mixture into the chocolate. Next, beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Pour batter into a greased 9" springform pan. If you're feeling brave, wrap it with several layers of foil and put it in a water bath. Bake ~45-50 min at 300 degrees F. This is like cheesecake--the center will still look shiny and wet, but 1/2" or so around the edges should look cooked. Let cool, then chill overnight. This is best served with fresh whipped cream to cut the richness of the chocolate.