Fitness Tip of the Day: Sunday's Recipe Share -- Flourless Chocolate Cake

I want to come right out and say that this isn't necessarily a "light" recipe, but it really isn't too bad.  It is gluten-free.  I just recently made this for my son's birthday.  YUM!!!

I found this recipe in the February 6, 2011 Sunday paper magazine -- I'm sorry, the page doesn't say which publication it is.  We get the Daily Herald and the Tribune, so it's one of those.

Anyway, the author/baker is singer Ingrid Michaelson, and the article with the recipe is entitled, "Calling All Chocoholics!"

She talks about how this is not a pretty cake--and she's right, it is not, but as she states in the article regarding taking this cake to parties, "someone says. "Okay, what's this?" and then, "Oh my God!  What is this!""  This isn't a picture of the cake I made, but it does look similar.  I usually serve it with some sort of topping--raspberry or chocolate sauce, or whipped cream to help hide the cracks.

Looks can be deceiving.  It really is rich, and fudgy and sinfully delicious!

Here's the recipe:

Serves 12 (you really don't want a bigger piece than this)

7 oz really good (45% - 50% cocoa) semisweet chocolate (I used even darker chocolate bars)
3/4 c. butter
1 cup sugar, separated
4 eggs, separated

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler, remove from stove.  Stir together half the sugar and four yolks, add a bit of this to the melted chocolate to temper and then add the rest, stirring well.

2.   Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites, slowing add remaining sugar until stiff peaks form.  Fold this mixture into the chocolate.  Pour into a greased 9 inch cake pan (I use a springform pan, covering the outside with foil.

3.  Bake 40 minutes (I usually check it at 30 and 35 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs on it.  Cool 30 minutes before removing from pan.  Dust with powdered sugar.  You can serve with topping on side or pour it over the top.

Are you still wondering about the calorie count?  Well here it is, drum roll please:

270 calories, 18 g fat!!!  See, not too bad!!!

I have not tried to lighten this recipe up--if I did, I'd probably try to half the butter, but since I eat this so rarely, I'm probably not going to mess with such a good thing!

Let me know if you do though, I'd love to hear the results.