On cloud nine

First of all, I want to warn you all that I am no photographer. Ask my friend Sarah. When I took her picture in a vacation in Rhodes, she was so tiny you could only spot her with a magnifying glass. So when I took the pictures of the cake I'm going to write about here only one of them came out semi-normal. So yeah, it's a lousy photo but since this is not a food blog and I have no intentions in the area it will have to do.

So this is a chocolate cloud cake a recipe extremely popular at our house because
a) It is a cake with lots of chocolate and we are a household of heavy chocoholics.
b) It's very easy to make and very impressive - great when you have no time and energy to fuss with dessert but you still want to get the compliments from your dinner guests.
c) It's Gluten free.
My eldest daughter has Celiac disease and although the rest of the family didn't change their diet, we try to find great food that all of us can eat, especially cakes and cookies but without wheat. Since she was diagnosed 5 years ago we are always in search of better and varied Gluten free food for her since bread and its derivatives are essential and we wanted replacements that she'll like and wouldn’t depress her because she's not like other kids who can eat whatever they want. In the search of a good chocolate cake for birthdays and other occasions I stumbled upon Nigella Lawson's recipe for Chocolate Cloud Cake. It’s a flour free cake, a bit like a soufflé. The "cloud" in the name comes from the heap of whipped cream you put in the middle of the cake that tends to crush down once the cake cools.
So for all the Gluten sensitive, Chocoholics, working mums with no spare time and applause seekers out there, here is the recipe. It’s a piece of cake….

You will need:
250g dark chocolate 60% cocoa solids.
125g unsalted butter, softened
6 eggs: 2 whole, 4 separated
175g caster sugar
2 tablespoons Cointreau liqueur
22cm spring form cake tin.
For the cream topping:
250ml liquid cream 30% fat
1 tea spoon vanilla extract
1 table spoon Cointreau
- Preheat the oven to 1800C
- Line the bottom of the cake tin with baking parchment and oil the walls with butter
- Melt the chocolate with the butter in the microwave or in a double boiler until you get a smooth paste.
- Beat the 2 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks with 75gr of the caster sugar then gently add the chocolate mixture and Cointreau .
- In another bowl whisk the egg whites and gradually add the rest of the caster sugar while beating the whites till they hold their shape but not too stiff.
- Fold the whites into the chocolate mixture.
- Pour into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes without the turbo if you have a turbo oven.
- Bake until the cake is risen and cracked and the centre is no longer wobbly.
- Cool the cake, while it cools the middle will sink in.
- Open the spring form tin and place the cake on a serving plate, whip the cream until its firm and fill the crater in the centre of the cake with cream easing it out towards the edges.
Try to get a piece before everyone else will finish it….