A classic flourless chocolate cake recipe, like sliceable chocolate mousse, with a long list of variation ideas.
Ingredients
1/2 cup / 110g extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for pan
12 ounces / 340g bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
5 large eggs, room temperature, separated
For serving: powdered sugar, lightly-sweetened whipped heavy cream
Directions
Pre-heat your oven to 350F with a rack in the center. Prepare a deep 8-inch cake pan (or see notes in the main post if you’re using 9-inch) by rubbing well with olive oil. Take a large piece of parchment paper line the pan - press it into the bottom and work it up against the sides (see photo).
Place *8 ounces* of the chocolate in a large heat-proof mixing bowl. The rest of the chunks you'll add later. Arrange it over a small saucepan of simmering water. This is a make-shift double boiler and allows you to very gently melt the chocolate. Stir the chocolate regularly, and once it has nearly melted remove from heat. Avoid letting the chocolate get too hot. Whisk in the olive oil, half of the sugar, and the salt. Confirm that the mixture isn’t hot to the touch (you don’t wan’t to scramble your yolks), and if o.k. whisk in the egg yolks. The mixture can look a bit gritty at this point, it’s fine. Fold the remaining 4 ounces of chocolate chunks in and set aside.
Whisk your egg whites using an electric mixer. Once they turn white and have a good amount of structure and volume, gradually whisk in the remaining sugar. Continue whisking until the egg whites are glossy and hold nice peaks.
Fold one third of the egg white mixture into the chocolate, mixing until the batter is nearly uniform with few streaks. Gently fold in the remaining whites, folding from the bottom of the bowl, up and over. All the while try to keep as much volume as possible. You might have a few streaks left, and that’s ok.
Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan and bake for about 40 minutes, a little less if you’re using a 9-inch pan. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit in the pan, on a cooling rack. Gently remove from the pan after 15 minutes or so. Once cool dust with powdered sugar.
