Chocolate Decadence Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Since it IS currently the header picture of my blog, it’s about time I post the recipe for the chocolate decadence cake. This cake scared me at first, I’ll admit. My staunch “I cook, not bake” attitude would be completely destroyed if I baked a cake, other than baking with my good friend Betty Crocker. Granted, a large number of the recipes on this blog so far are of cookies, but for some reason, cookies seem to defy the baking category, at least in my state of denial towards baking. Yes, serious baking scares me because you have to be so precise with measurements and to me, that takes away the “a little bit of this, a little bit of that” fun that cookings brings me. But, in order to properly bribe, I mean motivate, a member of my project team, I promised chocolate cake. And chocolate cake it was.

This is a surprisingly easy recipe, and I think it would be even easier now with my lovely Kitchen Aid companion. I followed the instructions line by line and ended up with a beautiful and quite tasty cake that made many break their diets. *insert evil laugh here* As the magnet on my fridge says, “Lord, if you can’t make me skinny, please make all my friends fat.”

Chocolate Decadence Cake with Raspberry Sauce

I didn’t have any raspberries or raspberry flavored liquer, so I used strawberries instead. The liquer would have given it that extra oomph, but it was just fine without.

For the raspberry sauce:
2 1/2 cups fresh raspberries or thawed frozen unsweetened raspberries
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1/4 cup framboise or other raspberry-flavored liqueur (optional)

For the cake:
1 lb. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
10 Tbs. (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature (I didn’t have XL eggs, so I used 4 large eggs + one egg white)
1 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy cream, whipped

To make the raspberry sauce, place the raspberries, sugar and framboise, if using, in a blender or in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Puree until smooth. If you prefer a seedless sauce, pass the puree through a sieve.

To make the cake, position a rack in the middle of an oven and preheat to 425ºF. Butter an 8 or 9-inch springform pan or a layer cake pan. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper or waxed paper cut to fit precisely. Butter the paper and dust with flour; tap out any excess.

Place the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl or the top pan of a double boiler. Set over a pan of gently simmering water but not touching the water. Stir occasionally until melted and combined completely. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl. Using an electric mixer set on high speed, beat until light, fluffy and tripled in volume, 5 to 10 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the flour. Using a rubber spatula, fold one-third of the egg mixture into the chocolate to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg mixture, taking care not to deflate the batter. Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for exactly 15 minutes. Let cool completely to room temperature. Do not refrigerate or the cake will stick to the pan. Invert the cake onto a flat serving plate and peel off the paper.

Cut into small wedges and serve each wedge atop some of the raspberry sauce. Top with whipped cream. Makes one 8 or 9-inch cake; serves 12.

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Chocolate Decadence Cake with Raspberry Sauce

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