Gluten-free Sundays - flourless chocolate cake

from Sidewalkshoes.blogspot.com

So I recently went gluten-free.  Actually, it is for 2nd time that I made the leap.  The first time was when I was in my late 20's and it didn't last but a few years.  That was a while ago, when PCC was still a hippie store and not an urban pick-up joint - and there was no Whole Foods.  I was already dairy-free (I'm allergic to casein) which was especially hard since there was only 1 option for soy milk (which tasted awful) and rice, almond, hemp, teff, hazlenut, coconut, etc. milks were not available unless you made them yourself.  Goat cheese was really $$, soy cheese was new to the market and tasted worse than the soy milk.  I couldn't get a latte or mocha because nobody carried alternative milks, let alone icecream (sorbet was something you got in a fancy restaurant to cleanse your palette).

(about the chocolate cake to follow)

So when I decided to go gluten-free, my options became meat and veggies.   Let's get one thing straight - I don't like veggies.  Never have.  Meat is great, except you can't live off meat alone (even though some people try it with extreme diets like Atkins).  So, my grocery bills went up as I tried all the alternative pastas and breads.  I ate a lot of tofu.   I hate cooking and things just weren't working out since I didn't know how to make anything that didn't come out of a can or in the frozen food section. Life pretty much was bland.

Enter my foodie could-be-a-chef husband (boyfriend at the time).  It was my birthday, I was gluten-free and content on having a gluten-free birthday party where everyone else brought me food.  My knight in shining armor brought me a flourless chocolate cake.  It was to die for!  And still to this day, he makes it to impress.  All of my gluten-free friends love him when he brings it to a dinner party - because lets face it, if there is one thing that is depressing, it is sitting around watching everyone else eat dessert knowing you can't have any because of your physiology.

The recipe he uses is from Cook's Illustrated.  It is in their The New Best Recipe cookbook, page 862.  Essentially it is just eggs, butter, chocolate & coffee.  (And no, butter in book is not "dairy" since it does not contain casein, which is a protein.  Butter should be only fat, if you buy good butter).  I don't know about the legal issues of copying someone else's recipe - is it the same as photographs (i.e. give credit & a link)?  Well, since I don't know - the link is here to find it online.  

The one thing I will mention - if you refrigerate the cake, it will come out with the consistency of a truffle (thick & rich); if you don't refrigerate it, it will come out like mousse (airy & light); and if you refrigerate, then let it warm up to room temp. it comes out somewhere in between (not desirable).  We like it airy & light, but it doesn't go to waste if it has been refrigerated (we just eat it cold then).  It also tastes awesome with some raspberry sauce dribbled on top.  It is incredibly rich, so cut the slices small.