Gâteau au chocolat fondant de Nathalie

By Peggio

Gâteau au chocolat fondant de Nathalie,
or, Kate's Winning-Hearts-and-Minds Cake
Adapted from Je veux du chocolat!, by Trish Deseine

Ingredients

• 7 ounces (200 grams) best-quality dark chocolate
• 7 ounces (200 grams) unsalted European-style butter (the high-butterfat kind, such as Lurpak or Beurre d’Isigny), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 1/3 cup (250 grams) granulated sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 1 Tbs unbleached all-purpose flour

Details

Servings 8
Adapted from orangette.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and butter an 8-inch round cake pan. Line the base of the pan with parchment, and butter the parchment too.

Finely chop the chocolate (a serrated bread knife does an outstanding job of this) and melt it gently with the butter in a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring regularly to combine. Add the sugar to the chocolate-butter mixture, stirring well, and set aside to cool for a few moments. Then add the eggs one by one, stirring well after each addition, and then add the flour. The batter should be smooth, dark, and utterly gorgeous.

Pour batter into the buttered cake pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until the center of the cake looks set.

Let the cake cool in its pan on a rack for 10 minutes; then carefully turn the cake out of the pan and revert it, so that the crackly side is facing upward. Allow to cool completely. The cake will deflate slightly as it cools.

Serve in wedges at room temperature with a loose dollop of ever-so-slightly sweetened whipped cream.

As for the trickiness of all that inverting and reverting, here's what I do. When I pull the cake out of the oven, I put a sheet of aluminum foil over it, and then I put a plate, upside-down, on top of the foil. [I find that the foil helps keep the cake from sticking to the plate.] Using oven mitts, I hold the cake pan and the plate together and quickly flip them. I remove the pan, leaving the cake upside-down on the foil-covered plate. Then I put a second plate upside-down on top of the cake, wedge two fingers between the plates to keep from squashing the cake, and flip the plates, so that the cake is once more facing up. Remove the foil, and taaa daaa! You've got a cake on a plate, right side up, with no burnt fingers or kitchen tools necessary.