Flourless Mexican Chocolate Cake with Meringue Topping
Flourless chocolate cake with cinnamon and cayenne, topped with Meringue. A Mexican Adaption on a Food Network Recipe.
Servings: 10
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter cut into pieces, plus more for the pan
- 12 ounces dark chocolate chopped
- 6 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 to 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup stout beer such as Guinness; If going gluten free, change this to red wine
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For the meringue:
- 2 ounces semisweet chocolate chopped
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. I used a cake pan with parchment and lifted it out.
- Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water.
- Stir until the chocolate melts, then remove the bowl from the pan.
- Mix the sugar with the cinnamon and cayenne pepper. You can start with less of each, and add more at the end as you taste it. See notes.
- Put the eggs, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set the bowl over the same pan of simmering water and whisk until the mixture is warm, about 2 minutes.
- Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer; beat with the whisk attachment on medium speed until tripled in volume, about 5 minutes.
- Boil beer and vanilla in small saucepan until it reaches a low boil.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low; beat in the beer mixture, then the melted chocolate, until combined, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in the softened butter until incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs, about 35 minutes. Do not overbake.
- Cool in the pan on a rack 1 hour, then run a knife around the edge of the pan and remove the ring. Let cool completely.
Meringue
- Make the meringue: Put chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a small heatproof bowl, place over simmering pot of water until chocolate melts.
- Whisk the granulated sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar, salt and 1/3 cup water in a heatproof bowl. Put the stand mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water to heat to warm.
- Return bowl to mixer and mix on low, gradually increase the speed to high and beat until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Remove the bowl from the pan; continue beating until the meringue is cool and fluffy. Fold in the vanilla.
- Spread the meringue on the cake.
- Swirl in the melted chocolate.
- Refrigerate. Remove from refrigerator ten minutes before serving.
Notes
Regarding the amount of cinnamon and cayenne, here is my trick for tasting. Start with smaller amounts of each. Once the cake is batter, microwave a tablespoon of batter. Let it cool a few minutes and give a taste test. It won't be the same texture, but you'll know if you need to add in more cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Adjust to your taste. The cayenne does mellow a bit in the baking process.
Use good chocolate. My recommendations are the Belgium 70% chocolate at Trader Joe's or Ghiradelli 60% bittersweet. You can skip the cinnamon and cayenne altogether and this is still a fantastic cake!
Use good chocolate. My recommendations are the Belgium 70% chocolate at Trader Joe's or Ghiradelli 60% bittersweet. You can skip the cinnamon and cayenne altogether and this is still a fantastic cake!