Holidays, Friends, & Fabulous Food

As we near the holidays, it's getting to be the time for holiday crafting, holiday shopping, and holiday baking too! The holidays especially are a time for friends, and coming together of delicious food! Through Etsy I have made some wonderful friends. Some of my Etsy friends have Celiac, some have grain allergies, and some have a gluten-free diet by choice. I have also made some wonderful Etsy friends who are lactose intolerant. I myself, have a legume allergy. I doubt we will have the chance to get together over a nice warm cup of cider anywhere other than Etsy chat, but I got started thinking about what sort of delicious holiday treat we would all be able to share without compromizing flavor. If it's a holiday sweet, it's got to be indlugent, rich, and of course, delicious! So here it is.. a recipe that is amazingly delicious, but we can all still share!

Fabulous Flourless Chocolate Cake

14 squares (14 oz) semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 squares (2 oz) unsweetened cholcoate, chopped

1 cup butter (2 sticks; do not use margarine- for dairy free use Crisco)

9 large eggs, seperated

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 300F. Remove bottom of 9" by 3" springform pan; cover with foil, wrapping foil around back. Replace pan bottom. Grease and flour foil bottom and side of pan. In heavy 2 quart saucepan, melt chocolates and butter over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth. Pour chocolate mixture into large bowl. In small bowl, with mixer at high speed, beat eg yolks an dgranulated sugar until very thick and lemon-colored, about 10 minutes. With rubber spatula, stir egg-yolk mixture into chocolate mixture until blended. Wash and dry beaters. In seperate large bowl, with clean beaters and with mixer at high speed, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form when beaters are lifted. With rubber spatula, gently fold beaten egg whites, one-third at a time, into chocolate mixture just until blended. Scrape batter into prepared pan; spread evenly. Bake 35 minutes. (Do not overbake; cake will firm upon standng and chilling.) Cool completely in pan on wire rack; refrigerate overnight in pan. Run thin knife, rinsed under very hot water and dried, around cake to loosen from side of pan; remove side of pan. Invert onto cake plate; unwrap foil from pan bottom and lift off pan. Carefully peel foil away from cake. To serve, let cake stand at room temperature 1 hour. Dust with confectionsers' sugar if desired before serving.

Tastes even better with a nice raspberry sauce drizzled over your slice!

Yield: 20 servings

My picture does not do this cake justice! It is sinfully good! Over baking, short of buring your cake won't change the flavor but will affect the velvety smooth texture. Oh, one last warning.. make sure you don't cut your servings too big. It's 20 servings for a reason! (And you can always go back for seconds!)