No Bake Chocolate Cake

Photo from 101 Cookbooks

Another amazing recipe from 101 Cookbooks: a chocolate cake that is Candida diet friendly (after minimal adjustments) and doesn’t require that you turn your oven on, which is great since we are in the middle of a heat wave.  I really don’t feel much like eating but somehow the heat has not affected my appetite for dessert.  And this is definitely dessert, sugar-free and low carb it is but as you can see from the list of ingredients this cake is super rich, a little bit goes a long way.

Ingredients:

butter, to grease pan
8 ounces  70% dark chocolate, well chopped
8 ounces  heavy cream (you can try substituting coconut milk for a vegan version)
1/2 teaspoon allspice (optional)
2 teaspoons finely ground espresso (optional)
1/4 teaspoon fine grain salt
cocoa powder, to serve

The sweetness in this recipe comes from the dark chocolate you use.  Choose a dark chocolate that has the least amount of sugar added or mix a dark chocolate bar with some unsweetened chocolate and add some stevia to make up the difference.

Procedure:

Lightly butter a 6-inch springform pan or equivalent – 101 Cookbooks recommends little loaf pans which are less common, but many small pans will work here. Line with parchment paper (very important if you ever want to get this cake out of the pan!) and set aside.

Barely melt the chocolate in a double boiler over gentle heat.

In a separate medium pan heat the cream over gentle heat. Stir in the allspice and the espresso, if using. When the cream is very warm / hot to the touch, remove from heat and stir in the salt.

Pour the chocolate into the cream, and very slowly and steadily stir until everything comes together smoothly. Make sure the components aren’t at all separate. Pour into the prepared pan, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled throughout, a few hours, or overnight.

When ready to serve, remove from the pan, let set at room temperature for ten minutes or so, dust with a bit of cocoa powder, and slice. Alternately, you can slice and serve from the pan.

Serves 12.

Prep time: 10 min