Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Tarte au Chocolat - the darkest chocolate cake ever

French chocolate cake / Prantsuse šokolaadikook
Photo updated in November 2010

If yesterday's salted butter caramel and milk chocolate mousse wasn't your cup of tea (maybe you're not into this salted butter caramel thing, or maybe you simply prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate), then here's another dessert to satisfy your chocolate cravings this week: Tarte au Chocolat. It's very, very dark and intensely chocolatey, with crazy amount of butter and sugar added (with just a spoonful of flour, so if you're eating gluten-free, you could easily substitute gluten-free flour here). I got the recipe from a Finnish recipe leaflet "Jälkiruokaklassikkoja Ranskasta" or "Classic desserts from France" - and it had got rave reviews on my Estonian site, so I decided to try it myself. I'm glad I did - it tasted absolutely wonderful. If yesterday's pud was juvenile, to use Luisa's words, then this is very, very adult indeed.

Tarte au Chocolat
(Tarte au Chocolat ehk prantsuse šokolaadikook)
Serves 10



200 g dark chocolate (I used 72%)
200 g butter
200 g caster sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp plain/all-purpose flour

Break the chocolate into pieces and melt with butter either in a microwave or in bain marie. Stir in sugar, let cool a little.
Using a wooden spoon, mix in eggs, one at a time.
Sift in the flour, stir until combined.
Pour the batter into a buttered 24 cm springform tin. Bake in the middle of a preheated 200C oven for about 25 minutes, until the cake is slightly crisp on the top, but still moist inside (see photo).
Take out of the oven and cool. Serve with whipped cream and season's berries.

More tasty chocolate cakes on Nami-nami:
Chewy Chocolate Walnut Brownies (January 2008)
David Lebovitz's Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake with Chocolate Glaze (December 2007)
Nigella Lawson's chocolate cherry cupcakes (April 2006)
Nigella Lawson's Store-cupboard Chocolate-Orange Marmalade Cake (November 2005)

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's a decadent-looking, wonderfully yummy chocolate cake I've seen - and only five ingredients! Fantastic! I'll give it a shot before Thursday.
Cheers!
Rowi

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

That does look insanely good! We're not gluten-free but I'm trying to learn more about how to cook for gluten-free guests who are coming to visit this summer. Definitely will try this recipe.

Karolina Beaudet said...

I've been just dreaming about something chocolate like that;) Looks wonderfull and I'm sure it tastes delicious!!!

Patricia Scarpin said...

My kind of dessert, Pille! Luscious!

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

Wowser! What a feast of chocolate! And such a simple recipe, too...

Kärt said...

Vau, see on täpselt selline shokolaadikook, mida olen teha igatsenud kuid siiamaani pole jõudnud. Proovin kindlasti lähiajal läbi, neelud juba käivad!

Rachael Narins said...

OH my goodness. I think that looks amazing! You sure do pick good things to bake!

Anonymous said...

That most delicious, it is incredible.

Greetings.

Mariajaan said...

PLEEEEEEEEEASE! I need help not to run into a chocolate binge eating episode! This looks so appealing! How can I possibly (and instantly) replace this delicacy? I guess I have nothing even closely good. Just a ready to drink Nesquick. AHHH!

lobstersquad said...

that´s the spirit, direct to the liver!!! love it

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

You really have to wonder what that one tablespoon of flour does!
Beautiful chocolate cake!

ali said...

Ma proovisin just vastlakukleid teha, kuna ise elan teisel pool ookeani ja siit neid just poest ei leia. Vapustavalt kerge oli teha ja tulid nii head va"lja, et no'uti veel lisagi. Suur aita"h Sulle! Tegelikult olen juba kaua aega tahtnud kysida, kas Sa oled kunagi ka s'efiirikorvikesi proovinud teha? Suur aita"h huvitava ja "maitsva" blogi eest.

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Oh this looks too luscious to be true. Pille, I love the way it looks so moist and chocolaty.

Dagmar said...

It looks amazingly moist and delicious!!! I think my husband would love it!

Dori said...

OMG, That must be one amazing cake!

Annemarie said...

Ooh, it's like a chocolate bar made more rich by a block of butter, and then only notionally made solid. Which of course makes it sound wonderful. :)

Toni said...

Daaaaark Chocolate rules! This looks beyond fabulous!

Susan from Food Blogga said...

Yesterday's was my cup of tea. And today's is my cup of coffee. Now may i have hulking piece? I can't stand it anymore!

Andrea said...

That just looks soooo good! This is going to be dessert one night this week!

An aside for anyone making this as a gluten-free dessert...if someone is truly allergic and has celiac disease (like my sister), even one tablespoon of flour can cause problems, so look around carefully to find an acceptable flour substitute.

chriesi said...

Irresistible.

Anonymous said...

Oh my God!! It looks like heaven :)

Pille said...

Lydia – well, why spoil an excellent chocolate cake with flour :)

Kärt – see on üks igavene hea šokolaadikook tõesti :)

MariaJaan – I’m not sure a Nesquick is a suitable substitute here :)

Lobstersquad – exactly – butter, chocolate, eggs, sugar...

Tanna – binds, I guess, but the amount is so small indeed..

Scott – nii hea meel kuulda, et vastlakuklid õnnestusid! Sefiirikorvikesi ma pole teinud, sest need on niiiiiiiii magusad, aga lugejate nõudmisel võin lähikuudel plaani võtta :)

Annemarie – you’ve got an hilarious way of describing this cake. So true..

Andrea – sorry to hear about your sister’s condition. I’ve got few celiac friends, so I’m fully aware of the impact flour can have. But it’s still a good recipe, as only 1 Tbsp of flour needs to be substituted (I’ve understood that substituting plain flour for gluten-free one can change the texture, but not in this case, as the amount is so small).

Aforkfulofspaghetti, Rowi, Karolcia, Patricia, Rachel, VelSid, Meeta, Dagmar, Meeso, Toni, Susan, Chriesi, Homecooked – thank you all for your kind comments!

Unknown said...

That is great! Look at it my side: http://desszert.com/en

Katie Zeller said...

Oh my...I could definitely like this. And probably eat the whole thing without sharing. Not very adult of me, is it?

Avory said...

Oh, yum! Don't you just love how the simplest recipes always end up tasting the best? That looks so moist and rich; I'll have to try it.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I really wish I weren't so health conscious. I've been using carob (from Holy Food Imports) in place of chocolate for awhile now and it has been fine but I really wish I weren't so concerned about my health.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, that looks really good, but I can't eat this right now :D, I bought a box of pralines saturday (again :) ), and it was allready empty before I realised it was half full :D. After this excellent box of pralines from Bouchard (http://www.bouchardlescaut.com/en/node/10) I decided to stop eating chocolate for a week, which is infact really not so much, but in 'chocolate'-days it's a century :D.

Lauren Smith said...

Oh looks lovely! I can't wait to have a go.