I mentioned yesterday that the price of almond flour had stymied my efforts to make a gluten-free Thanksgiving dessert. As it turns out, I had in my possession a recipe for a flourless chocolate cake that doesn’t require anything but eggs, chocolate and butter. It’s in Cook’s Illustrated’s “The Best Recipe,” which calls for chopped chocolate and tells you to cut the butter into pieces. I’m sure there’s a very good reason for that, but I opted for chocolate chips and I didn’t cut the butter. And it looks like it turned out fine.

Ultimate Flourless Chocolate Cake
Adapted from “The Best Recipe.”
8 large eggs, cold
16 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
2 sticks unsalted butter

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line bottom of 8-inch springform pan with parchment and grease pan sides — the greasing is a great task for a 5-year-old helper. Cover pan underneath and along sides with heavy-duty foil and set in a large roasting pan. Bring a kettle of water to boil.

Beat the eggs in the bowl of your trusty KitchenAid mixer with the whisk attachment until volume doubles, about 5 minutes. (This can be done with a handheld mixer, too, but I think it might make your arm fall off.)

Meanwhile, melt chocolate and butter in a double-boiler over simmering water until smooth and very warm, stirring once or twice. (“The Best Recipe” says it should be 115 on an instant-read thermometer, but I didn’t take its temperature.)

Fold a ladle-full of egg foam into the chocolate mixture using a large rubber spatula until only a few streaks of eggs are visible; do that over and over again, adding egg and folding, adding egg and folding, until all of the egg is entirely folded in to the chocolate. The mixture, says “The Best Recipe,” should be “totally homogenous.”

Scrape the batter into the prepared springform pan and smooth the surface with your spatula. Set the roasting pan on the oven rack and carefully pour in enough boiling water to come about halfway up the side of the springfrom pan. Bake until cake has risen slightly and the edges are just beginning to set. (The book says until the cake’s interior comes to 140 degrees; again, I didn’t use a thermometer.) Remove cake pan from water bath and set on a wire rack. Cook to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 4 days.

About 30 minutes before serving, remove springform sides, invert the cake onto a sheet of waxed paper, peel off parchment paper and turn cake rightside-up onto a serving platter. Decorate with a light sprinkling of powdered sugar or cocoa powder if desired.

It looks like kind of an ordeal to make, doesn’t it? It really isn’t. It takes a small chunk of focused time, but as long as you have the springform ready to go it comes together pretty quickly. Is it worth the little effort it takes to make? I’m thinking so, but I’ll let you know for sure after Thanksgiving.

Let’s hear about your Thanksgiving dessert. What’s your favorite?