12457 Marie-Claude&apos;s Chocolate Cake with Fleur <hlc>de</hlc> Sel Serves 6 Wed Aug 06 01:08:01 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 03 04:09:12 -0800 2009 Licensed http://www.chow.com/recipes/12457 Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:09:12 GMT I've mentioned my friend Marie-Claude Gracia in introductions to several other recipes. As you can see I am a huge fan and couldn't resist adding one more. This cake may remind you of a particularly good brownie, but the addition of fleur de sel turns it into something quite unusual and wonderful.

The first time I tasted coarse flakes of sea salt sprinkled over a chocolate cake, I was astounded how good it was. The mild sea salt flavor played against the sweetness and brought out the chocolate flavor.

A friend who tasted the cake said all it needed was some crème anglaise, a few raspberries, and a glass of Ruby Port to make it perfect. Another friend, a professional baker, felt that the long creaming of the butter and sugar created not only a lighter than usual chocolate cake, but also an extremely moist one.

For best results, prepare the cake at least one day in advance. It will keep for several days at room temperature, improving as it “matures.”

]]>
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch round baking dish, preferably ceramic, with a round of parchment paper. Butter the paper with the ½ tablespoon butter.
  • Place the chocolate in a bowl set over simmering water; let it slowly melt without stirring. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
  • Meanwhile, cream the butter and sugar together until light, white, soft, and creamy, about 10 minutes. Add the egg yolks to the butter-sugar mixture one by one, then blend in the chocolate, until the mixture is entirely smooth and well blended. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and fine salt; sieve directly over the chocolate mixture and fold in to combine.
  • Beat the whites until glossy and stiff enough to “cut,” then stir a large spoonful into the chocolate batter to lighten it. Add the remaining whites and fold gently, carefully lifting the heavy chocolate from the bottom of the bowl, to thoroughly mix in the whites, keeping everything light and fluffy. (The more air you lose the heavier the cake will be.)
  • Scrape the batter into the prepared baking dish, scatter the fleur de sel over the top, and set in the oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the edges are set but the center still jiggles slightly when shaken. Turn off the heat but leave the cake in the oven to cool with the door slightly ajar for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool on a rack, then cover and let rest overnight at room temperature.
  • When the cake is completely cold, unmold, then turn right side up onto a round platter. Garnish each slice with a few spoonfuls of Crème Anglaise and some raspberries.
    • ]]>     http://www.chow.com Paula Wolfert 50 Main 7 ounces (1 stick plus 6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, plus ½ tablespoon

    ]]>     7 ounces or 2 dark chocolate bars (3½ ounces each) containing at least 70 percent pure chocolate, preferably Valrhona, broken into small pieces

    ]]>     1 cup superfine sugar

    ]]>     5 eggs, at room temperature, separated

    ]]>     ½ cup all-purpose flour

    ]]>     2 tablespoons cocoa powder, preferably Valrhona, not Dutch-processed

    ]]>     1 teaspoon baking powder

    ]]>     Pinch of fine salt

    ]]>     2 pinches of fleur de sel from the Ile de Ré, or Maldon sea salt

    ]]>     ½ recipe (1¼ cups) Crème Anglaise (pages 380–381) without bay leaves

    ]]>     1 cup fresh raspberries

    ]]>